Fig. 110.—Church on Brough of Birsay. Section from West to East.
As there were no buttresses, it is not likely that the chancel was vaulted. The roof was probably of tie-beam construction, or of rafters coupled half-way up, as in cottages, and covered as the nave roof. It is probable that the apse was vaulted, and the arch into it may be conjectured to have been 10 feet high, and semicircular, and to have formed part of a plain vault, as at Orphir and St. Margaret’s Chapel at Edinburgh. The ground plan is somewhat in the form of a horse-shoe internally. Probably there was a small window in east end, and this must have been at a lower level than the one on the north.
The interior of the nave is of the proportion of the vesica piscis. The width of the chancel is less than of the nave by the thickness of the side walls. The interior of the chancel is square. It is stated in Barry[133] to have been dedicated to St. Peter, and to have been a place of pilgrimage. The writer was informed that many years ago a skewer was found, with a skull, outside the chapel. This was probably the pin of a winding sheet.
There can be little hesitation in assigning this church to about 1100. It is recorded that Earl Thorfin built Christ’s Church in Birsay, and that the body of St. Magnus was buried there. It appears probable that if St. Peter’s had been built as long after his death as his canonisation, it would have been dedicated to him. Even if it had been built in memory of St. Magnus before his canonisation, and dedicated to some other saint, probably the dedication would have been changed after his canonisation. As it is recorded that Thorfin built Christ’s Church, it is probable that if he had, St. Peter’s would have been recorded also. It is more probable that it was built by his second son, Erlend, the father of St. Magnus.
This church bears considerable resemblance to Old Bewick, Northumberland, figured in Muir’s “Sketch”; to Moccas and Kilpeck in Herefordshire, and to St. Margaret’s Chapel, Edinburgh.
Mr. Leask of Boardhouse, in 1867, made an excavation in the church, to determine, if possible, whether foundations exist of the walls supposed to have enclosed the west sides of the circular recesses. He found none and found plaster on the north wall of the nave, where the supposed wall should have joined. Possibly the supposed walls were taken down during the time the chapel was used. He found in the north wall of the nave, at 5 feet west of the angle of the recess, an entrance 2 feet 4 inches wide. The position is very unusual. Planned 1866.
CHURCH AT ORPHIR, Orkney.
This highly interesting fragment stands near the east end of the parish church, and probably the reason why it has not obtained that notice which it deserves is, that the larger and most interesting part of it was destroyed before 1758, to build or enlarge the present parish church. It consisted originally of a circular nave, and apsidal chancel added to its east part. ([Fig. 111.]) The chancel remains, but only 9 feet on each side of it of the circular nave. Fortunately we have a short record of its size and form in Sinclair’s Statistical Accounts, xix. 417, quoted in Wilson, Prehistoric Annals, 598. It is there stated:—“In the churchyard are the remains of an ancient building called the Girthhouse, to which great antiquity is ascribed. It is a rotundo, 18 feet in diameter and 20 feet high, open at top; and on the east side is a vaulted concavity, where probably the altar stood, with a slit in the wall to admit the light; two-thirds of it have been taken down to repair the parish church,” &c. In the translation of Torfœus by the Rev. A. Pope is this note by the translator (p. 108), who visited Orphir in 1758:—“The temple of Orphir, or Gerth-house, was a rotundo 22 feet in diameter, and 61 feet perpendicular wall above ground. The cupola, with the open for the light, was of an elegant cast, and the light was all from the open, and lighted the house sufficiently. There was a small slit in the east side for light to the priest, who stood in a niche elegantly done. The work was very firm; and though at that time there was a breach made in order to get stones to repair the parish kirk, yet the stones crumbled to pieces before they could be loosed,” &c.
In the Orcadian, July 1861, is an account of this church by Mr. G. Petrie. It is there stated that the present parish church was erected in 1829. (See also his notice of the ruins, in the Archæological Journal, 1861, No. 71, p. 226-230.)