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
[Illustration: FIG. 95.--Chapel in Westray. View from North-West.]
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.
[Illustration: FIG. 96.--Chapel in Westray. View from South-East.]
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.
[Illustration: FIG. 97.--Church on Egilsey. Ground Plan.]
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.)
The only alterations which appear to have been made in the building are
two or three windows. The ground plan shows a proportion which, if not
intentional, is singular. If four circles of the exterior diameter of
the tower are laid down in a line, and the first occupied by the tower,
the second and third fill the inside of the nave, and the fourth takes
in the chancel, including the side walls, but excluding the east wall.
The whole is of grey whinstone, without any freestone dressings, and has
become very picturesque in colour, from the rich grey lichen on some
parts and bright yellow lichen on others.
The masonry is chiefly in courses, but the size of the stones very
irregular, some being as large as 4 feet long and 1 foot 6 inches deep.
The interstices are filled with very small stones. Here and there
irregular blocks are inserted.
The whole is built with mortar.
The extreme length is 62 feet 9 inches, and the extreme width is 21 feet
7 inches.
The nave is 29 feet 9 inches by 15 feet 6 inches inside. The north and
south walls are 3 feet thick. On the north and south, opposite each
other, are two doorways 2 feet 6 inches wide. These have round arched
[Illustration: FIG. 98.--Church on Egilsey. Section from West to East.]
heads and rebated jambs without chamfers. On the north side of the nave
is a window 3 feet 3 inches high and 8½ inches wide at the outside of
the wall with semicircular head. (Figs. 98-100.) The jambs are splayed
inwards to 2 feet 9 inches wide. On the south is a similar window. It is
to be observed that these windows have no external chamfer--that is, the
outer edges of the jambs are acute angles. This peculiarity is found in
early Irish churches.[128] They were not originally glazed, but probably
had a frame fitted into them, when required, covered with parchment. On
this south side are two windows, not original--one close to the east
wall and low down, the other high up over the south doorway, (see Fig.
102.)
The side walls are about 15 feet 4 inches high from the floor, equal to
the internal width of the nave.
On the west of the nave is the tower, which is circular, 14 feet 10½
inches diameter externally, and 7 feet 8 inches diameter internally. An
arch 2 feet 5 inches wide leads from the nave into it. (Fig. 101.) The
jambs are 3 feet 7 inches thick, and the head is semicircular. The tower
appears to have been built with the nave, although the stones in the
tower are on the average smaller than those in the nave, which
difference may be accounted for by the unfitness of large stones, when
not freestone, for circular work.
[Illustration: FIG. 99.--Church on Egilsey. Section from East to West.]
The tower seems to have contained four chambers, including the one on
the ground.
Above the tower arch, at 16 feet 3 inches from the floor of the nave,
but under the nave roof, is an arched opening in the tower 5 feet 4
inches high and 2 feet 3 inches wide. A similar opening is found in many
early churches in England, the use of which is not ascertained.
Arches in the same position are in St. Magnus.
The nave roof appears to have been of a “square pitch”--that is, the
angle at the apex is about a right angle. Of the construction of the
roof we know nothing, except that it was not vaulted.
Probably all the rafters were framed in couples, and the covering formed
of coarse slates.
Each end of the roof is terminated by a wall 1 foot 2 inches wide,
formed of corby-steps, standing up above the roof as usual. The ridge
of the roof was about 25 feet above the floor. Above the roof of the
nave in the east side of the tower is an arched opening 4 feet 1 inch
high and 1 foot 9 inches wide. At about 7 feet above this is a smaller
opening in the east side, and similar ones in the three other sides of
this story. The top of the tower is now about 11 feet wide, and about 48
feet from the floor of the nave. It is stated that about 15 feet was
taken off the top. Probably it was surmounted by a conical roof.
[Illustration: FIG. 100.--Church on Egilsey. North Elevation.]
On the south side, and near the ground, is a window, but this is a
modern work. There is a small window in the second story looking north.
(See Fig. 99.)
The chancel is 14 feet 11 inches by 9 feet 5½ inches inside; the side
walls 2 feet 9 inches thick, and the east wall about the same. It is
roofed with a plain barrel vault, of which the semicircular chancel arch
forms part. (See Fig. 101.) The impost of this arch is 5 feet from the
floor of the nave. Probably there was a step here or a little farther
east.
The pressure of the vault has forced out the jambs of the arch (that is,
the side walls), and given the arch a horse-shoe form. Dr. Wilson lays
some stress on this peculiarity of form, taking it to be intentional,
but it is purely the result of lateral pressure.
The east end has no window. On the north is a window 1 foot 7½ inches
high and 11 inches wide at the outside, with a semicircular head, below
the impost of the vault. The jambs are splayed inward to 2 feet 1 inch
in width, without an external chamfer. On the south is a similar window.
(Fig. 102.) Probably, like the nave windows, they were not originally
glazed.
Over the vault of the chancel is a chamber, entered from the nave by a
semicircular arch 6 feet 4 inches high and 2 feet 2 inches wide, over
the chancel arch. (See Fig. 101.)
[Illustration: FIG. 101.--Church on Egilsey. West and East Elevations.]
It is lit by a flat-headed window in the east end, 1 foot 6 inches high.
This probably served as a depository for books, muniments, &c.
It is called by the country people “Grief House,” and supposed to have
been a prison, &c.
The side walls of this chamber are 2 feet 4½ inches thick, and the east
wall 2 feet 7½ inches.
The ridge of the chancel roof was 20 feet 9 inches above the floor of
the nave. [Figs. 103, 104 show the appearance of the building from
south-east and north-west.]
It remains too approximate to the date of this church.
There was a church in Egilsey when St. Magnus was murdered in 1110. The
attaching so large a tower to the church tends to show that this was a
church of a superior order when it was built.
The style of architecture (Figs. 103, 104) (discarding certain
indications of an earlier date) prevents our assigning to it a later
date than the beginning of the twelfth century. When we contrast it with
the Kirkwall Cathedral, begun in 1137, we are forced to give an earlier
date than that to Egilsey. This opinion is corroborated by the churches
at Orphir and the Brough of Birsa. The islands were conquered by the
Norsemen in 876, and reconverted to Christianity in 998. The church,
therefore, was probably not built between those dates. There were
Christians in these islands before the arrival of the Norsemen. The name
of the island, as
[Illustration: FIG. 102.--Church on Egilsey. South Elevation.]
before mentioned, is evidence that there was a church of distinction in
Egilsey when they arrived.
Neale[129] supposes that the church to which St. Magnus fled was on the
east side of the island; supposing Haco to have come from Birsay by the
north of Rousay to the east of Egilsey. Haco’s starting point is not
certain; but if it was Birsay, he would naturally have come by the south
of Rousay to the west of Egilsey.
There is some confusion about the Episcopal Church and residence. Barry
(p. 162) quotes Torfœus as stating that Bishop William lived in Egilsey.
Neale (following Barry) has made the same statement.
Torfœus twice states that the bishop resided at Birsa.
The Saga is still more to the point, and states that at the time of St.
Magnus’s death William the Old was bishop, and the see was then at
Birsa. But Torfœus, in three or more other passages, states that Bishop
William _was in_ Egilsey--not necessarily _residing_ there.
We must understand (if Torfœus is right) that he generally _lived_ in
Birsa, but often officiated at Egilsey. We may thence infer that Egilsey
was an important church in Bishop William’s time, and that it was fixed
[Illustration: FIG. 103.--Church on Egilsey.]
on as the place of meeting of Haco and Magnus from being frequently the
bishop’s abode. We do not, however, find the bishop mentioned in the
account of the murder of St. Magnus as adviser or mediator.[130]
Wilson, in his _Prehistoric Annals_, p. 587, has a notice of this
church, to which the reader is referred. He supposes it to be the work
of Irish Christians before the expedition of Harold in 876, and to be
the church which caused the Norsemen to give its present appellation to
the island.
There is at all events nothing to disprove this, but if we put the tower
for the moment out of the question, there is little to induce the
assignment of so early a date. The absence of freestone, the round
arches, the chancel vault, the small number and size of the windows, do
not necessitate a date earlier than the twelfth century.
The tower, then, is the feature which specially points to an earlier
period. Dr. Wilson apparently inclines to class this tower with the
later round towers of Scotland and Ireland.
When, however, we compare it, there appears little or no resemblance
except its circularity.
The round towers, with one or two exceptions, are detached buildings,
though situated within a few feet of churches, have their entrances at
[Illustration: FIG. 104.--Church on Egilsey. North-West View.]
several feet from the ground, and have jambs inclined towards each other
upwards. They have other differences of construction, which, however,
may be in part accounted for by the difference of the available
materials.
The Irish tower which most resembles Egilsey is the smaller one of the
two at Clonmacnoise. This is an integral part of the church, and joined
to the south-east angle of the nave. The entrance to it is on the
ground, from the chancel. To this church Dr. Petrie assigns the date of
some years before 1000 (p. 271). In many particulars the tower at
Egilsey approximates more closely to the round towers of Norfolk, which
are of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. There is no evidence of
another church in another place having existed in the island; nor
account of the _building_ of any church in the island.
These, however, are very slight evidences of the antiquity of the
present church.
There does not appear to be positive evidence that the Christian priests
were exterminated by the Norse conquest; though it is probable that
they would fly westward. If, however, we give up the idea of its Norse
origin, we ought to find resemblances between it and the ancient Irish
churches of the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries. These we do find.
First, the size of Egilsey is close on the authoritative size of the
more important of the ancient churches, presuming the present foot to be
about equal to the ancient Irish foot. The authorised Irish size is 60
feet by 27 feet; Egilsey is 62 feet 9 inches and 21 feet 7 inches. The
lowness of the chancel, the chamber or “croft” over it, the second
chamber in the tower with an arch from it into the nave over the tower
arch, the number and size of the windows, the peculiarity of their
splays, having no exterior chamfer, the character of the masonry, all
resemble the early Irish churches. On the other hand, three great
criteria of an early Irish church are not found in Egilsey--the
approximation of the jambs of doors and windows towards their imposts,
the horizontal heads to the doorways, and the east window. It seems,
however, probable that the difference of the materials induced one of
these differences. It was difficult to get in Orkney lintels strong and
long enough for heads of doorways, though we find them in the broughs.
The rebates in the doorways are again of a very early date.
It seems on the whole fair to suppose Egilsey to have been built after
the traditional Irish form, but with modifications; and soon after the
reconversion of the islands to Christianity in 998. If built before that
time, we must refer it to the beginning or middle of the ninth century.
Unfortunately Neale, when in Orkney, was unable to see this church, and
has given a cut, professing to be an approximate likeness of the tower,
which is very erroneous in several particulars. The etching in Muir’s
“Sketch” is also wrong in proportion.
In the _Orcadian_ of January 1855 is an account by Mr. Petrie of the
finding the remains of Bishop William “the Old” in the cathedral in
1848. His bones, and the chest containing them, were moved when the
cathedral was reseated in 1856. The leaden plate bearing the
inscription, and a bone article (doubtless the cross handle of his
walking stick) found in the chest, are now in the Edinburgh Museum.
CHURCH ON BROUGH OF BIRSAY.
The brough contains about 40 acres, and is separated on the east from
the mainland by a rocky channel, which is about 150 yards wide, and dry
at low water. The surface of the brough slopes down from a high cliff on
the west to a cliff of about 20 feet high on the east. The chapel is
about 50 yards from the shore at the point nearest to the mainland.
(Fig. 105.) It is enclosed in a yard about 33 yards east and west, by 27
yards north and south, of which the wall is destroyed. At the edge of
the cliff are traces of a wall. The chapel consists of nave, chancel,
and apse, all well defined, and all apparently built at the same time.
(Fig. 106.) The material is grey whinstone, and no traces of freestone
dressings appear. It stands nearly east and west, but the west end
facing a little to the north of west.
[Illustration: FIG. 105.--Church on Brough of Birsay. Plan of Site and
Towers.]
The extreme exterior length is 57 feet, and extreme width 21 feet 3
inches.
The west wall is 3 feet 8 inches thick; the north and south walls of
nave and aisles 2 feet 9 inches; the wall of apse 2 feet 4 inches. There
were no buttresses.
[Illustration: FIG. 106.--Church on Brough of Birsay. Plan.]
The interior is filled with debris to the depth of about 2 feet 6 inches
above the floor, and the exterior to about the same depth. Partial
excavations were made for this plan. Of the west end, only 3 feet in
height of wall remains (Fig. 107); of the north wall (Fig. 108) a little
more, and of south wall a little less; of the north wall of chancel, 8
feet 6 inches; of south wall of chancel, about 2 feet; of the apse,
about 2 feet 4 inches. The nave is 28 feet 3 inches by 15 feet 6 inches
inside. The only entrance to the church is in the west end, 3 feet 8
inches wide. The jambs are parallel, without any chamfer, and there is
no rebate for a door nor appearance of hinges; and original plaster
remains on the jamb down to the sill and all across it. There is no
appearance of the insertion of a wooden frame. This mode of making jambs
of doorways is to be seen at Lybster in Caithness, Wyre, Lynton in
Shapinsay, Uya in Shetland, and in some of the oratories in Ireland,
&c.[131] Were there doors in these doorways,
[Illustration: FIG. 107.--Church on Brough of Birsay. East and West
Elevations and Sections.]
and, if so, where placed and how hung? It is known that in many cottages
in old times the door was an animal’s hide hung across the opening, and
probably this may have been the case in these unrebated church
entrances. Possibly this plain jamb may be an evidence of antiquity;
though Egilsey and Kirk of the Ness in Yell have the usual form of jamb.
Probably this doorway was surmounted by a semicircular arch, though many
of the ruder chapels had square-headed doorways with a large stone
lintel, as at Lybster, Caithness. There are very few instances of the
passage between a nave and chancel being square-headed. Where there is a
semicircular arch on plain jambs, as in the doorways beforementioned,
and in some chancel arches, as at Linton, Shapinsay; Kirk of the Ness,
Yell; Wyre, &c., there is generally a peculiarity which may be mentioned
here--the feet of the arch are set back on the jambs at the imposts two
or three inches on each side. This was probably to support the centre on
which the arch was built, instead of supporting it by props from the
floor.
[Illustration: FIG. 108.--Church on Brough of Birsay. North Side
Elevation.]
In the north-east and south-east corners are two circular spaces 5 feet
6 inches in diameter (see Fig. 108), the south one of which contains a
freestone stair step, and the north one some broken stone. Probably both
were staircases; but how high they reached, to what they led, and what
was the superstructure we can only conjecture. One or both may have led
to turrets, or to priests’ rooms over the chancel arch, or chancel or
nave. We cannot suppose a rood-loft to have existed here. The support of
the west side of the stairs is now gone, but we must suppose that a
block of masonry existed which included the circle of the staircase.
Against this, the _seat_ on the south apparently runs past the spot at
which it should have stood, and there are no decisive traces of a
junction in the north and south walls. There is no other solution of the
difficulty. This very massive separation between nave and chancel is
probably unique. M‘Cormac’s chapel at Cashel has a turret and a chamber
in nearly the same positions as these staircases; but the construction
in that case is clear.[132]
A stone seat, 1 foot 2 inches high and 1 foot 2 inches wide, ran all
round the nave--at least, it was traced at west doorway and at the east
end of the south wall of the nave. The roof was probably of tie beam
construction, and covered with stone slabs.
The entrance to the chancel is 4 feet 3 inches wide, of which 4 feet in
height of the jambs remain. They are 3 feet 7 inches thick from west to
east, but if the construction was that suggested above, the jambs were 7
feet from west to east, including an entrance into each turret 2 feet
wide. (Fig. 109.) The entrance to the chancel was probably surmounted by
a semicircular arch of whinstone, plastered, about 8 feet or 9 feet high
to the apex, with string-course caps 4 or 5 inches deep. The angles were
not chamfered.
[Illustration: FIG. 109.--Church on Brough of Birsay. Entrance to
Chancel, and Interior Elevation of West End.]
There is a step in this entrance of only 2 inches, and from that to the
east end of the apse was flush originally. The pavement is of
flagstones. This low position of the original altar is peculiar.
The chancel is 10 feet 9 inches east and west, and 10 feet 3 inches
inside. Only one window remains, which is in the north wall of chancel,
and this has lost its lintel (Fig. 110). The clear opening was 3 feet by
10½ inches, with, as stated, a square head. The window has an internal
and external splay, each widening to 1 foot 10½ inches. This form is
peculiar. There was probably a frame, fixed in the narrow part of the
opening, containing glass. In this wall, just east of the window and
lower, is a square ambry, 3 feet high by 2 feet 8 inches wide, and 1
foot 11 inches in recess. The use of so large an ambry is not evident.
The bottom of it is only 2 feet above the floor. There is no appearance
of its having had doors. In the north-east part of the nave of Enhallow
Chapel is a similar recess, and one in the same position as this in the
chapel on the Brough of Deerness. It is possible, but not probable, that
these were Easter sepulchres. In the Kirk of the Ness, North Yell, is a
larger one. Of the south wall of the chancel so little remains that
nothing can be stated as to window piscina or sedile.
It is remarkable that the floor was originally level to the end of the
apse, and no elevation given to the altar, which was probably at the
chord of the apse; but in later times they built a reredos which
_blocked off_ the apse, and then they appear to have made steps to the
altar. Some part of the altar remains. It appears to have been 4 feet 1
inch by 2 feet 7 inches. Possibly the reredos did not reach many feet
high, so that the upper part of the apse appeared over it.
[Illustration: FIG. 110.--Church on Brough of Birsay. Section from West
to East.]
As there were no buttresses, it is not likely that the chancel was
vaulted. The roof was probably of tie-beam construction, or of rafters
coupled half-way up, as in cottages, and covered as the nave roof. It is
probable that the apse was vaulted, and the arch into it may be
conjectured to have been 10 feet high, and semicircular, and to have
formed part of a plain vault, as at Orphir and St. Margaret’s Chapel at
Edinburgh. The ground plan is somewhat in the form of a horse-shoe
internally. Probably there was a small window in east end, and this must
have been at a lower level than the one on the north.
The interior of the nave is of the proportion of the vesica piscis. The
width of the chancel is less than of the nave by the thickness of the
side walls. The interior of the chancel is square. It is stated in
Barry[133] to have been dedicated to St. Peter, and to have been a place
of pilgrimage. The writer was informed that many years ago a skewer was
found, with a skull, outside the chapel. This was probably the pin of a
winding sheet.