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Publication Account
Date 1995
Event ID 1016732
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016732
Much of the 13th-century cathedral survives, though heavily restored in the 19th century. It was founded by Gilbert of Moravia, bishop of Caithness from 1223 to 1246. His two predecessors had been murdered at Halkirk, and he moved south to Dornoch. The cathedral was constructed on the usual cruciform plan, with a choir, transepts, a massive tower over the crossing and an aisled nave. Drawings show that round pillars with pointed arches separated the nave from the aisles; these dated from a 15th-century alteration. In 1570 the cathedral and much of the town were burnt by the Mackays of Strathnaver and the cathedral remained a roofless ruin until 1616 when the choir and transepts were reroofed for use as the parish church. The present steeple was begun in 1726.
The building as seen today is the result of a thorough 'restoration' in 1835-37 by William Burn, the architect who restored St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh. The ruins of the nave were demolished and rebuilt without the aisles; only two of the old nave pillars escaped, and can be seen recessed in the wal ls close to the piers of the tower. The clustered columns of these piers, the tower arches and most of the choir and transept walls are medieval, as are the lancet windows in the choir, but the vaulted roof dates from the 1835 restoration. The coffin of Richard of Moravia, brother of Gilbert, with his mutilated effigy in mail lies at the end of the nave. There is a fine collection of 19th-and 20th-century glass in the windows.
Opposite the cathedral stands part of the old bishop's palace (now a hotel). The tall tower-house at the west end was built around 1500 and substantially repaired after it was burnt in 1570. The building east of the tower was added in about 1813-14, but the tall chimney behind it belongs to the original 16th-century vau lted kitchens, parts of which survive. In the late 19th century the roof of this block was raised and the east tower built. Close to the palace is the Town Jail, built in 1840-50 in Scottish Baronial style (now a craft centre); part of the interior with its vaulted cells and passages has been laid out as an unusual jail museum.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: The Highlands’, (1995).
