Publication Account

Date 1981

Event ID 1018471

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1018471

The Castle of Kirkwall was built by Henry, Lord Sinclair, one of the Scottish earls of Orkney, in the late fourteenth century. The likelihood is that there had been a residence for the earls at an earlier period, but there is no evidence for such. Built facing the Cathedral, the Castle stood on the corner of Albert street and CastleSStreet. Its strength is attested to by the Earl of Caithness, who laid siege to it in 1614. 'It is one of the strongest houses in Britain', he wrote, 'for I will bring with me to your lordship cannon bullets broken like golf balls upon the Castle and cloven in twahaffis' (Hossack, 1900, 25). The castle was taken and orders for its demolition were issued in October 1614, although the destruction of the castle was not carried out until the following year. James Wallace in 1700 observed that the Castle was now demolished 'but by the ruins appears to have been a strong and stately fort' (1700, 79). The last surviving fragments of the castle - principally a wall 55 feet (17m} long and 11 feet (3m) thick, of irregular height - were removed in 1865 by the Town Council with a view towards improving the route to the harbour (Hossack, 1900, 27).

Information from ‘Historic Kirkwall: The Archaeological Implications of Development’ (1977).