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Publication Account
Date 1981
Event ID 1018474
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1018474
The first known church to be erected in Kirkwall was that of St. Olaf, founded in the eleventh century by Earl Rognvald. An English writer in the early sixteenth century noted that the church had been burnt in a raid on the islands, but it was restored a few years later by Bishop Reid (MacGibbon & Ross, 1896, I, 112). By 1677 it was in a ruinous state and turned into a Poorhouse - not so much on the inspired instigation of Kirkwall magistrates, but through the persuasion of an Act of Parliament (Hossack, 1900, 161). After serving as a Poorhouse for a number of years, the Magistrates let it to various tenants and the church of St. Olaf latterly served time as a warehouse and carpenter's shop. Today, what remains of the structure has been transformed into a residence for the manager of a savings bank. Dryden, noting the building in the middle of the nineteenth century, described it as a simple oblong measuring 42' 3" (12.88m) long by 23' 9" (7.24m) wide (RCAM, 1946, II, 145). One gravestone from the churchyard at that time was still visible to the south of the church. The church building, which stands on the east side of Bridge Street, had been at one time converted into a close which was subsequently dubbed 'Poorhouse Close' (MacGibbon & Ross, 1896, I, 109).
Information from ‘Historic Kirkwall: The Archaeological Implications of Development’ (1977).
