Divine Wind

Today we headed towards Orkney's capital Kirkwall, to explore the east of the Mainland.

First up was the Earl's Palace and Bishop's Palace, except it being October and no longer tourist season on Orkney meant they were no longer open to visitors.  But we had a good old wander and gander anyway...

The Bishop's Palace

The Bishop's Palace was the grand residence of the medieval bishops of Orkney.  It was built in the mid-1100s, around the same time as St Magnus Cathedral.  A medieval bishop was an important, powerful man and required a residence appropriate to his status, close to his cathedral and suitable for royal visitors.

When the cathedral and palace were built, Orkney was under Norwegian control.  The palace was of a style and layout similar to Haakon's Hall in Bergen, with a long, tall hall on the upper floor and a large, square tower next to it (which has not survived).

Next door, the Earl's Palace was once known as the finest example of French Renaissance architecture in Scotland.  It was built between 1601 and 1606 by Patrick Stewart, Earl of Orkney, and was at the heart of his scheme to create a magnificent new complex incorporating the old Bishop's Palace.

The Earl's Palace

Sketch of what Patrick Stewart's complex might have looked like
with the Earl's Palace on the left and Bishop's Palace on the right

Patrick was an illegitimate cousin of King James VI.  As young men they had been good friends, but Patrick was notoriously ambitious, arrogant and irresponsible.  'Black Patie' as he became known, had a reputation for cruelty and violence, and a taste for luxury he could not afford.  Before his palace was even completed he was 'downit in debt'. Nor did he have long to enjoy it - in 1607 a royal decree required him to hand it over to the bishop, though he did not do so until 1610.

St Magnus Cathedral, constructed from local red sandstone, is Kirkwall's centrepiece and dates from the early 12th century.  Earl Rognvald Brusason commissioned the cathedral in 1137 in the name of his martyred uncle, Magnus Erlendsson, who was killed by Earl Hakon Paulsson on Egilsay in 1117.  It was part of the Archdiocese of Nidaros (Trondheim) in Norway, and a few years after Orkney became part of Scotland in 1468 the cathedral was given to the people of Kirkwall by the Scots King James III.  After the Scottish Reformation in 1560 the cathedral was used for Protestant worship.  Today the cathedral belongs to the people of Orkney and is looked after by Orkney Islands Council.  It has a Church of Scotland congregation, but by arrangement can be used by any Christian denomination.

Magnus Erlensson shared the Earldon of Orkney in the early 1100s with his cousin Hakon, but the two men disagreed and Orkney suffered as a result.  To settle the dispute, Magnus and Hakon held a meeting on the island of Egilsay.  Hakon broke the agreement to bring two ships of unarmed men, instead arriving with eight ships full of armed men.  Rather than kill Magnus himself, Hakon ordered his cook Lidolf to do the deed.  Magnus died praying, killed by an axe blow to the his head.  He was buried in Bursay and stories grew of miracles at his grave, so people began to believe Magnus was a holy man.  Magnus's nephew Rognvald came from Norway to claim his uncle's Earldom.  He promised the people of Orkney that he would build a 'great stone minster' in honour of Magnus and create a place of pilgrimage.

The remains of Magnus were brought to Kirkwall, followed a few
years later by those of Rognvald, killed in 1158.  The bones of both
saints, rediscovered in late centuries, still lie within the walls
of the choir

Bell from the HMS Royal Oak which was
torpedoed by the German submarine U-47
in Scapa Flow on 14th October 1939 with
the loss of 833 men and boys

A replica of the box used to transport the bones of St Magnus from
Birsay to Kirkwall in the 1150s

Post warming lunch we continued south down the mainland towards Lamb Holm and the Italian Chapel, with a quick stop to purchase a different kind of Orcadian landmark.

The Italian Chapel is the only building that remains of Camp 60, a Prisoner of War (POW) camp constructed during the latter half of 1941.  From January 1942 until the Spring of 1945 the Camp housed Italian POWs who were captured at Tobruk and Benghazi following the North African campaign during WWII. They were brought in to assist the contractors with the construction of causeways, later known as the Churchill Barriers, to block off the eastern approaches to Scapa Flow where the British Fleet lay at anchor.  These were constructed after the disastrous sinking of the Royal Oak by the submarine U47 which manoeuvred between the blockships which constituted the defence of Scapa Flow at the time.

The prisoners' civilian occupations covered a wide range of skills, from artists and sculptors to electricians and iron workers.  The prisoners laid concrete paths, constructed outdoor tables and benches, put on lavish productions, published a newspaper, played bowls and played billiards on a home made concrete table, but they did not have a chapel.

On 30th September 1943 Padre Gioachino Giacobazzi of the Order of the Little Brothers arrived at the camp and through his enthusiastic efforts two Nissen huts were made available to the prisoners.  Under Domenico Chiocchetti's supervision, who was an artist by trade, the pictorial and decorative work as well as the altar, tabernacle, candlesticks, lamps, rood screen, windows and coloured glass were all designed.  All of the work was expressed in terms of the simplest material - mostly scrap, wood from a wrecked ship and concrete sculpted with loving skill and care.

The inside of the Nissen huts are lined with plasterboard and at
the alter end, with fibre board, and then painted to give the
appearance of tiles and a stonework frieze

The chapel was only used for a very short time.  In May 1945, before it was completely finished, the prisoners were moved to Skipton in Yorkshire, for repatriation.  Chiocchetti stayed behind to finish the font on which he was working.

Signor Domenico Chiocchetti on the left and
Signor Guiseppe Palumbi (who was responsible
for the wrought iron work) on the right

The Churchill barrier between Burray and Glimps Holm with
a rusted wreck of a blockship

We'd planned on heading all the way down to the bottom of South Ronaldsay and as far south in Orkney as we could get, to visit the Tomb of the Eagles, but to be honest it was so windy that the idea of traipsing a clifftop path in squalling rain to crawl into a tomb did not sound like fun!  So instead we travelled back to our Air BnB via Earl's Bu and Church and the Orkneyinga Saga Centre in Ophir.

Written around 1200, the Orkneyinga Saga is a rich tale of sorcery, political intrigue and cunning and unscrupulous acts among the Viking earls of Orkney.  Part myth and part historical fact, it begins with the capture of the islands by the king of Norway and recounts the tumultuous centuries until they become part of Scotland.

Part of that saga includes Earl Paul who had a great yule feast, which he prepared in his bu in Ophir. The saga continued with brotherly jealousy and grisly death, as all things Viking around here seem to, but the Bu and old church mentioned still remain.

The Early's Bu was manor house of the Norse earls of Orkney in the
12th century.  It comprised a group of farm buildings, a 'drinking
hall' for feasting and other store-rooms and chambers

The round church adjacent to the Bu is of very like other 12th
century Orkney buildings, and consists of the chancel and part
of the nave of one of the only two medieval round churches
in Scotland

When we finally got home we had one last walk on the beach, which ended up lasting about two minutes because it really. was. freezing!  Stunning skies though.