Accessibility

Font Size

100% 150% 200%

Background Colour

Default Contrast
Close Reset

Publication Account

Date 1996

Event ID 1016319

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016319

The original identity of this most interesting group of buildings was entirely unsuspected until the mid 19th century. They had been in domestic use as houses since the 16th century until, in 1851, an epidemic of fever led to their evacuation; in order to make the buildings uninhabitable, the roofs were removed and in the process it was realised that part of the complex was an old church. The site was not properly cleared of debris until 1897, then the celebrated architect of Mclsetter (no. 12), Professor W R Lethaby, was there to examine and report on the structure.

The name Eynhallow means Holy Isle from Old Norse, Eyin Helga, which suggests that there may have been a small Celtic monastery here even before the 12th-century church was built. Its monastic status at the latter period is implied by the story in Orkneyinga Saga (chap. 97) of the kidnapping of Olaf, the son of Svein Asleifarson of Gairsay and foster-son of Kolbein Hruga of Wyre; the kidnappers knew where to find Olaf on Eynhallow, and it is most likely that the boy was there to be educated in the monastery.

The church was built to a relatively sophisticated design: a rectangular nave opens at the east end into a rectangular chancel and at the west end into a substantial square porch (it is even possible that the latter represents the lower part of a tower). Although the walls both of the church and the adjacent buildings survive to roof-level, it is very difficult to analyse the architectural sequences present, because of additions and modifications relating to the domestic use of the site from the 16th century onwards, though the latter are interesting in themselves. The archaic, even primitive, character of various of the doorways and archways of the church is unmistakeable and somewhat at variance with the grand layout. The west and north doorways into the porch are original and very narrow (0.46m): the triangular arch of the west door is formed by two inclined slabs, while the round arch of the north door is cut into a single block of red freestone with a crude moulding on its external face. Entry into the nave is through a semi-circular arch of split slabs, while the arch between nave and chancel is a most ingenious rendering of the pointed arch that became fashionable in the 12th century. The springers and keystone are triangular blocks carved out of red freestone, allowing the rest of the arch to consist of the usual split slabs, a most economical way to achieve a pointed arch without mortar and with the minimum of dressed stone.

Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Orkney’, (1996).

People and Organisations

References