Chapter IV: Part 4

Church, 18 feet 7 inches long by 12 feet wide. Windows flat-headed, one in east end and one in east end of both side walls; west end blank. Doorway, broken, is south-west.[86]

4. TEAMPULL PHEADAIR, LEWIS.

Remains, 63 feet long externally. In east end a flat-headed window 3 feet 5 inches high and 6 inches wide; in south wall five windows of much larger size, and apparently of comparatively modern date. North side and west end blank.[87]

5. ST. AULA, GRESS, LEWIS.

Church, 18 feet 10 inches long by 14 feet wide, slightly dilapidated. One window narrow and flat-headed in west end, and in south wall flat-headed door and window. Over door a stone with date 1685, in which year the building probably underwent repairs.[88]

6. TOEHEAD, HARRIS.

Church, internally 21 feet by 10 feet 2 inches. Windows, one in east end, one in west gable, one in south wall, and one, together with doorway, in north wall, are mere flat-headed slits, the east one 8 inches wide. Under east window stone altar, still entire.[89]

7. NUNTOWN, BENBECULA.

A small chapel, externally 25 feet by 16 feet, within enclosed burying-ground, almost perfect shell, windows small, narrow, and flat in head, two in each side and one in east end; the latter 19 inches high and 5 inches wide. Doorway, a rude flat-headed aperture, surmounted by a square niche, is in west end.[90]

8. PABBA, SOUND OF HARRIS.

Ruins of St. Mary’s Chapel, externally 40 feet 9 inches in length and 19 feet 9 inches wide. Doorway flat-headed, 2 feet 2 inches wide, in west end. Above it, narrow flat-headed window, and a similar window near east end of both side walls.[91]

9. KILMUIR, SKYE.

Church of “considerable age,” much altered. Doorway and windows small, flat-headed, and deeply recessed inside. Arched recesses in side walls for tombs.[92]

10. TRUMPAN, SKYE.

Old chapel, 51 feet long externally. In east end one short narrow window and two in north wall, all flat-headed. Rudely arched doorway in north elevation.[93]

_The following show signs of Norman influence._

11. ST. CARMAIG, KIELS, KNAPDALE.

The church is a rudely constructed oblong, externally 42 feet in length by 21 feet in width, roofless. Windows--one close to east end of north

wall, two in south, and one with round arch in middle of east elevation. (Figs. 46, 47.) West wall blank. Windows flat except east one.[94]

12. KILMORY, KNAPDALE.

Church, rudely constructed oblong, internally 38 feet in length by 17 feet in width. Walls well preserved. Doorway near west end of south wall. Four windows; one near east end of side walls, and two together in east elevation. Side windows small rectangular apertures; east one slightly moulded and semi-circular top.[95] (Figs. 48, 49.)

13. TIREE (ITHICA TERRA OF ADAMNAN).

KIRKAPOLL.--A very rudely-constructed chapel, internally 36 feet 9 inches long. In west end a plain round doorway (Fig. 50), 6 feet high,

rudely arched with slates, and having a small Latin cross on its south side. In south wall a round-headed door and two round-headed

windows, with great splay internally (Fig. 51); the north elevation blank.[96]

On a neighbouring hillock there is another chapel, internally 23 feet 5 inches long, with walls and gables entire. The windows are round-headed, one in north wall and one in south, and doorway in south wall; east and west walls blank.

KILCHENICH, TIREE.--Ruined chapel, 33 feet 5 inches long. Only details--small round-headed doorway in west end.[97]

(_C_) CHURCHES WITH A CHANCEL OR NAVE ADDED TO AN OLDER STRUCTURE.

1. ST. COLUMBA, BALIVANICH, BENBECULA.

Occupying a swampy spot, formerly the bed of a lake, are remains of a chapel probably belonging to the monks of Iona. Externally 56 feet in length and 19 feet in width. (Fig. 52.) All the windows are flat-topped and narrow; one in east end, three in south wall, and one in north wall. East wall only is perfect.[98]

Was built in a remote age. The mortar is washed out of the joints. The only door is at north end, with inclined jambs, and so low as to require stooping position on entrance; 4 feet 7 inches high; covered with undressed lintel. Little rectangular windows like portholes. Chancel 14 feet long by 15 feet broad; nave 33½ feet long and 14¼ feet broad. East wall 5 feet thick; east window 2¾ feet by 6 inches wide, greatly splayed at sides inside. Chancel walls--2 feet 2 inches thick--do not bond into nave. Nave window in north wall 14 inches by 7 inches. South wall windows--east one 10 inches square, the other 14 inches by 8 inches. Chancel probably added by Lady Amy end of fourteenth century.[99]

2. EILEAN MOR.

A small island lying off the Knapdale coast. “A little way up from the landing-place stands the half-roofless, though in other respects scarcely at all ruinated, shell of ‘Kilvicoharmaig, the Mother Church of Knapdale,’ surrounded by an open and nearly obliterated burying-ground. Its external plan (Fig. 53) is a simple oblong, measuring 37 feet 5 inches in length and 20 feet in width. Internally the building is divided into chancel and nave, the division being a gabled wall open by a semi-circular arch composed of long thin slates. An apartment, which was probably a comparatively modern contrivance, appears to have gone over the nave, as there is a fireplace and chimney in the upper part of the west wall, not bearing marks of antiquity.

“The chancel is covered by a low waggon vault, between which and the external roof there is a chamber lighted by a square window in the apex of the west gable. In the east end of the chancel (Fig. 54) are two small round-headed windows placed considerably apart, the north one, like the window at the neighbouring Kiels, having its interior sill underdrawn and levelled for an altar.

“In the interior south wall is a large round-headed recess, containing the tomb and headless effigy of an ecclesiastic, and in the wall opposite are two smaller recesses of the same kind--the eastern one having a window behind and a square lychnoscopic-looking aperture on one side near the ground.

“The chancel evidently belongs to an early period, and in style mostly resembles Norman, though some alterations (designed, there can be no doubt, to procure more shelter) have somewhat modified the pristine character of its detail. Originally the entrance was by a round doorway in the north side of the nave; but this has been built up, and another one, square and smaller, opened through the wall opposite. The window lights have all been reduced by the inserting of a slate pierced with a short and narrow lancet--that on the south, in the east end, plain

pointed, the other one trefoiled. But the most important alteration is in the chancel arch (Fig. 55), which has been lessened by blocking to a small flat-topped doorway with a square hole right through the wall on each side of it; over each of these holes, within the chancel, is an ambry of the usual square form.”

In a recess among the rocks are remains of a rectangular building, measuring internally 11 feet 3 inches by 10 feet 10 inches--the walls rudely built without cement, and more than 4 feet in thickness. This is the Chapel of St. Carmaig, “made by his own hands” soon after he came to the place for retirement and devotion. The entrance to the building

is a narrow flat-headed doorway of primitive character in the east wall. This structure communicates with a natural cave, and probably existed as a religious cell long before the neighbouring Kilvicoharmaig was erected.[100]

3. ST. COLUMBA’S, EY., LEWIS.

A long narrow building of two compartments, divided by a thick wall, containing arched passage. Eastern compartment internally 62 feet in length by 17 feet in width; western one 23 feet by 16 feet 3 inches. Different parts erected at different times from character of masonry. In eastern or larger compartment, windows are mere flat-headed slits, flush outside, widely splayed inside; east one 4 feet 4 inches by 7½ inches; south one 3 feet 8 inches and only 3 inches wide. In western division masonry less primitive looking; resembles Norman. Windows--one in west end, one in north side, and one, together with door, in south side; all round-headed, flush outside, and widely splayed inside.[101]

4. ST. COLUMBA, KIELS, KINTYRE.

Long narrow building, with small round-headed windows and doorway in side walls only.

Length outside 75 feet 3 inches; width only 18 feet 10 inches; unbonded juncture 29 feet from east end, shows that chancel has been extended to west; masonry of usual rude description; stones of added part are squared and like Norman work. Plain round-headed doorway on south-west, and two or three small round-headed single windows.[102]

5. KILCHOUSLAN, NEAR CAMPBELTOWN, KINTYRE.

Chapel, rather more than 58 feet in length, nearly entire; all apertures

square-headed. North wall blank; seems to have been lengthened by about 20 feet; fissure at junction similar to that at Kiels.[103]

[We give Plan and View (Figs. 56, 57) of this church, originally 36 feet 7 inches long by 17 feet wide internally. The and windows are square-headed and built with freestone, now much decayed; the remainder of the

walls is built with whinstone. The added chancel is marked by the freestone corners of the east end of the original church, which still exist. The chancel measures 19 feet in length by 17 feet in width. The east wall is now demolished.]

6. KILCHENZIE, NEAR CAMPBELTOWN, KINTYRE.

[We also give Plan and View of this structure (Figs. 58, 59). A simple oblong church, 40

feet 11 inches long by 17 feet 3 inches wide internally, with one round-headed window, 6 inches wide, cut out of a single stone in south wall. A chancel, 27 feet 4 inches long by 17 feet 3 inches wide, has been added, of which the junction is quite apparent. One small pointed window in east end of chancel.]

IV. CHURCHES BUILT WITH CHANCEL AND NAVE.

1. ST. MARY’S, LYBSTER, CAITHNESS.

A rudely constructed building (Fig. 60) consisting of chancel and nave. Flat-headed doorway, 3 feet 5 inches high, with inclining jambs, in west end (Fig. 61), and possibly another door in south wall. No

windows except, perhaps, one high up in east gable. Chancel entrance same as west doorway.[104]

2. CHURCH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST, SOUTH BRAGAIR, LEWIS.

Not much wasted; consisting of chancel and nave; respectively 12 feet 8 inches and 19 feet 10 inches long inside, with flat-headed windows--one east and one south in chancel, and one in west end of nave. Chancel arch and south-west doorway broken; former seems to have been pointed.[105]

3. ST. MICHAEL’S, BORVE, BARRA.

Consists of nave and chancel; respectively 23 feet and 7 feet 10 inches in length inside. Only ground plan left.[106]

(This and St. John’s, Bragair, the only churches in Lewis with chancel and nave constructively separated.)

(_D_) CHURCHES WITH POINTED OR LATE FEATURES.

1. ST. CATAN’S, GIGHA, OFF KINTYRE.

Old church, oblong, 33 feet long and 15 feet 2 inches in width. One long lanciform window in east end (Fig. 62); stone font.[107]

In Islay numerous traces of chapels are found, of which the following are the best preserved; some have lancet windows, and the others, with square or round heads, do not appear to be very old.

2. KILDALTON, ISLAY.

Church, 60 feet long. East end contains two long lanciform windows, recessed semi-circularly within--one in west gable and one in each side wall. In south wall a canopied piscina and effigy of mailed figure.[108]

3. KILNAUGHTON, ISLAY.

Church, internally 38 feet long; west end blank. Small narrow window in east gable.[109]

4. KILNEAVE, ISLAY.

Church, 30 feet long, and not very old. Two windows, short and wide--one in east elevation and one in south wall. Arches semi-circular, of thin stones.[110] (Fig. 63.)

5. KILCHIERAN, ISLAY.

East end and fragment of south wall of chapel. No window, but two recesses in east wall inside, with ambry and projecting piscina.[111]

6. ST. NINIAN’S, SANDA.

An island off the east coast of the Mull of Cantyre. The church is an oblong, 32 feet 9 inches. (Fig. 64.) Walls pretty entire. Doorway

plain, chamfered, and flat-headed, at north-west. Windows small and flat-headed. (Fig. 65.) Small circular piscina. Lying inside, bowl of font.[112]

7. ST. COLUMBA’S ISLE, LEWIS.

At the mouth of Loch Erisort is St. Columba’s Chapel, externally 35 feet 6 inches in length and 18 feet 7 inches in width. East elevation nearly entire; contains flat-headed window, 4 feet by 6 inches, and in west gable smaller one same shape. South side contains a narrow lanciform window, and broken doorway on left. North side nearly gone.[113]

8. PENNYGOWAN, MULL.

Chapel, 39 feet 9 inches long internally. Three narrow single-light windows, with heads slightly curved; doorway similar. East end blank.[114]

9. LAGGAN, MULL.

Chapel, 35 feet long internally. North side, long lanciform window and round-headed door; heads of one stone; east end of south side long, narrow round-headed window; west end, window with drip-stone; east end blank. Basin of octagonal font.[115]

10. INCHKENNETH, NEAR ULVA.

Remains of church; seems to be of early first pointed date; simple oblong, 40 feet 8 inches long by 19 feet 8 inches wide, with small ruined sacristy on south-east. Flat buttresses at corner of east end, which contains two long lancet windows enormously splayed inside. Side walls have each one similar window, and broken doorway in north wall. Circular piscina.[116]

11. ST. MOLUAC, RAASAY.

First pointed. Internally 46 feet in length. In west end two short narrow lancets, semi-arched inside, one in middle of wall, the other aloft in gable. In east end one similar. In south wall two windows and flat-headed doorway, and inside a large semi-recess in wall.[117]

12. KILLEAN, KINTYRE.

Perhaps Mother-Church. Details more elaborate than usual, vaulted, and sacristy or chantry chapel at north-east. A south-west doorway, and another near east end of south wall, and apparently an unusually distinguished chancel. Narrow round-headed lights on both sides. East end a very long couplet, formerly separated by a buttress; tooth ornament round exterior openings; moulded label, string and cornice, and corner nook shaft.[118]

13. KILBRIDE, KNAPDALE.

Large, not much ruined.[119]

14. EORRAPIDH, LEWIS.

Teampull Moluach. Simple oblong; internally 44 feet long by 17 feet 9 inches wide, with north-east sacristy and south-east chapel, both roofed with lean-to. (Fig. 66.) Doorway at south-west, semi-arched;

east window round head, rear arch pointed; west window smaller, round head with round rear arch. At top of east and of side walls two small square windows close together, and to west one large and round-headed of one stone. Windows in side buildings mere slits, flat in head.[120]

15. OLRIG, CAITHNESS.

Walls of old church apparently first pointed.[121]

16. KILCHIEVEN OR KILCOIVEN, KINTYRE.

Simple oblong, a good deal demolished; 51 feet 8 inches long by 17 feet 8 inches wide internally. North-west pointed doorway; remains of two-light window in south wall, and hole in south wall for piscina. (Fig. 67.)

CHURCHES IN ORKNEY AND SHETLAND.

DRAWN AND DESCRIBED BY SIR HENRY DRYDEN, BART.

About forty years ago the ancient churches of Orkney and Shetland were minutely examined by Sir Henry Dryden, who then made measured plans and drawings of the buildings, showing their condition at that time.

In 1870 Sir Henry deposited copies of his drawings (copied by Mr. William Galloway) and descriptions of these churches in the hands of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. As these drawings and descriptions contain much information, which, from the natural decay of the structures, is now lost, it appeared to us that the information collected so long ago by Sir H. Dryden would form an interesting chapter in this work on the ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland.

This view has been adopted by Sir Henry, who has most kindly agreed to allow his drawings and descriptions of the ruined churches of Orkney and Shetland to be embodied in this book. The consent of the Council of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland has also been freely given, and these valuable drawings and descriptions of ancient churches, which are rapidly disappearing, are now published for the first time.

The descriptions are arranged, as far as possible, in the order of the type of the plans, commencing with the oldest type of simple oblong, one-chambered churches, and then continuing with the churches containing architecturally distinguished choir and nave. (See Note by Sir Henry Dryden, pp. 172, 173.)

CHAPEL ON THE BROUGH OF DEERNESS.

The brough is on the east coast of Deerness, and measures on the top about 400 feet north and south by 240 feet east and west. It is separated from the mainland on the south-west by a narrow ravine or “geo,” which is almost wet at high water. (Fig. 68.)

The brough is highest on the north, and at that part is about 90 or 100 feet high. (Fig. 69.) The coast hereabouts is steep and rocky. The use of the word _brough_ for a detached rock, when _no fort_ is placed on it, is not unfrequent.

The chapel (Fig. 70) is near the centre of the brough, enclosed in a yard 57 feet by 45 feet, of which only the foundation remains. The

entrance into this is not evident. The chapel is a parallelogram, 24 feet 5 inches by 17 feet 4 inches outside. The west wall is 3 feet 2 inches, and the others 3 feet 11 inches thick. Only about 4 feet 6 inches and 5 feet in height remain above ground. It stands nearly true east and west, the west end facing a little south of west. It is built of clay slate from 1 foot to 3 feet long, and 2 to 7 inches thick, now much covered with yellow lichen. It has only one doorway (Fig. 71), which is in the west

end, and apparently was only 2 feet wide; but the west wall is irregular, and appears to have been altered and repaired. The upper part of the doorway is gone, but probably it was square headed, with a stone lintel. The jambs are not splayed, and have no rebate for a door, nor is there any bar hole.[122] By digging at the west doorway it appeared probable that the floor inside was about 6 feet below top of sill of east window, but the level is uncertain, as the interior is much covered with debris.

Apparently there was only one window, which is in the east end. (See Fig. 71.) The top is gone, so that it is doubtful whether it was flat or arched. One jamb is gone and the other somewhat mutilated, but 1 foot 9 inches in height of it remains. The window had a clear opening of 1 foot 3 inches, with jambs splayed inside, to 3 feet 6 inches in width. It appears to have had the outer 11 inches of the jambs parallel, and to have contained glass. On a part of the east wall is built a beacon used for the survey.

In the north wall, near east end, is an ambry 2 feet 4 inches wide, not less than 2 feet 4 inches high (top is gone), and 1 foot 11 inches recessed. It has no traces of having had a door.[123] Supposing the floor to have been 6 feet below sill of east window, probably the side walls were about 8 feet high, and the points of the gables about 18 feet from floor. The roof was probably of large slabs of stone along the eaves and above them, either of smaller slabs or of “divots,” fastened down with “simmons” as on houses.

The external length is equal to the diagonal of the square of the width. About 35 yards south of the chapel is a tank or well.

On the south edge of the brough are stones which appear to have once formed a wall, and at this point is the entrance from the “geo.”

Spread over the top of the brough are foundations of at least 18 huts. They are mostly parallelograms, of about 24 feet by 12 feet outside, and the walls 2 feet 6 inches and 3 feet thick. These were for the use of devotees who used this as a place of pilgrimage.

A survey of our coasts and lakes will show how strong a partiality existed in early times for selecting as sites for churches and monastic establishments small islands, isolated rocks, or promontories difficult of access--for instance, the two St. Michael’s Mounts, Lindisfarn, Iona, Ireland’s Eye, Inisfallen, &c. Nor was this taste for isolation peculiar to the coasts. We find throughout Europe, and, indeed, in the East also, numbers of peaks difficult of access, bearing such buildings. The brough of Deerness and the brough of Birsay are good examples.

CHAPEL ON THE NORTH SHORE OF HEAD OF HOLLAND.

This is situated within a few yards of the shore, and not many feet above water level. It is only a heap of ruins, but the measures are just ascertainable. It is a parallelogram, measuring 37 feet east and west by

15 feet 4 inches north and south inside. The north and south walls are 2 feet 6 inches thick, and east and west ends 3 feet 3 inches, and are of the red sandstone of the locality. There was a door in the south wall. Planned in 1870. (Fig. 72.)

HALCRO CHAPEL, SOUTH RONALDSHAY.

This is now wholly destroyed, and even the foundations taken out, but the measures were obtained by Mr. G. Petrie so soon after the removal of the latter that the thickness of the walls could be accurately determined.

It was a parallelogram, 21 feet by 14 feet inside. The walls were 2 feet 6 inches thick. The place of the doorway was not ascertained. Planned in 1870. (Fig. 73.)

ST. TREDWELL’S CHAPEL, PAPA WESTRAY.

This chapel is situated on a little holm in a fresh water loch on the east side of Papa Westray. (Fig. 74.) It appears probable that a Pict’s

house was constructed on this holm, and that the chapel was built on its ruins. This St. Tredwell is the same as St. Triduana, whose day in the Roman calendar is October 8th. She is not mentioned by Alban Butler. The chapel was much frequented in its day, and many benefits were said to

be obtained from the Saint by her devotees. It is a plain parallelogram (Fig. 75), 20 feet 3 inches east and west by 13 feet 10 inches north and south inside, and stands west by south and east by north. There is a narrow doorway near the west end of the south side. Only the lower portions of the walls remain, except at north-west angle, which measures 8 feet high; but here we have, as usual, the unfortunate information that within memory the east gable and south wall were standing. The thickness of the wall on the north is 3 feet 11 inches; east, 4 feet 2 inches; south, 4 feet 3 inches; and west, 4 feet 9 inches. It is stated that there was a window in the east end, and that the doorway was flat headed. No trace of a window remains, and only about 3 feet 6 inches of the door jambs remain. These have a rebate into which a door is fitted, but whether in a wooden frame or not cannot be ascertained. The original floor appears to have been 10 feet above water level.

There is no means of assigning a date to the building, but the difference in the thickness of the walls makes it possible that it has been altered since its first erection. Planned 1870.

CHURCH AT SWENDRO, ROUSAY.

This is in a graveyard, close to the west shore of Rousay, about a mile north of Westness. It consists of a long parallelogram, and, but for a stoup near the door, and apparently an ambry near the east end, might be taken for a post-Reformation building. It has been used till within memory. It stands about east and west. (Fig. 76.) It is 52 feet 11

inches east and west by 14 feet 5 inches north and south inside; and the walls are 2 feet 6 inches on north and south, 2 feet 11 inches on east, and 3 feet 8 inches on the west. It is now roofless, and in some parts broken. From the floor to the top of side walls is 9 feet 10 inches.

There is one doorway near the west end of south wall. (See Fig. 76.) This is flat headed and rebated, measuring 3 feet 4 inches clear width. To the west of this doorway and low down is a window 2 feet 11 inches by 1 foot 4 inches clear, flat headed, and splayed inwards and outwards. Between the window and the doorway (inside) is a recess, probably for holy water. To the east of the doorway is a window 3 feet 3½ inches by 1 foot 4 inches, flat headed, and splayed as before. The head is nearly as high as the eaves. Farther east is another similar window. About midway along the north wall is a window 2 feet 1½ inch by 1 foot, clear opening, flat headed, and splayed as before. The head is nearly as high as the eaves. In the east end (Fig. 77) is a window, of which the sill is nearly as high as the eaves, 4 feet by 1 foot 2 inches, clear opening, with flat head, and splays in and out; under this window, and across the end inside, is a sort of shelf at the height of the top of the altar. In the west end is a

window above the level of the eaves, 3 feet 5 inches by 1 foot 4 inches. There is a seat inside, along the west end and part of the north side. The east and west gables are in steps, which remain tolerably entire. The floor of the church is gone. In the yard are numerous rough tombstones, and a few more modern. Outside the north-west corner of the yard is the foundation of a small, strong, rectangular building, which has more the appearance of a fort than a church; but close to it, as is stated, were found some carved stones of the red sandstone, now at Westness, one of which appears to be the cap of an elaborate church doorway, with three shafts on each side. Planned 1870.

ST. OLA, KIRKWALL.

This church stands in Bridge Street Lane, and is now a carpenter’s shop and warehouse, the property of Mrs. John Reid. It formerly was enclosed in “a close” or court, and was once converted into a “poorhouse,” from which the close was called “Poorhouse Close.” It has been so much mutilated in its several conversions that little can be stated of its original style and arrangement.

It stands about west by south and east by north. It consists of one parallelogram, 35 feet by 18 feet inside. (Fig. 78.) The south side

abuts on the lane, and a house is attached to the west end, from which house into the chapel a modern doorway has been cut.

The south wall is 2 feet 11 inches thick, the west 3 feet 6 inches.

The original entrance is on the south, 17 feet from the exterior west angle. (Fig. 79.) It is 3 feet 5 inches wide, with a semicircular head and continuous mouldings of a hollow, ornamented with four-leaved flowers and a filleted roll, like many of the mouldings in the cathedral, except as to the flowers. When the street was paved about thirty years ago the ground was raised, the jambs were covered up 9 inches, two stones were inserted just below the impost and the arch raised. What the height of the side walls was is not now evident. They are now about 20 feet above the original floor at the entrance. Probably the ridge was about 24 feet high.

The east end has no trace of an original window, but a modern one has been inserted. In the south wall near the east angle is a modern window, but probably in the place of an original one. The other original windows cannot be traced. Probably there was a step at 10 feet or 11 feet from the east end, and perhaps a screen. A few feet east of the entrance inside was a stoup or piscina (see Fig. 79). In the north wall near the east angle remains an ambry (see Fig. 79) 1 foot 4¾ inches wide, 2 feet 1 inch high, and 1 foot 3½ inches recessed. The head is an ogee arch under a hood moulding, and it is flanked by buttresses with finials. The bottom of this ambry is 5 feet 1 inch above what appears to have been the original level of the floor. The moulding of this resembles that of the entrance, except in having no flowers.

In the east wall near the south angle is a smaller ambry, also ogee headed and less ornate, the bottom of which is 2 feet 6 inches above the floor. The use of the ogee is very rare in Scotland. The only curves of that kind in St. Magnus are in fragments of Bishop Tulloch’s tomb.

South of the chapel in what is now the lane were found, in forming the lane, gravestones and human bones. Close by the chapel was lying, in 1855, a stone, having on it, sculptured in relief, apparently a shield, under a mitre, but too much defaced to be recognised, and below the shield, “Robertvs ...,” and a date or letters illegible. Bishop Robert Reid held the see from 1540 to the Reformation; and as the mouldings (especially the four-leaved flower and the ogee arch) point to the fifteenth century, perhaps the chapel may be a late example of the style, and be assigned to him. His coat of arms is a stag’s head cabossed.

The parish in which the town of Kirkwall is situated is that of St. Ola, and it is certain that in this part of the town was the parish church, dedicated to the great warrior saint of Norway--St. Olaf.

The fact of burials having been made close to this building makes it probable that this was the parish church; not a chapel of ease or of private endowment. Of course, this building was not the _first_ parish church, though it may have occupied the site of the first, and probably did so.

It was probably after the constitution of Kirkwall as a royal burgh, about 1470, that the cathedral became practically the parish church, and St. Ola became merged in Kirkwall. The name Kirkwall (Church-bay), being wholly Norse, is some evidence that the name was caused by a Norse, not a Culdee, church. The situation could hardly fail to induce settlement of the Norsemen there. In the name Egilsey we have inference of a different origin, as will be hereafter mentioned. But supposing that the conjecture as to the name of Kirkwall is correct, it does not prove that there was not a Culdee church there.[124] Planned 1855.

_Note by Geo. Petrie, Kirkwall, Corr. Mem. Soc. Antiq. Scot._

According to Jo. Ben, whose description of Orkney is dated in 1529, St. Ola’s Church was reduced to ashes by the English, probably during one of their many raids on the islands about that time. One of the raids was on 13th August 1502. As apparently corroborative of Sir Henry Dryden’s conjecture, that St. Ola’s Church was the parish church before the cathedral was so styled, an old charter in my possession proves that not only was the church known as St. Ola’s Kirk, but it had “St. Olaf’s Kirkyard,” “St. Olaf’s Burn,” and “St. Olaf’s Brig” in its vicinity. I think the fair inference from this is, that a church built here during the early part of the Norsemen’s possession of the islands was dedicated with its “kirkyard” to St. Olaf. The name soon extended to the neighbouring small stream or burn, and the “brig” by which it was crossed; and in the course of time embraced a considerable portion of the surrounding country. It is very probable that St. Ola’s Kirk occupied the same site on which stood the older building, from which the town was named by the Norsemen Kirkevaag (Kirk-bay), which was anciently pronounced “Kirkwaw,” and appears in that form in some old documents in my possession.

The fact that St. Ola’s Church had been destroyed in the beginning of the sixteenth century renders it almost certain that Sir Henry Dryden must be correct in attributing the erection of the church, of which there are considerable remains, to Bishop Robert Reid, as the style of architecture, as shown by Sir Henry, is in keeping with the period to which he supposes the building to belong.

The charter I have referred to is dated at “Kirkwall in Orknay ye last of July” 1580, and granted by “John Tailyor and Henrie Tailyor brether germane, and airis to our umqle fayir (father) Andro Tailyor, to our weil-be-louit friend Magnus Paplay” of “All and Haill ane hall, ane seller, ane chalm. yr.aboue wyt. yaird and pt.nents yr.to p.tene.g quhatsomeuir lyand adjacent to Sanct Olaiffis brig, Kirk and Kirkyaird of the samy. having on the Est pt. y.roff the housses p.tene.g to Symound Beatoun; on the West pt. Sanct Olaiffis Kirk and yaird of the samy.; on the South pt. the housses p.tene.g to Johnne Vysshart and Sant Olaffis burne yr. betuixt and to ye North pt. Sanct Katereins quoyis.”

THE FOLLOWING CHURCHES ARE OF THE TYPE CONTAINING CHANCEL AND NAVE.

CHURCH ON THE ISLAND OF WYRE.

This stands on a flat piece of ground about the middle of the island, in a walled burial-ground, still used. The chapel has no roof, and is much filled up with rubbish. Large parts of the south wall have tumbled, as well as smaller portions of other walls. (Fig. 80.)

It is built of grey whinstone, without any freestone dressings. The stones average about 1 foot 6 inches long by about 5 inches thick. It

consists of chancel and nave, with a door at west end--all built at the same time. (Fig. 81.) The extreme exterior length is 35 feet 10 inches, and width 18 feet 4 inches. It stands west by south and east by north. The nave is 19 feet 2 inches by 12 feet 10 inches inside.

The west entrance is 2 feet 6 inches wide at bottom, with semicircular head, the feet of which are set back at the impost 2½ inches on each side. (Fig. 82.) This mode of putting the arch on was probably done to give a support to the centre on which the arch was built. The jambs are parallel, 3 feet 2 inches thick, and have no rebate for a door, nor any traces of there having been one.[125] There is no cap. The impost is 4 feet 11 inches above original stone sill. The whole interior is from 1 foot 6 inches to 2 feet deep in rubbish.

The west wall is 3 feet 2 inches thick, the north and south about 3 feet.

There are no windows on the north or west of the nave. There are two on the south side, but only one of these appears original. This has a

clear opening of 1 foot 10 inches by 8 inches, with a flat head. The jambs splay inward to 2 feet 3 inches in width. The outer edges are broken, so that it is uncertain whether it had an external chamfer.

The upper part of the side walls is in many places destroyed, but as far as can be now ascertained, the top of the nave walls was 11 feet 5 inches above the sill of west door. The chancel walls were only 4 or 5 inches lower.

The upper part of all the gables is gone.

The chancel arch is exactly like the west entrance in every way. The jambs are 3 feet thick. A springer of the gable-coping remains at the north-east angle, 1 foot wide, 7 or 8 inches thick, and of 1 foot projection. In 1852 the springer at the south-west angle was existing. The chancel is 7 feet 10 inches by 7 feet 2 inches inside.

There is one window on the south which appears to have been round headed, and 2 feet 7 inches by 11 inches. The jambs splay inward to

2 feet 11 inches in width. The outer edges are broken, but there seems to have been an external splay. There is no ambry, and no trace of altar or altar place.

The springers of the gable-coping remain at the south-east and north-east angles. These are 1 foot wide and about 8 inches thick, and project 1 foot.

The roofs of nave and chancel were either of tie-beam construction or of rafters coupled half-way up, and covered with stone slates.

My conjectural restoration makes the ridge of the nave roof 19 feet above the sill of the west entrance. This chapel closely resembles in size and form the chapel at Lybster, in Caithness, described farther on in this work (p. 162). Probably Wyre Chapel is of the twelfth or thirteenth century, but the characteristics are not decisive enough to approximate more closely to its date. It is called “Cubberow” Chapel, from its vicinity to Cubberow Castle.

The exterior length of the nave is equal to the diagonal of the square of its exterior width. The chancel is nearly square.

CHURCH ON THE ISLAND OF ENHALLOW.

This church, till lately, was unknown for many years, having been converted long ago into a cottage. On the small island Enhallow (the Holy Island), on the south-west slope of it, and about 200 yards from the shore, is a cluster of four cottages, in which four families lived. In 18--fever broke out among them, and the owner, Mr. Balfour, took the whole

off the island, and pulled the roofs off the cottages. In this clearance the church was discovered. Having been altered and added to in its church time, and having since been altered and added to in its domestic time, its history is very puzzling.

It is of grey whinstones, mostly from 1 foot to 2 feet long (average 1 foot 6 inches), and 6 inches to 2 inches thick. The exterior length is 52 feet 8 inches, and the extreme width 23 feet 4 inches. It stands nearly exactly east and west. (Fig. 83.) The nave is 20 feet 7 inches by 12 feet inside. On the west of this, and entered through a round-headed arch, 4 feet 3 inches wide, with parallel jambs 2 feet 8 inches thick, is a building 7 feet 9 inches and 7 feet 5 inches inside, with walls 2 feet 7 inches thick, without any doorway to the outside, and with only one small square window to the south, perhaps not original. It is in the position of a tower, but it is not likely that a tower of that size would have been added to so small a church, and the walls are too thin. The size and character of the arch into it (Fig. 84) are against the notion that it was a

priest’s room, supposing the room to be cotemporary with the arch. So little remains of the side walls that with regard to the windows and roof and height we are left to conjecture. There is no appearance of its having been higher than the nave. It most resembles a chancel on the west, and there is in Uyea, Shetland, a chapel with an adjunct, apparently original, in that position. If we may suppose that the west arch was the _original_ entrance to the church, and that the south doorway was of later date, then this building may have been a sacristy, cotemporary with the south doorway. The floor of the late cottage was about 1 foot 3 inches above what appears to have been the floor of the west arch, which is 5 feet 5 inches below the top of cap. The north wall is 2 feet 10 inches thick, and the south wall 2 feet 6 inches. They are about 10 feet 6 inches or 11 feet above the supposed sill of the west arch.

The south doorway is of ecclesiastical date, even if the jambs are not original. The north doorway is perhaps domestic, though resembling that on south. They have the usual rebate and wooden frames fixed in them, and have lately been the doors of the cottage.

The heads are square. (Fig. 85.) Probably at the beginning of the domestic period the south one was altered in some degree, and the north one made or altered. If the building at the west end was the original chancel, these entrances are not cotemporary with _that_, being in wrong position for that arrangement.

It is not certain whether the present chancel on the east is cotemporary with the nave, or whether there was an earlier one or none; but the present chancel arch is clearly an addition of a much later date than the nave. (See Fig. 84.) It is 4 feet 1 inch wide, pointed, has red freestone caps chamfered, and the mark of insertion is clear on the north side of it. It will be seen that the nave is 11 feet 3 inches wide at west end, and 12 feet at east, and in the south-east corner there is a slight projection and roughness. This may be the junction of a former south wall of the nave which got out of repair, or it may be the junction of the jamb of the chancel arch. When the chapel came to be used for a cottage it was divided into two stories. (Fig. 86.)

On the north (Fig. 87) is one window, square headed, 2 feet by 1 foot 2 inches clear, with splayed jambs, but without freestone dressings or external chamfer, and in north-east corner is an ambry 3 feet 9 inches by 3 feet 9 inches, and 1 foot 6 inches recess. The bottom is 3 feet 6 inches above the original floor. The position is peculiar.

On the south is a window like that on the north, and three small ambries, perhaps one or all domestic.

The windows and doors on the north side of the nave and chancel are higher than on south side, owing to the slope of the ground.

The chancel is 12 feet 8 inches by 8 feet 9 inches inside, set out symmetrically with the nave. (See Fig. 83.) When it was made domestic a doorway was cut in the north wall. For some reason the upper part of the south wall was pulled down, and a casing put _outside_ the lower part. A fireplace and chimney were made in the east wall, and a new face put outside the whole east end, including the added piece on the south, for no break or juncture is visible outside the east end. On the north is one window 2 feet by 1 foot clear, with splayed jambs, but no freestone dressings, and no external chamfer.[126] To the east of it is a small ambry. The window and ambry on the north are on a higher level than on the south.

When the casing was added on the south, the window was shifted out, or a lintel put in the added piece. Red freestone quoins and two sills (or possibly one, a square head) are lying near, and the jambs of the south window are much broken. Probably this sill, jamb stones, and head formed the south window, and are cotemporary with the chancel arch, having, perhaps, supplanted a window like that on the north.

Outside the south door of nave is a square addition, measuring 8 feet 1 inch by 7 feet 7 inches inside, now only 6 feet high, containing a radiating stair of five freestone steps. (See Fig. 83.) The west wall of it is 3 feet, and the south and east 2 feet 3 inches. There is no evidence of what this was, or led to, but the building certainly is ecclesiastical by the character of the work. The entrance to it from outside is on the east. Perhaps the stair led to a priest’s room or parvise over the porch, which, however, must have been very small; or it led to a bell turret. There are several jamb stones of red freestone belonging to a doorway lying about, and one (apparently in its proper position) is in the jamb of the outer entrance of this porch. (Fig. 88.) This makes it probable that this building is cotemporary with chancel arch. The red freestone window jambs, above mentioned, may have come out of this porch. Whatever the upper part of this porch was, the roof must have been higher than the eaves of the nave.

Plaster, apparently ancient, remains on the south wall of chancel lower part--on jambs of north window of chancel on east side of the chancel arch in the ambry on north side of the nave.

The roof was either of tie-beam arrangement, or of rafters coupled half-way up and covered with stone slates, or “divots.” The ridge of the nave roof was about 18 feet above sill of west arch.

The general history may be thus conjectured. In the eleventh or twelfth century a chapel was built of nave and chancel at the east end of the nave, and an entrance in the west end of the nave. In the fourteenth

century a new chancel arch was inserted, north and south doorways made, sacristy built at the west end, and a porch and parvise made outside the south doorway. After it became domestic the changes before described were made in the chancel. At a later date other additions were made. (Fig. 89.)

If we suppose that the west building is the original _chancel_, the original _entrance_ was in the place now occupied by the chancel arch.

The proportion of the inside of the nave is that of the “vesica piscis”--the width to the length as the base of an equilateral triangle to the length of two such triangles on opposite sides of that base, and the internal length of the chancel is equal to the diagonal of the square of the internal width.

Barry mentions a tradition that neither rats, mice, nor cats will live on the island, which tradition agrees with the name of the island.

CHAPEL AT LINTON, IN SHAPINSAY.

This chapel is near the shore at the south-east part of the island. It consists of nave and chancel, and stands nearly exactly east and west. (Fig. 90.) The extreme length is 35 feet 9 inches, and the width 19 feet

5 inches. About 7 feet in height of the east end of the nave, including the arch into the chancel (Fig. 91), remains; but of the rest only about 2 feet and 3 feet remain. It is built of whinstone without any freestone dressings.

The nave is 18 feet by 13 feet 7 inches inside. The walls are 3 feet thick.

The entrance is in the south wall near the west angle, differing in this point from most of the early chapels, and is 2 feet 8 inches wide with parallel unrebated jambs.[127] The upper part of the entrance is gone, but probably it was a semicircular arch. (Fig. 92.) Nothing can be stated

of the windows. The chancel arch (see Fig. 92) is semicircular, of rough stone, 3 feet wide, with plain parallel jambs, and the arch is set back on the jambs at the impost, which is about 5 feet 6 inches high from the supposed floor of the nave. The inside is much filled with rubbish. It is uncertain whether there was a step at the chancel arch. The chancel is 7 feet 6 inches by 7 feet inside, narrower than the nave by the thickness of the walls. The north and south walls are 2 feet 10 inches thick, and the east wall 3 feet 4 inches. Only about 2 feet in height of the east wall remains, though within the memory of man the east gable was standing and a cross on it.

Nothing can be stated of the windows. The exterior length of the nave and the interior width are in the proportion of the vesica piscis. The chancel is nearly square.

This chapel bears close resemblance in form and size to Wyre Chapel, and is probably about the same date. It is supposed by the owner that Linton Farm formed part of St. Catherine’s lands, and that this chapel was dedicated to that Saint.

CHAPEL IN WESTRAY.

This is in the “West Graveyard,” which is still used, though the chapel has been for many years a ruin. It consists of nave and chancel, and is built of the schist of the locality. It stands east and west, within two degrees. (Fig. 93.)

The nave originally measured 19 feet east and west by 13 feet 4 inches north and south inside, but was elongated long subsequently to its erection, so that latterly it was 46 feet 7 inches by 13 feet 4 inches inside. The original length is shown by a break in the south wall at 24 feet 7 inches from the south-east angle of the nave, and by the position of the

original doorway, which at the elongation was stopped up. There is also a tradition that the church was enlarged, and when certain people within memory were pulling it down, an old inhabitant begged them not to “pull down the Danes’ work,” alluding to the chancel and eastern part of the nave. Of the elongation little more than the foundations remain; but it is evident that there was not a door in the west end or north side, so that it must have been somewhere in the south wall, between the old blocked doorway and the south-west angle. The side walls are 3 feet thick. Of the old part of the south wall, fortunately, we have considerable part. (See Fig. 93.) The old doorway is nearly complete. It had plain parallel jambs, without rebate, 2 feet 4 inches apart, a plain projecting abacus, and a semicircular head set back at the impost. To the east of that is a window entire. It has a semicircular head, and measures 2 feet 7 inches high by 11½ inches clear opening, with jambs splayed to the width of 1 foot 7½ inches.

The chancel arch remains entire. (Fig. 94.) It has plain angular jambs 4 feet apart, a plain abacus of schist and a semicircular head. The impost is 5 feet 7 inches above what appears to be the old floor. (Fig. 95.) The wall is 2 feet 9 inches thick. The chancel is 9 feet 1 inch east and west by 6 feet 8 inches north and south inside. It had a

cylindrical vault, of which part remains. (Fig. 96.) It springs from the level of the impost of the chancel arch, and is slightly set back at the impost, as many of the old arches were, to give support to the centering.

It had one window, which was in the east end, which is now gone; but within a few years the east gable was existing. According to an old inhabitant the east window was like the south one in the nave. The vault is 1 foot 3 inches thick.

In the graveyard is lying what appears to be the saddlestone of one of the gables, of the red sandstone of Eday.

This chapel probably is of the twelfth century, and possibly of the thirteenth. Planned 1870.

CHURCH ON EGILSEY.

The island on which this church stands is about three miles north and south and one mile east and west. The church is on the west side of it near the Howa Sound, which separates Egilsey from Rousay, and is a conspicuous object from all sides, as the island has no prominent points, and the church is on the highest ground.

The flood tide runs from north-west to south-east. There is a landing-place at the south point and on west side, but not at north point. The name Egilsey or Egilshay is derived from an ancient form of the Gaelic word _eaglais_, a church (derived from ecclesia), with the Norse addition of _ey_, an island.

Professor Munch infers that the Norsemen founded a church here, and called the island after it; and if this is the case, the date of the erection of the church is put very far back, unless we suppose this to be a _second_ church. It was dedicated to St. Magnus; but this might be a second dedication, and probably was so. At the end of this article are further remarks on this point. The church is complete, except the roofs and the upper part of the tower, and was used up to about 18--as the place of worship. It consists of a chancel nave and tower at the west end of the nave, and stands nearly exactly east and west. (Fig. 97.)