Scheduled Maintenance
Please be advised that this website will undergo scheduled maintenance on the following dates: •
Tuesday 3rd December 11:00-15:00
During these times, some services may be temporarily unavailable. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Hoy, Old Parish Church And Churchyard
Burial Ground (Medieval) - (Post Medieval), Church (18th Century)
Site Name Hoy, Old Parish Church And Churchyard
Classification Burial Ground (Medieval) - (Post Medieval), Church (18th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Hoy, Old Kirk
Canmore ID 1575
Site Number HY20SW 1
NGR HY 23565 04637
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/1575
- Council Orkney Islands
- Parish Hoy And Graemsay
- Former Region Orkney Islands Area
- Former District Orkney
- Former County Orkney
HY20SW 1 2356 0463.
(HY 2356 0463) Church (NAT)(In Ruins)
OS 6" map, Orkney, 2nd ed., (1903).
The parish church was built in 1780. (There may be confusion here as the parish church of Graemsay was also described as built in 1780 - see Orkney 112 NE3 ).
Name Book 1880.
Hoy and Graemsay parishes were united in the 16th century (a reader was appointed in 1570) and three carved panels commemorating the minister in 1624 can be seen in the present church. About 1795 the church was stated to have fallen down completely about 9 years previous and was then in 1795 only half rebuilt.
RCAHMS 1946; Statistical Account (OSA) 1795; H Scott 1928.
The remains of the parish church comprise a 3.0 metres high by 0.9 metre wide mortared wall, measuring 15.2 metres long by 6.0 metres wide with two entrances in the southern wall. Set in the NE corner of the ruin is a gravestone dated 1733 (with heraldic inscriptions) The graveyard surrounding the chapel is still in use.
Visited by OS (RD) 29 August 1964.
Orkney Smr Note (July 1985)
The building has four windows on S side - two windows between
the two doors - and one window towards W end of N wall.
Information from Orkney SMR (RGL) July 1985.
Field Visit (July 1985)
Hoy Old Kirk HY 2356 0463 HY20SW 1
The old parish church, rebuilt in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, is a roofless shell, and there is no trace of the likely medieval precursor on the same site.
RCAHMS 1989, visited July 1985.
(Stat. Acct., 16, 1795, 547; Name Book, Orkney, No. 10, p. 59; RCAHMS 1946, ii, p. 112, No. 387; OR 1915).
