South Ronaldsay, Halcro, Our Lady's Chapel

ND48NE 5 4606 8550

(ND 4606 8550) Our Lady's Chapel (NR) (Site of)

Burial Ground (NR)

OS 6" map (1900)

This chapel is said to have been built about the beginning of the 14th century by Sir Hew Halcro as a domestic chapel but was afterwards used as a public place of worship till about the middle of the 17thc. Until recently the walls, several feet in height, remained but they have all been removed for building purposes. The burial ground is contemporary.

Name Book 1879

On a prominent knoll, known as the Chapel Brae, the outline of a small chapel, dedicated to the Virgin Mary (if we may trust its name) is clearly shown on the turf, but there is no trace of masonry. The dimensions are about 21ft by 14ft within walls apparently 2ft 6in thick.

RCAHMS 1946, visited 1929

The outline of this chapel is orientated ESE-WSW and is visible as a trench averaging 1.0m wide and 0.2m deep, with a turf-covered bank on either lip. It is uncertain whether the trench, or the outer bank, represents the original outline of the chapel, but the RCAHMS dimensions seem to be reasonably accurate. The dedication is not generally known locally.

According to T Budge (of Halcro) who removed much of the walls many years ago, they were lime-mortared. The whole of the E and parts of the N and S walls of the burial ground survive as a turf-covered bank 0.2m high and spread to 2.0m in width. Elsewhere, it has been destroyed by cultivation and quarrying. There are no grave markers and nothing is known of any burials locally.

Surveyed at 1/2500.

Visited by OS (IMT) 26 April 1973.