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Publication Account
Date 1996
Event ID 1016309
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016309
The Bishop's Palace is Kirkwall's oldest surviving secular building, although there has been some controversy in academic circles over just how old its foundations may be. Most of the building as it survives today dates from the time of Bishop Robert Reid in the mid 16th century, but it has been argued that the lowest part of the main block includes the remains of an earlier episcopal residence, perhaps that of Bishop William, under whom the seat of the bishopric was transferred from Birsay to Kirkwall to accompany the building of the new Cathedral in the mid 12th century. This early palace would have been a rectangular hall house, with a ground-floor given over to storage and workrooms and a great hall on the first floor. It was here that the Norwegian King Haakon died in 1263 after his crushing defeat in western Scotland at the Battle of Largs. Nothing remains of this hall-house above its basal courses, and even those are overshadowed by the rise in ground-level outside.
Bishop Reid's reconstruction of the building in the mid 16th century retained the basic design of firstfloor hall and ground-floor storage, but he added not only another storey plus attic but also the great round tower at the north-west corner, which contained five storeys (including his own personal became considerably more grand and ample in its accommodation. The weachered statue carved in white stone and set off by the red sandstone of its niche in the outer wall of the tower has been variously identified as St Olaf, Bishop Reid and Earl Rognvald Kali Kolsson who ruled Orkney from 1136 to 1158 (this statue is a cast and the original is in Tankerness House Museum). The identification of Earl Rognvald hinges on the object at his feet, which appears to be a lyre, for the Earl was famous as a musician.
The details of the arrangement of rooms on the upper floors of the main block are uncertain, as only the shell of the building survives, and its analysis is further hampered by the fact that it was again modified, probably around 1600 by Earl Patrick as part of his own palace complex. Early drawings and accounts of the building make clear that there were, until about 1800, two square towers, apparently free-standing, close to its northeast end, nothing of which can now be seen.
The round tower is in itself an interesting structure and must originally have been a very imposing addition to the house. Although round externally,the rooms inside were approximately square, and the spiral stair rises with in the thickness of the wall . The parapet is supported by decorative corbelling and the parapet-walk was originally roofed over, a very unusual design. The tower had a square cap-house rising above the level of the parapet-roof, with a small square room inside.
A splendid view can be had from the top of the tower over St Magnus Cathedral.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Orkney’, (1996).
