The Scots have claimed our Welsh Stonehenge stones as their own, according to a new study.

A new study has revealed that one of the treasured bluestones making up the alter of Stonehenge is in fact Scottish, not Welsh.

Over a century was spent thinking the stone was like the other bluestones that sit in the inner circles of the 5,000-year-old structure, known to have been quarried in the Preseli Hills in Pembrokeshire. Scientists now believe the megalith was inexplicably dragged from possibly as far as the Orkney Isles, a distance of at least 466 miles, as opposed to the much more manageable 125 miles from Wales.

However this discovery isn’t just a shock to Welsh folk presuming to claim the stone as their own.

Scientists are calling this a “jaw-dropping” discovery which will be discussed “for decades” and will not only change how they think of Stonehenge, but “what we think about the whole of the late Neolithic”, according to honorary senior research fellow at University College London, Rob Ixer.

He says it changes how relationships were assumed to be between Neolithic populations across the British Isles, calling the science of getting the stone from Ornkey to Salisbury “beautiful” and “remarkable”.

The Scottish red sandstone seems unique to the other stones in the famous Neolithic stone-circle on Salisbury Plain.

However this Welsh-imposter stone isn’t the most visible - at five metres long and weighing six tons, it’s partially buried in the earth at the heart of the monument and sits under two fallen larger stones which come from nearby woods.

By looking at the chemical composition and age of the minerals in the stone, researchers mapped the stone as stemming from the Orcadian Basin in north-east Scotland.

The news was “completely unexpected to us”, said Nick Pearce, professor of geography and earth sciences at Aberystwyth University.

The study writes: “Understanding the provenance of megaliths used in the Neolithic stone circle at Stonehenge gives insight int othe culture and connectivity of prehistoric Britain.

“Such routing demonstrates a high level of societal organisation with intra-Britain transport during the Neolithic period.”

Whilst the researchers who wrote the paper on this study, published in Nature on 14 August, thought Neolithics must have transported the stone by sea, others argue transporting the stone over land was well within their technology, potentially taking years and creating interest as spectators spotted it en route.