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Eday, St Mary's Church
Church (14th Century), Cross Slab (Early Medieval)
Site Name Eday, St Mary's Church
Classification Church (14th Century), Cross Slab (Early Medieval)
Canmore ID 3196
Site Number HY53SE 1
NGR HY 5680 3287
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/3196
- Council Orkney Islands
- Parish Eday
- Former Region Orkney Islands Area
- Former District Orkney
- Former County Orkney
St Mary’s Church, Skaill, Eday, Orkney, cross-slab fragments
Measurements: H 1.27m, W 0.41m
Stone type: whinstone
Place of discovery: HY 5680 3287
Present location: lost.
Evidence for discovery: found buried in six fragments in the churchyard in 1934, but the pieces could not be found in 1970.
Present condition:
Description
This was a rectangular slab which tapered slightly towards the top. On one broad face was incised an outline expansional cross with an equal-armed head with D-shaped terminals and a square centre, set on a long shaft lacking its base.
Date: seventh or eighth century.
References: Stat Acct 15, 418; RCAHMS MS 36/119, 35; RCAHMS 1946, no 209; Fisher 2002, 47-8, fig 3.4; Scott & Ritchie 2014, no 24.
Compiled by A Ritchie 2017
HY53SE 1 5680 3287
(HY 5680 3287) Chapel (NR) (Site of)
OS 6" map, 1900
The site of the former parish church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Probably 14th C,it consisted of nave and chancel, with a bell-tower, it was reckoned by Neale to have been 'the gem of the parish churches of the Orkneys' and far superior to the others in style. It presumably continued in use until 1816 when its successor, now in ruins was built. The burial-ground contains two early 17thC tombstones and a considerably older whinstone slab broken into six pieces, and incomplete, but bearing a deeply incised cross with a quadrate centre and expanded terminals. The base of the slab is missing but it has tapered upwards to a height of 4' 2", where it is 1'4" in breadth.
Statistical Account (OSA) 1795; J M Neale 1848; RCAHMS 1946, visited 1928 and 1935.
No trace of St. Mary's church. The burial ground has been enlarged and is still in use.
The cross incised slab could not be located.
Visited by OS (RL) 24 July 1970.
Neale wrote enthusiastically of the ruinous parish church of Eday, a rare Orcadian example of 'First-Pointed' style, with a chancel vaulted in two bays and a bell-tower. There is now no trace of it, although some large freestone blocks (none visibly carrying mouldings) built into the dyke around the burial-ground, probably came from it.
An incised cross-slab, apparently early in date, reported by RCAHMS, has been mislaid.
RCAHMS 1984, visited May 1983.
