Publication Account
Date 1996
Event ID 1016307
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016307
The striking but gaunt shell of the Earl's Palace still dominates the village and the broad bay of Birsay, and the walls convey a strong sense of its original massive grandeur, but it takes a little imagination to restore an impression of its once magnificent elegance: it was described in 1633 as 'a sumptuous and stately dwelling'. The rooms on the upper floor were attractively decorated with painted ceilings, including biblical scenes with appropriate texts, and they would undoubtedly have been furnished with brightly coloured wall-hangings. The exterior of the building seems always to have been fairly austere, befitting its status as a fortified residence of the Earl of Orkney, but the upper windows of the north and east wings were embellished with carved and pinnacled pediments.
It was built by Robert Stewart, Earl of Orkney, in the latter half of the 16th century as a courtyard house in fashionable Renaissance style, consisting of four wings round a rectangular courtyard with square towers at each corner except that on the north-west. It seems that a decision to modify the original plan was made during the course of a long building programme, because the north wing is awkwardly placed, masking the gable-end of the west wing and very close to the west side of the tower at the north-east corner, as if there was originally to have been only a screen-wall a long the north side of the courtyard (and presumably a tower at the north-west corner to match the other three). The fact that the upper-floor windows on the north and east wings match suggest that this change of design took place not long after the completion of the latter wing. In the centre of the courtyard is a circular well. The external walls of the Palace are lined with gun-loops, as were the internal walls lining the courtyard, including one surviving on the west wing which is angled to cover the main entrance into the courtyard from outside. The ground-floor was lit by small horizontal windows as an addition defensive precaution. The entire building was two-storeyed except for the north-east tower which rose an extra storey, but only the towers, the north wing and part of the west wing survive to any height, for it has been uninhabited since the late 17th century.
There exists a beautifully detailed plan of the Palace, drawn in the 17th century, which shows not only the missing upper storeys but the main entrance with the initials R E O for Robert Earl of Orkney and the date 1574 above what may be either a window or, more probably, an armorial panel. It also shows the immediate setting of the Palace: the pathway leading out to Skipi Geo to the north where boats were landed, huge peat-stacks on the west between the Palace and the shore of the bay and a range of walled enclosures down the east side of the build ing, includ ing a ' Floure Yard' or flower garden and a 'Herbe Yard '. The 'Bow Butts' ran the length of these two gardens, so that the ladies could admire the achers at their targets practice, and there was a bowling green in front of the Palace.
The drawing also shows the church and churchyard (no. 38) close to the south-west corner of the Palace, and a courtyard range south of the churchyard. It is possible that this represents the old episcopal palace, by now converted into barns and stables for the Earl.
The bridge over the Barony burn to the south of the Earl 's Palace has a longer history than is immediately apparent. It is a stone-bui lt bridge with two arches and, although the upper part was reconstructed in 1872, the lower part may well be medieval. A two-span bridge is certainl y shown on an 18th-century drawing and a bridge on the same spot on the 17th-century drawing already mentioned. A bridge over the burn was vital to access from Kirkwall and elsewhere on mainland, unlike the modern approach from the north-east of the Palace.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Orkney’, (1996).
