Kirkwall, St Magnus Cathedral. View from S showing part of SSW front of cathedral with part of graveyard in foreground.

Description Kirkwall, St Magnus Cathedral. View from S showing part of SSW front of cathedral with part of graveyard in foreground.

Date 8/1894

Collection Papers of Erskine Beveridge, antiquarian, Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland

Catalogue Number SC 748684

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of O 590

Scope and Content St Magnus Cathedral, Broad Street, Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, from the south St Magnus Cathedral, founded c.1130, is the grandest and largest building in Orkney, not only dominating the town of Kirkwall but also acting as a landmark from the sea. Despite an extended building period over four centuries, it is remarkably homogeneous in its design, with striking parallels with two other major Romanesque churches, Durham Cathedral and Dunfermline Abbey in Fife. Erskine Beveridge photographed the exterior in 1894. The church is cruciform (cross-shaped), with a mid-12th-century aisled choir (right), and a plain Romanesque nave (left). The south transept (centre) dates from the mid-12th century, but was remodelled and heightened in the course of the building programme. It has a large rose window at clerestory level, and grotesque gargoyles at the eaves. A small chapel, standing against its lower east face, (right) dates from the early 13th century. The crossing tower was rebuilt c.1200, although its belfry stage, with a pair of tall, pointed two-light openings in each face, dates from the early 14th century. Its squat pyramidal roof gave way to a Gothic, copper-covered spike in 1916. St Magnus suffered little direct damage, except the destruction of furnishings, as a result of the Reformation of 1560, but worship was afterwards confined to the choir which was divided from the crossing by a wooden screen. The nave, still being roofed, was used as the burgh graveyard. In 1671, the central spire, which had been of wood and probably covered with lead, was destroyed by lightning and replaced by a pyramidal roof. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/748684

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap