Our Last Day on the Orkneys, Scotland 2013

9 May, 2013

Thursday was to be our last day on the Orkneys so we had a very full agenda. First we headed into Kirkwell to visit St Magnus Cathedral and “do the shops over!”

St Magnus Cathedral, Britian’s most northerly Cathedral, is often referred to as the “Light in the North.” It was built in red sandstone in 1137 by the Norwegians but has weathered badly. The unusual interior reflects the Viking origin as most of the walls have ancient memorials and there is a beautiful stained glass window which was commissioned for the 850^th anniversary of the Cathedral. 

(Remember to click on the photos to enlarge them.)

St Magnus Cathedral

The Royal Oak Memorial

A section of the 850th Anniversary Window

Memorial to John Rae Scottish Doctor, Artic  Explorer and Surveyor of parts of the Northwest passage in 1846

Tom with the amazing door at the Cathedral

Another view of St Magnus Cathedral

After checking out the shops we headed off to yet another Neolithic site. Maeshowe Tomb is a 5000 year old chambered cairn that is entered by a long passage way which opens out to reveal a central chamber and 3 small chambers radiating out from it. Originally it had a conical roof but was broken into by the Norweigans about 1000 years ago. Unfortunately, once again, we were unable to take photos.

When we came out of the Tomb we were surprised and somewhat distressed to hear the bellowing of cows as if they were getting their throats cut. It turned out that they had just been separated from their calves while the cows walked across the road to the paddock. The calves were transported by truck to the same paddock as this was the calves first outing into the “light” after being born in the brye (barn). When released from the truck the calves frolicked around for a while before finding their mums. Then amazingly all was quite again.

Later we drove across two of the Churchill Barriers which link the Orkney mainland with Burray. The barriers were built in 1940 to protect the Scapa Flow anchorage and to prevent German submarines from entering the Flow after one had managed to manouver between the the blockships to sink the Royal Oak in 1939. Today the rusting hulks of the blockships (obsolete merchantman ships) can be seen near the Barriers.

Part of the Churchill Barriers

Rusting Blockship

The Churchill Barriers were built by Italian prisioners of war and during their leisure time they built the amazing Italian Chapel at Lambholm. It was built from two end-on-end nisson huts and anything else the prisioners could find and was decorated by some very talented chaps.

The Italian Chapel

We had been told that it was a delight to see but we were absolutely amazed at the beauty of interior of the building.  Today it is a major tourist attraction and is still maintained by Italian artists who make a “pilgrimage’ back to the Orkneys to ensure the Chapels beauty is continues.

Fran adding to the colourful interior!

Isn't this amazing?

Our day ended with a visit to St Margaret’s Hope where we had an entering afternoon tea with a couple we had met on the ferry.