Orkney & Shetland 2019 - Day 13

Orkney - A Day in Kirkwall

Introduction

Kirkwall is the largest town on Orkney. We stayed here four nights with plans to spend a day looking around the town, so after breakfast we walked around the shops then visited the Cathedral and the museum. There seem to be a lot of jewellers in Kirkwall, all claiming to be local. Must be the weather...

Kirkwall

Kirkwall is an eclectic collection of old and new buildings housing a range of jewellers, foods clothing shops and banks.

Sylvia Fleet - jeweller	Chocolate factory	There are many small alleyways
The Ayre Hotel where we stayed for 3 nights.	Parliament Close was near here	Looks like bank...
The Custom House		They look like New Zealand "cabbage trees".

St Magnus Cathedral

Magnus was the Earl of Orkney in the early 1100s. The cathedral was founded in 1137. It is an imposing structure made of large blocks on Old Red Sandstone. The sandstone has not stood up to the local weather and is badly eroded in many places. The inside is impressive. It contains many early headstones and memorials to local people. Doctors seem well repreented, as do explorers including Dr John Rae of the Hudson's Bay Company and discoverer of the Northwest Passage.

The extensive graveyard was full of bluebells		And Starlings.
St magnus.		Across the road is the laird's house
And the local museum.	The red stone entrance to the cathedral.	The stone is wearing away.
The heavy wooden doors	The vaulted ceilings
		There were many tombs inside.
		The memorial to the men lost on the "Royal Oak", sunk in Scapa Flow.
		The memorial to William Balfour Blaikie
	Artist in residence.
The tomb of John RAE, Arctic explorer and discover of the fate of James Franklin's expedition.

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Last updated: 23/06/2019