Looking towards entrance door:-

Towards altar:-

Note lighted room high up above further arch:-

On side wall of Cathedral:-

Though I posted about the Royal Oak Memorial in Kirkwall’s St Magnus Cathedral in 2017 I didn’t photograph these wall-mounted memorials when we were in Orkney then.

In memory of the men of the Cathedral’s congregation who died in the Great War:-

To William Baikie, Watson, MC, Lieutenant Royal Field Artil 25.lery, 29/9/1918, aged 25:-

In memory of Archibald Garden Robertson, 2nd Lieutenant, Black Watch, attached to RFC, 8/6/1917:-

This frieze at St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall, Orkney, situated just at the beginning of the chancel of the cathedral, near the font, tells the story of the life of St Magnus.

Font, with frieze behind and dazzling floor tiles below:-

Memorial to John Rae, Arctic explorer, who found the final part of the Northwest Passage, named Rae Strait after him:-

The above memorial lies in a side aisle off the chancel. Behind it on the east wall, below the stained glass window, is a series of plaques with the names of Orkney writers and artists. St Magnus Cathedral’s very own Poets’ Corner:-

Poets’ Corner:-

Statue of St Olaf. Very nordic:-

That nordic style also shows through on this table at top of the nave:-

The cathedral’s Viking heritage is also celebrated with this model ship on the altar table:-

The Orkney Museum is located in Tankerness House, diagonally across the road from St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall, Orkney.

Armorial cartouche above the arched entranceway into the museum:-

We would perhaps have gone in later in the day but the rain prompted us to go earlier than we would have. Just as well. The museum is stuffed full of great exhibits from Orkney’s long history. We spent a long time inside perusing them all. Fascinating stuff.

This quaint old building in the museum garden is known as Groatie Hoose and is decorated with seashells (or groatie buckies.) At the time there was a party in from a tour ship and I couldn’t avoid getting some of them in the shot.

This, from the images page on Google, is a better view:-

The churchyard cemetery at St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall, had a Commonwealth War Graves sign on it. There were two, both Seaforth Highlanders from the Great War.

Private J Brass, 30/10/1918, aged 18:-

Private J McKay, 11/11/1918, aged 21:-

Similarly, in Stromness’s Warebeth Cemetery on the shores of Hoy Sound, W Parsons, Second Hand, RNR, HM Trawler Dale Castle, 8th December 1918:-

And at Orphir, Lance Bombardier J W Bews, Royal Artillery, 26/3/1941, aged 20:-

Also in Orphir cemetery was this dedication to James Oliver Flett, Airborne Division, who died on active service, 22/4/1944, aged 22:-

On the night of 8^th October, 1939, the German submarine U-47, under the command of Günther Prien, penetrated the defences of Scapa Flow, Orkney, through Holm Sound and Kirk Sound. Her first two torpedo salvos missed all but an anchor chain but her third struck HMS Royal Oak. Within fifteen minutes the ship had sunk with the loss of 833 British sailors out of the crew of 1,234 men and boys. Many of their bodies were unrecoverable and remain on the ship. A few are interred at Lyness Naval Cemetery on Hoy.

For his feat Prien was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross, the first sailor of a U-boat and the second member of the Kriegsmarine to receive this decoration.

To prevent any further such attacks a series of barriers known as the Churchill barriers was built between four of the southern Orkney islands to connect them to each other and the mainland. The one shown below (picture from the Royal Oak’s Wikipedia page) crosses what was Kirk Sound.

For decades afterwards the Royal Oak, a designated war grave on which diving is therefore prohibited, leaked oil into Scapa Flow before the leak was sealed off.

A memorial to HMS Royal Oak is set into the north wall of Kirkwall’s St Magnus Cathedral. There is a dedication plaque, a book of remembrance listing the names, with a page turned every day, surmounted by the ship’s bell.

Further along the same wall lies another site of more general remembrance, a niche containing poppies and candles.

As seen from my previous post, Kirkwall’s War Memorial (also dedicated to the parish of St Ola) is located right beside St Magnus Cathedral – which is in the background the first, third and fourth photo here. The Memorial is in the form of an arch which acts as a gateway to the churchyard and cemetery behind. The original pillars are dedicated to the Great War. The external pillars were added to commemorate the Second World War.

Left hand pillars:-

Right hand pillars with wreath. St Magnus Cathedral in background:-

War Memorial Arch. “To the glory of God in memory of the men of Kirkwall and St Ola who fell for freedom in the Great War”:-

The first day we visited Kirkwall, Orkney’s biggest town, was quite rainy, which was why we chose to go there as we hoped to be able to nip in and out of shops as necessary.

St Magnus Cathedral, Britain’s most northerly, was built in memory of St Magnus and to hold his relics.

It dominates the skyline of Kirkwall and is impressive from close up:-

This angle shows Kirkwall’s War Memorial arch to the left:-

Cathedral from churchyard behind:-

Cathedral side door:-

The interior is also impressive, monumental but somehow on a human scale.

Ceiling and window behind altar:-

Stained glass window above main entrance:-

Skaill House is Orkney’s biggest mansion house. It overlooks the Bay of Skaill and in its grounds were discovered the remains of the neolithic village of Skara Brae (see earlier posts.) Since the ticket for Skara Brae also conferred entry to the house we had a look round.

Skaill House from path from Skara Brae:-

Skaill House Entrance:-

Skaill House, cartouche above entrance:-

Skaill House Library:-

Skaill House Library circular window. This is the window you can see in the rightmost part of the house in the first photograph above:-

Skaill House Library, books:-

Skaill House, framed crest and flags. The flag and naval ensign surmounting crest of Imperial Germany:-

Skaill House Armada Chest. Many of the ships from the Spanish Armada made their way up round the top of Great Britain (and Orkney) and were wrecked. Some settled in Orkney:-

On one of his voyages Captain Cook’s ship landed at Stromness, and he was entertained at Skaill House. His dinner service from the Resolution was acquired later by the house and can be seen in the press (cupboard) to the left in the photo below:-

One of the house’s past owners had a model of St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall, built for him and it sits behind glass in a bedroom:-

A son of the house was involved in the British intervention in Russia after the second Revolution of 1917. Photographs and other memorabilia:-