and, if so, where placed and how hung? It is known that in many cottages in old times the door was an animal’s hide hung across the opening, and probably this may have been the case in these unrebated church entrances. Possibly this plain jamb may be an evidence of antiquity; though Egilsey and Kirk of the Ness in Yell have the usual form of jamb. Probably this doorway was surmounted by a semicircular arch, though many of the ruder chapels had square-headed doorways with a large stone lintel, as at Lybster, Caithness. There are very few instances of the passage between a nave and chancel being square-headed. Where there is a semicircular arch on plain jambs, as in the doorways beforementioned, and in some chancel arches, as at Linton, Shapinsay; Kirk of the Ness, Yell; Wyre, &c., there is generally a peculiarity which may be mentioned here—the feet of the arch are set back on the jambs at the imposts two or three inches on each side. This was probably to support the centre on which the arch was built, instead of supporting it by props from the floor.
In the north-east and south-east corners are two circular spaces 5 feet 6 inches in diameter (see Fig. 108.), the south one of which contains a freestone stair step, and the north one some broken stone. Probably both were staircases; but how high they reached, to what they led, and what was the superstructure we can only conjecture. One or both may have led to turrets, or to priests’ rooms over the chancel arch, or chancel or nave. We cannot suppose a rood-loft to have existed here. The support of the west side of the stairs is now gone, but we must suppose that a block of masonry existed which included the circle of the staircase. Against this, the seat on the south apparently runs past the spot at which it should have stood, and there are no decisive traces of a junction in the north and south walls. There is no other solution of the difficulty. This very massive separation between nave and chancel is probably unique. M‘Cormac’s chapel at Cashel has a turret and a chamber in nearly the same positions as these staircases; but the construction in that case is clear.[132]
A stone seat, 1 foot 2 inches high and 1 foot 2 inches wide, ran all round the nave—at least, it was traced at west doorway and at the east end of the south wall of the nave. The roof was probably of tie beam construction, and covered with stone slabs.
The entrance to the chancel is 4 feet 3 inches wide, of which 4 feet in height of the jambs remain. They are 3 feet 7 inches thick from west to east, but if the construction was that suggested above, the jambs were 7 feet from west to east, including an entrance into each turret 2 feet wide. (Fig. 109.) The entrance to the chancel was probably surmounted by a semicircular arch of whinstone, plastered, about 8 feet or 9 feet high to the apex, with string-course caps 4 or 5 inches deep. The angles were not chamfered.
There is a step in this entrance of only 2 inches, and from that to the east end of the apse was flush originally. The pavement is of flagstones. This low position of the original altar is peculiar.
The chancel is 10 feet 9 inches east and west, and 10 feet 3 inches inside. Only one window remains, which is in the north wall of chancel, and this has lost its lintel (Fig. 110). The clear opening was 3 feet by 10½ inches, with, as stated, a square head. The window has an internal and external splay, each widening to 1 foot 10½ inches. This form is peculiar. There was probably a frame, fixed in the narrow part of the opening, containing glass. In this wall, just east of the window and lower, is a square ambry, 3 feet high by 2 feet 8 inches wide, and 1 foot 11 inches in recess. The use of so large an ambry is not evident. The bottom of it is only 2 feet above the floor. There is no appearance of its having had doors. In the north-east part of the nave of Enhallow Chapel is a similar recess, and one in the same position as this in the chapel on the Brough of Deerness. It is possible, but not probable, that these were Easter sepulchres. In the Kirk of the Ness, North Yell, is a larger one. Of the south wall of the chancel so little remains that nothing can be stated as to window piscina or sedile.
It is remarkable that the floor was originally level to the end of the apse, and no elevation given to the altar, which was probably at the chord of the apse; but in later times they built a reredos which blocked off the apse, and then they appear to have made steps to the altar. Some part of the altar remains. It appears to have been 4 feet 1 inch by 2 feet 7 inches. Possibly the reredos did not reach many feet high, so that the upper part of the apse appeared over it.
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.)
It is evident that the east wall of the parish church could not have co-existed with the old nave, for the new church stands on part of it.
From these several statements we must infer that part of the old church was pulled down before 1758 to build or enlarge, not to repair, the parish church, and possibly a farther portion pulled down in 1829.
We must understand the “cupola” to be a conical roof, and “the open for the light” to be a glazed lantern on it, which, however, was probably not original. (Fig. 112.) “Open at top,” in Sinclair, must refer to this lantern. The framework of it must have been of wood, as at Ely.
The curvature of the two parts of the nave wall still remaining gives an interior diameter of about 19 feet, thus corroborating the diameters given by Pope and Sinclair. Neither of these persons had seen the church perfect; and the differences in the measures given by them show that their informants did not speak from exact data. The “61 feet perpendicular wall” is a gross mistake either of printer, or translator, or his informant. Even the “20 feet high” seems over the mark, though this may be a loose approximation to the height of the side walls.
Supposing the preceding conjectures as to the shape of the roof to be correct, the top of the “fleche” surmounting the lantern would be about 40 feet. Then, supposing that Pope was told that the height was 41 feet, and the height of the side walls 20 feet, he might have added them together.
The diameter was less open to error than the height. One writer, however, might give the outer diameter and the other the inner.
It is built of yellow Orphir freestone. The nave walls are 3 feet 9 inches thick, well built; and probably the entrance was at the west, as in the other round churches.
It is highly improbable that Pope is right in stating that “the light was all from the open”—that is, that there were no windows in the nave walls. Probably there were four single lights.
The chancel, which is little more than the apse, is 7 feet 2 inches wide and 7 feet 9 inches deep, or long, with wall 2 feet 8 inches thick. The arch into it is semicircular, and forms part of a plain unribbed vault, as at St. Margaret’s Chapel at Edinburgh. (See Fig. 111.) The impost of the vault arch is 6 feet 5 inches above what appears to have been the floor, and the top, consequently, 10 feet 6 inches high. Outside the vault was originally probably a solid stone roof, the apex of which was about 14 feet
from the floor. This height (supposing also that there was a step at the chancel arch) would oblige the walls of the nave to be about 15 feet high. The chancel has no buttresses. There is one window in the chancel, in the east end, 2 feet 5 inches by 10½ inches clear, opening with jambs splayed inward to 1 foot 8 inches wide. (Fig. 113.) The outer edges are chamfered, and the head semicircular. The impost is at the same level as of vault. It has a groove for glass.
A stone lying down appears to be part of a stoup.
The exterior width of the chancel is half the exterior width of the nave.
On the south side of the nave is the trace of a building in the form of a parallelogram, and other indications of buildings. Pope states that before his visit in 1758, large foundations had been found in digging earth for the Bow of Orphir, near the Gerth-house.
The “four round churches” of Britain are—Cambridge, consecrated in 1101; Northampton, probably shortly before 1115; Maplestead, 1118; and London, 1185.[134] To these must be added the small Norman chapel in Ludlow Castle, and we may safely add, as a sixth, Orphir. The church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem was the type of all, and the Crusades were the means of importing the form into Britain. In conjecturing the date of Orphir, we may take into account that there was a palace of the Earl Haco (son of Paul I.) at Orphir, according to Torfœus. He went to the Holy Land and back, and died in 1103. The same writer describes the palace of Earl Paul II. at Orphir, and states that a temple stood opposite the wall of the palace. This earl died about 1136. If this statement is to be believed, this must be the church mentioned, and hence we get 1090-1137 as the limits within which this church was built.
Earl Ronald founded the cathedral about 1138, and soon after went to the Holy Land, accompanied, of course, by some of his high officers. He died in 1158. We may fairly conclude that this round church had some connection with one of these expeditions. As Earl Ronald needed all his money for the cathedral, we cannot suppose that he had any hand in building Orphir; but it is not improbable that some one of his wealthier followers built it, and we may, from the dates of the other churches and these facts, fix on 1090-1160 as limits of the date of its erection.
In the Edinburgh Museum is a stone article, presented by D. Balfour, Esq., found at this church. It is circular, 4¼ inches diameter, ¾ inch thick, with a small square hole in centre. Its use is not evident. Planned 1855.
CHURCHES IN SHETLAND.
These are all Chancel Churches except Culbinsbrough, which is Cruciform.
Canons Ashby, Feb. 21, 1868.
Sir,—Last year you inserted in the Orcadian accounts by me of some of the ruined churches in Orkney; I now send you accounts of some of those in Shetland. Every year destroys some portion of these ruins, and of the most complete in Shetland a considerable portion has fallen since I made the plans of it in 1855. Though the owners of these humble ruins do not value them, they have a value with historians and antiquaries as examples of the ecclesiastical architecture of the North in its least elaborate state, and evidences of the religious condition of the islands in past times. We find no St. Magnus and no Egilsey in Shetland; but still the ruins which exist there are worthy of record.
The number of churches which once existed in Shetland is extraordinary. For instance, Unst, which is about 6 miles by 3 miles, had at least twenty-four. Of most of the Shetland churches every trace but a name or a tradition is gone; of others only a heap of stones remains; of others a few fragments of wall enable us to make approximate plans, and one only is tolerably complete. A little labour with pick and spade would enable us, in many instances, to determine more about them than is possible in their present state. No people ought to be more impressed with religion and the uncertainty of life than the Shetlanders. The effects of the storms on sea and land, the terrible tideways among the islands, and the barren nature and exposed position of much of the land, make life a continued struggle for safety or for food. Doubtless the tradition concerning nearly every church was true of some—that they were built as thankofferings for escape from an ocean grave. The churches of which I send an account are Culbinsbrough, Bressay, Noss, West Sandwick, Yell, the Ness (Yell), Uya, and Norwick, Haroldswick, Kirkaby, and Colvidale, all in Unst.
I have to acknowledge the assistance of Mr. J. T. Irvine, formerly of Yell, and of Mr. Sandison of Uya, and to thank many friends in Shetland for hospitality and information.—I remain, your obedient servant,
H. Dryden.
CHAPEL OF NOSS, Bressay.
This ruin is near the sound which separates Noss from Bressay, on an elevation of about 20 feet or 30 feet above the water. The dedication is unknown.
It consisted of a nave and chancel (Fig. 114), of which only a fragment
of the north wall of the chancel remains, about 4 feet or 5 feet high. The nave was about 18 feet 6 inches by 14 feet, and the chancel about 12 feet east and west, by 10 feet north and south, as shown by the ridge in the turf.
Nothing certain can be stated of the door or chancel arch. Planned in 1852.
KIRKABY, Westing, Unst.
This is in the west part of the island, in a walled churchyard, about 80 feet north and south, and 60 feet east and west. By remains outside the south-east part of the wall, it is evident that the church has been
built on the ruins of a brough or other ancient building. The dedication is unknown. The church consisted of a nave (Fig. 115) about 13 feet 9 inches by 12 feet, and a chancel about 10 feet by 7 feet inside. The walls were about 2 feet 9 inches thick. The chancel arch was equal in width to the chancel. About 2 feet in height of the north wall of the nave and of the north wall of the chancel remains, and traces of the rest sufficient to approximate to the size. The entrance was probably in the west end. The chancel inside equals in length the diagonal of the square of the width.
Plan by Mr. J. T. Irvine, 1863.
MEAL COLVIDALE, Unst.
This is in the south-east part of the island, in a yard about 112 feet east and west by 85 feet north and south. (Fig. 116.) The dedication is unknown. The nave is about 12 feet by 11 feet inside; the chancel 7 feet 9 inches by 7 feet 6 inches inside; and the walls 3 feet thick.
About 2 feet in height of the north wall of the nave, and about the same of the north wall of the chancel, and a fragment of the interior face of the south wall of the chancel remain. Traces indicate the outline. The nave is very short. The chancel arch was equal in width to the chancel. The door was probably in the west end.
Plan by Mr. J. T. Irvine in 1863.
ST. JOHN’S KIRK, Norwick, Unst.
This is in the north-east part of the island, on the south side of a bay. It is dedicated to St. John.
It consists of nave (Fig. 117), about 26 feet 6 inches and 13 feet 6 inches inside, and chancel about 16 feet by 8 feet 8 inches. The walls are 2 feet 4 inches thick. Only about 2 feet in height of the central portion remains, that is about 12 feet 6 inches of the east part of the nave, and about 10 feet of the west part of the chancel. The chancel arch was equal in width to the chancel. The doorway was probably in the west end.
In the churchyard are several crosses and coped coffins of rude construction. Some also at Sandwick, Unst. The nave equal in length
inside to double its width. Chancel equal inside to vesica piscis.
Plan by Mr. J. T. Irvine in 1863.
When Low visited it, it was nearly entire, and the altar remained.
CHURCH AT UYA.
The island of Uya, or Uyea, is not more than 2½ miles by 1 mile across. It lies to the west of Unst. The ruin is near the east shore. The dedication is unknown.
It consists of a nave and a building like a chancel to the west of the nave (Fig. 118), and lies true east and west.
About 7 feet 6 inches high on an average of the side walls remain. The material is the grey whinstone of the island, and the blocks from 4 feet by 1 foot by 1 foot downwards.
The nave is 16 feet 9 inches by 13 feet inside. The east wall of the nave is 3 feet 6 inches thick, and the others now vary from 2 feet 10 inches to 3 feet 1 inch. The side walls vary from 6 feet to 7 feet 6 inches in height. No window remains, but probably there was one on the south side.
In the east end is an arch or doorway (Fig. 119), 2 feet 2 inches wide, with parallel unrebated jambs, and a semicircular head of one rectangular
order, with simple unmoulded projections for caps. The arch is formed by overlapping the stones as in the cells of broughs. At the west end is an opening 2 feet 6 inches wide, of similar character, except having a ruder arch and no caps. Above this arch, 6 feet 4 inches in height of the gable remains. Through this is the west apartment, resembling a chancel, which is 10 feet east and west by 10 feet 2 inches north and south, and has walls 2 feet 3 inches thick.
There is an entrance in the north wall near west end, apparently not original. The west gable is 9 feet 6 inches high. The eaves appear to have been 8 feet above the ground. In the south wall of the nave, and near the west end of it, is a rough stone stoup built into the wall. (See Fig. 118.)
This little chapel is a puzzle, and has been mentioned before under Enhallow, Orkney. Is the apartment in the west original, and if so, what is it?
It is in the same position as the adjunct at Enhallow. If original, it probably was a sacristy. The writer, in taking the plans in 1855, did not observe on the spot that this adjunct was on the west, which was not noticed till the plans were laid down at a distance, and no opportunity has occurred since of minutely inspecting the building. Muir (Eccles. Notes) is incorrect in his plan.
The east archway (entrance) appears original, yet too small for a chancel arch. Supposing the adjunct on the west was original, and a sacristy, and that the east arch is original, it must have been a chancel arch, and there must have been a chancel, now gone.
The position of the stoup seems to indicate that the arch from the nave into the west adjunct is the original west entrance, and that the adjunct is not original. There are no other church arches in the islands formed as these are by overlapping stones.
In the churchyard are some rude crosses, formed of slabs 2½ inches thick. These were placed upright at the foot or head of graves. One is about 2 feet high, the limbs of the cross being 7½ inches wide and pattee. The limbs of another are 8½ inches wide.
KIRK OF NESS, North Yell.
This church is at the north-east angle of Yell, near the base of the ness bounding Cullavoe. The land is flat hereabouts, and near the sea level.
It is the most complete of the old churches of Shetland, and is said to have been dedicated to Olave or Olaf, the great warrior saint of the North. It is enclosed in a walled yard about 110 feet by 100 feet. (Fig. 120.)
It consists of nave and chancel, with bell-cot on the west gable, and lies nearly true east and west. The roof is gone, but the church was used down to 1750. (Fig. 121.)
The material is the grey stone of the district, placed at random, some of the blocks being very large, and the interstices filled with small stones.
The nave is 20 feet 5 inches by 14 feet 10 inches inside. (Fig. 122.) The west end is 3 feet 6 inches or 3 feet 8 inches thick; the north and south walls about 3 feet 3 inches. The side walls are 11 feet 10 inches or 12 feet high from the floor. In the west end is a square-headed doorway,
2 feet 7 inches wide and 5 feet 4 inches high externally, with rectangular jambs rebated for a door. (Fig. 123.) The interior width is 3 feet 5 inches. The internal head is also square. Holes for the insertion of a wooden bar for securing the door remain in the north and south jambs. In the south wall, and
close to the west end of it, is another square-headed doorway, externally 1 foot 9 inches wide, and 5 feet 9 inches high, with internal head square as of west doorway, and bar-holes as before. (Fig. 124.) In the north wall is a square-headed window, of which the west side and the top are gone, owing to the west portion of the north wall having fallen down. This window is nearer the west than the east angle of the nave. In the south wall (Fig. 125) is a square-headed window, 3 feet by 1 foot 1 inch externally, splayed inwards to 3 feet 4 inches by 2 feet 2 inches. The external angles of the jambs are not chamfered, nor are there grooves or rebates for glass. (See account of Egilsey.) The top of the sill is 7 inches above the level of the impost of the chancel arch. This window is nearer the east than the west angle of the nave, and its position shows that the south door is original. At 9 feet above the top of the west
doorway (inside) is a square-headed window (see Fig. 123.), 3 feet by 1 foot 1 inch externally, splayed inward to 3 feet 2 inches by 2 feet 3 inches. At 2 feet 2 inches above this (outside) is another opening, 2 feet 4 inches wide, for a bell. The west face of the bell-cot is 7 feet 10 inches wide. The top is gone, but about 2 feet 3 inches in height of the jambs remain. The jambs are parallel both ways, and about 1 foot 6 inches thick from east to west. The ridge of the roof was about 3 feet higher than the bottom of the opening for the bell, and whether this opening originally came through to the inside of the church is doubtful. Possibly this bell-cot is not original. The ridge of the roof was about 24 feet 7 inches above the floor under the chancel arch.
The chancel is 13 feet by 11 feet 3 inches inside. The north and south walls are 3 feet 2 inches, and the east one 3 feet 6 inches thick. The chancel arch (Figs. 123 and 126) has no projecting jambs, but springs from
the chancel walls at 5 feet 7 inches above the floor, and the feet of the arch are set 3 inches back on the jambs at the impost, as at Wyre and Linton in Orkney. (See account of church on Brough of Birsay.) The spring is 3 inches higher on the south than on the north. There is no cap. The arch is semicircular, and consists of one rectangular order 3 feet thick. The stones of the arch average 1 foot 6 inches in length, but are thin. The top of the gable is 19 feet above the impost. The abutments of this arch were not sufficient, and the nave and chancel walls have spread, and a considerable fissure has taken place at the crown of the arch. In the north wall, at the east corner, is a square-headed window, 2 feet by 1 foot externally, splayed inward to 2 feet 5 inches by 2 feet. In the south wall, exactly opposite this window, is a similar one, 1 foot 7 inches by 1 foot. (See Figs. 124 and 125.) The top of the external opening of this window is 7 inches below the south impost of the chancel arch. The top of the window on the north is 3 inches lower than on the south—the same difference as in the two springs of the chancel arch. In the west angle of the nave and chancel is a similar window, 1 foot 9 inches
by 1 foot externally, and splayed as the others. This is at a trifle higher level than the last mentioned window.
Between these two windows on the south is a sedile (see Fig. 125.), 4 feet 7 inches high by 2 feet 1 inch wide, and 1 foot 8 inches deep, with a segmental head. The bottom is 1 foot 8 inches above the floor. It is evident that there was no step in the chancel, and no step at the altar.
On the north side, a little west of the window, is a square-headed recess (see Fig. 125.), 3 feet 4½ inches by 2 feet, and 1 foot 11 inches recessed—probably an ambry, possibly an eastern sepulchre.
In the east gable, at 8 feet 9 inches above the level of the impost of the chancel arch, is a window about 1 foot 3 inches by 11 inches, splayed inward. The top of the gable is now 16 feet 9 inches above the level of the impost of chancel arch, but was originally a little higher—probably about 23 feet—above the level of the floor at the chancel arch.
What is the date of this church? The chancel is larger than of any of the churches described, and has a sedile and, perhaps, Easter sepulchre. The chancel arch resembles Egilsey, but is not part of a vault. It has
the peculiarity at the impost. The doors and windows are flat-headed. The former have rebates, which is not the primitive form, though Egilsey has them—the latter have the early form of jambs. Taking all the points, it may be assigned with probability to the fourteenth century.
The interior length of the nave is equal to the diagonal of the square of the width. The length of the chancel is that of an equilateral triangle on the east end of the nave. The height of chancel walls is equal to the width of the chancel.
According to Mr. Irvine there was, a few years ago, a rude cross gravestone here, like those at Uya.
A bell, which in 1856 was lying on the shore at Cullyavoe, once hung at this church. It is said to have been obtained from a wrecked ship, but is evidently a church bell. It has an inscription in Dutch, and the date 1694. The late Mr. Irvine of Midbrigg had a small bell, said to have come from this church. It had no inscription.
Since 1856 the chancel arch and gable over it have fallen.
The church was surrounded with an enclosing wall.
CHURCH AT CULBINSBROUGH, Bressay.
This ruin is on the north-east coast of Bressay, on a small low promontory. It is enclosed in a “garth” or churchyard, the wall of which is ruinous, and which appears not to have been used for many years.
The dedication is not known. It originally consisted of a nave, north and south transepts, and chancel, and lies about west by north and east by south. (Fig. 127.) There remain now only the lower portion of the north transept, lower portions of the chancel, and a small fragment of the east wall of the south transept. It is built of the grey stone of the locality in rude courses of moderate-sized stones. On the north side of the nave, and at the west end, is a modern wall about 3 feet high, but as this is on the foundation of the original north wall, it is probable that it marks the extent westward of the old nave. Assuming this, the nave was 21 feet 6 inches by 10 feet inside. The walls were probably 2 feet 3 inches thick. The position of the doorway is not evident, but probably was in the west end. Traces of the south wall remain. The north transept is 12 feet north and south by 8 feet 6 inches east and west inside. The north wall is 2 feet 3 inches thick, and the east and west walls 2 feet thick. The north end is 9 feet high, and retains the window, which is square-headed (Fig. 128), 1 foot 9 inches high, and 1 foot 3 inches
wide outside. It is slightly splayed inwards. The sill is 5 feet above the present ground, but the original level of the floor has not been ascertained.
The height of the eaves and of the original apex of gable cannot be ascertained, but it is probable that the eaves of the whole church were not more than about 7 feet high, and the ridges of roofs about 12 feet high.
The chancel is 6 feet east and west and 10 feet north and south inside. The walls 2 feet 7 inches to 3 feet thick. About 5 feet 6 inches in height of the east gable remains. The sill of the east window appears to have been 4 feet 7 inches above the ground outside—about the same level as the window in the north transept. The width and height of the east window cannot be ascertained as the gable is gone. Probably there were no arches at the cross. The proportion on which it was formed is not evident; but these proportions may be observed in it. The interior of the chancel is in the proportion of the vesica piscis. The length of the north transept is twice that of the chancel, and half that of the nave. The interior has been used as a burial-place since the disuse of the church, and two altar tombs remain in the nave. One is without inscription, but the other is of a Dutch captain who died in 1636. The inscription is in Dutch. This is the only cross church in Orkney or Shetland of which any remains exist, and on that account is of importance. In this churchyard was found, about 1850, a very interesting tombstone, which has been presented to the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland by the Rev. Dr. Hamilton of Bressay. This stone stood erect. It is 4 feet high, 1 foot 4½ inches wide at top, and 11 inches wide at bottom, and 1¾ inch thick. Both faces are ornamented with carving in low relief. On one face the upper portion contains a square of interlaced work, within which is a circle containing an interlaced cross. Below are two dogs, head to head, with their mouths open, and tails curled over their backs. Below them are two bishops, face to face, with low mitres, and holding pastoral staves. They resemble the bishops of the Norse chessmen. On the other face, in the upper part, is a circle of interlaced work. In the spandrils above it are two nondescript animals, with their mouths open, apparently eating a man—one the feet, the other the head. Below the circle are two bishops as on the other face, between them a man on horseback. Below there is a nondescript four-legged animal with its tail over its back—possibly a lion or dog. Other small spaces are filled with interlaced work. On the two edges is an inscription in Ogham characters, which has been the source of much discussion; but the stone is somewhat chipped, and the decipherers have not had a good chance. Amongst many translations is this—on one edge, “The cross of Natdods daughter here;” on the other edge, “Benres of the sons of the Druid here.” Probably this stone is of the ninth or beginning of the tenth century.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS.
There is no cross church in Orkney, and only one in Shetland.
In Ireland there is no circular, octagon, or cross church, except, of course, the cathedrals and some monastic churches.
There is no aisle in Orkney or Shetland.
There are no plinths or basements to any of these churches.
The doors are chiefly in the west ends. Both square and round heads occur. Several have no rebates. (See Birsay.) St. Ola, Deerness, and perhaps Uya have no chancels, but all the rest have decided chancels. There is no instance of a chancel door. Orphir, Egilsey, The Ness, Culbinsbrough, Norwick, Kirkaby, and Colvidale have or had chancel arches equal in width to the chancels. In England this fashion rarely occurs; where it does it is late. It is constructively weak.
Enhallow has a chancel arch with projecting jambs of about the English proportion.
Birsay, Wyre, Linton, perhaps Uya, and probably Noss have or had very narrow chancel arches.
In our early churches the chancels were small in comparison with the naves, and in cathedrals the ritual choir was under the cross or west of it.
They elongated the choirs in the thirteenth century, and soon placed the ritual choir east of the cross.
Orphir and Egilsey had windows with circular heads. Birsay, Wyre, Enhallow, and Culbinsbrough had at least some windows with flat heads. The Ness has all flat. No instance remains of a double light, or of a transom, or of a triangular head, which is not unfrequent in Ireland.
At Egilsey, Enhallow, and the Ness are no grooves for glass or rebates, or external chamfers. At Orphir and Birsay are grooves and chamfers. (See account of Egilsey.) Of the six churches which retain the east ends—St. Ola, Orphir, Deerness, Wyre, Egilsey, and the Ness—four have no east window, except that in the latter there is a small opening high up in the east gable. In the early Irish churches it is very unusual not to have an east window. Probably no apse was without an east window.
As far as can be made out at present, there was no step to the chancel and no platform for the altar, except the inserted step and altar at Birsay. In some the chancel windows are singularly low, as at Wyre and Egilsey. No piscina remains, and only one sedile, but several ambries.
There are only four cases where we can judge of the pitch of the roofs. The Ness had a roof including about 85 degrees, Egilsey about 88 degrees, Enhallow the same, and Wyre about 95 degrees. Probably all had rude stepped coping on the gables.
MONUMENTS.
The grave stones found in connection with these churches are of four kinds.
1. Keel-shaped slabs placed horizontally on graves, as at Sandwick in Unst, sketched by Mr. Irvine.
2. Upright stones nearly rectangular, with crosses engraved on them, as at Sandwick, etched by Mr. Irvine, and at Norwick and some other places. This class includes the elaborate monument from Culbinsbrough.
3. The same shaped stones, without any ornamentation, found at many of the old burial-grounds.
4. Upright stones cut into the form of crosses, as at Uya.
Mr. Irvine has sent the following information:—“I believe from the earliest times in Scotland the foot-stone of the grave was the chief stone, and not as now the head-stone, and that the east face of the foot-stone was the principal face to be attended to, from the idea that the dead rose at the resurrection to an upright position facing east. Compare the stone with the ancient incised markings from St. Peter’s Church, Orkney, now in the Edinburgh Museum, with the one I have etched from Sandwick, Unst, and I believe it will be seen that the keel stone existed to both. Therefore, I believe that the interment belonging to many of the standing stones will be found on the west side and not on the east.” The coffins were often formed of six or more slabs of stone.
PROPORTIONS.
The designs for churches in the ages of architecture were not made at random. Doubtless there existed certain rules of proportion; but doubtless they varied with times, places, and persons.
Various attempts have been made in modern times to discover these rules, and in some instances with apparent success. It unfortunately happens that we have not often an intact ground plan, and if the original plan was simple, the additions render it complex. In many cases these additions were made without any regard to the proportion of the original. It appears probable that these proportions were geometric rather than arithmetical—that is to say, made by simple operations of the compasses and rulers, rather than by any proportions of numbers. The small churches of the North are valuable from not having been altered by additions.
Though in the foregoing notes the proportions on which the churches were built may not have been ascertained in all cases, yet in some the coincidences are too remarkable to be chance. Although, no doubt, a system of proportions was extended to the elevations and certain details, yet as to most of these in the churches here enumerated we are in ignorance, because most of the superstructure is gone. It appears that there were, in fact, only two figures on which the proportions were founded—a circle, a square, and an equilateral triangle. For most purposes of proportion the circle and square are identical. The vesica piscis is two equilateral triangles on opposite sides of a common base, and hence equal in proportion to the half of one such triangle.
There is, however, one proportion in which a square is not equivalent to a circle—the diagonal of the square the proportion of which to the side is nearly as 10 to 7. The height or length of an equilateral triangle is to half its base nearly as 7 to 4.
All these proportions are somewhat flexible, inasmuch as they may include the side walls and exclude the end walls, or the reverse; or they may include both, or they may exclude both; or they may be applied in one way to the nave, and in another to the chancel, and in another to the tower. But the proportion must not be deemed as ascertained unless the figure really fits within 2 or 3 inches.
DATES.
As to the dates of these buildings we have but little to guide us. Only fragments of the buildings are left, and those of the plainest description.
Scotch architecture has some mystifying peculiarities. Dates have been suggested from architectural and historical evidence for Orphir, Birsay, and Egilsey. Orphir, 1090-1160; Birsay, 1100; Egilsey, 1000. Wyre has been assigned to the twelfth or thirteenth, the Ness to the fourteenth, and St. Ola to the sixteenth century.
It may be fairly observed that there must have been churches erected in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Where are the remains of them? Possibly some of the ruins described are of those centuries.
It does not appear impossible that from evidence yet to be collected, a nearer approximation to the dates of these buildings may be got.
As a supplement to the foregoing drawings and descriptions of the ruined churches of Orkney and Shetland by Sir Henry Dryden, we add an account, also kindly supplied by Sir Henry, of the chapel at Lybster, in Caithness, which has a strong affinity to the churches of the Orkneys, and drawings and description of the chapel on the island of Inch Kenneth, lying on the south-west of Mull.
CHAPEL AT LYBSTER, Parish of Reay, Caithness.
This is not the Lybster on the east coast.
This chapel (Fig. 129) was stated, in 1726, to be dedicated to St. Peter. It is described and illustrated by Muir in his Ecclesiastical Sketch of Caithness and Orkney, 1861. He states that it was dedicated to St. Mary.[135]
It consists of nave and chancel, both unroofed. (Fig. 130.) Muir, in his plan, places the chancel to the north of the nave, but it is in the usual position.
The nave is 17 feet 10 inches east and west, by 10 feet 11 inches north and south inside. The north wall of the nave is 3 degrees south of true west and north of true east, supposing the variation to be 24 degrees west of north. The walls of the west end and the east end of the nave are 4 feet 2 inches thick; the north and south walls of the nave are 3 feet 11 inches thick. The walls are of the whinstone of the district, in irregular courses, from 3 to 10 inches deep, and “spawled”—that is, made into courses by smaller stones. The north wall of the nave is 8 feet high above the present ground level, and is apparently about its original height. The south wall is partly broken. The west wall is 11 feet 8