I declared Sunday a day of rest, and spent the morning sleeping. In the afternoon I intended to just look around at the (mostly closed) shops and maybe wander down to the wet and windy harbour. Nice quiet, easy day. Yep.
I also wanted to go back to the cathedral.
I’d read elsewhere that there was a dead earl buried in the cathedral wall, so I had a look in the cathedral’s leaflet of highlights and there was no mention of any dead earls buried in the wall but I found some other things I’d missed so I went back to look at them.
So the row of different coloured stones at the bottom there is where the dead earl is buried.
“The burial place of Earl Erland Haralds/son who was slain by the forces of Earl Rognavald Kols/son in a sea fight near the island of Damsay during the night of the 2st December he was buried here on the 23rd December 1154.”
If that’s the Rognavald who founded the cathedral, his remains are apparently in the pillar to my left. It might indicate how many interesting things this cathedral has that a dead earl buried in the wall doesn’t make the leaflet of highlights. The arch of the top of the wall gets a mention:
“Inside was the notorious Marwick’s Hole dungeon. This stone cell was accessed from the room above and women accused of witchcraft were sometimes held there.. It was filled in during the restoration in the early 20th century.
The walls are lined with headstones that were once in the nave. (The leaflet says the bodies were reburied in the graveyard.) The stone are about my height. This one says:
“This is the burial place of Captain Peter Winchester where lye intered the bodies of his vertous wife Jeane Bakie daughter to James Bakie of Tankerness and of thein 3 children Alexr Peter and Arthur. Here torn from her husband and surrounded by her three children lies a great glory of the female sex she is dead but her virture is still fragrant after death Jean was right dear on earth Jean is bright clear in heaven 1674”
Kirkwall’s main street. On leaving the cathedral I noticed the shop across the road was open. You can go in there and asks for some keys
then walk across the town
to an industrial estate where you’ll find
the entrance to an Iron Age Grain Earth House (or souterrain). The panel says “This subterranean passage was built and used some time between 2,800 and 1,500 years ago. It formed part of a thriving farming settlement, although we are unsure how it was used by the Iron Age community.” It might have been storage. It might have been for lighting. It might have had a ritual function.
The raised dome & stairs down are modern. Beyond them, it is too dark for camera. Sorry.
OK with the use of the timer, the flash and shining the phone torch on the wall (so camera had something to focus on), I was able to get one usable photos.
Phone camera agreed to take one too.
(Turns out, dark, enclosed places don’t worry me. Surprised me actually.)
