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Publication Account
Date 1996
Event ID 1016313
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016313
This long rectangular church is more interesting than it first appears. It was built in 1664 and extended a century later, and a small porch was added during alterations in 1867. The bellcote at the west end may date to the original building, but there are also features surviving from structures earl ier than the 1664 church. These include a narrow round-arched doorway (blocked) and a small lancet window in the north wall, and another lancet window in the south wall , all of which were probably part of an earlier church on the site. The south window has as its sill a stone with an inscription. This was once part of a lintel and it reads SBELLUS; another fragment of the same lintel is built into a nearby cottage, and together they read MONSBELLUS. This was the name used in the 16th century for the Bishop of Orkney's residence at Birsay, and it is likely that this lintel once embellished the episcopal palace.
Inside the church are a small late medieval font and a 17th-century graveslab, while in the churchyard may be seen several 18th-century graveslabs. Excavation close to the church wall has revealed foundations likely to belong to the pre-1664 church, which is recorded as having been cruciform in plan.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Orkney’, (1996).
