Another Kirk On A Broch?
by Bernie Bell - 07:31 on 11 June 2025
Another Kirk On A Broch?
We’ve walked at Bu Sands, Burray ……
https://theorkneynews.scot/2020/10/31/a-walk-on-bu-sand-burray-if-you-can-get-to-it/
…..and passed by the Kirk but hadn’t realised how much of interest there is to be found there until I Googled, and read this…..
https://www.themodernantiquarian.com/.../southtown-burray...
The idea of it originally being the site of a broch interested me, and reminds me of St. Michael’s in Harray….
https://theorkneynews.scot/.../the-fest-may-be-over-but.../
And of the Broch near/under what is now Warebeth Cemetery…
http://www.spanglefish.com/berniesblog/blog.asp?blogid=16031
So we went to have a look and see/feel for ourselves what we made of the site.
We parked in the car park and walked to the right along the Kirkyard wall, where a steep rise in the land beneath the ruin of the Kirk became apparent.…
Then back the way we came, through the main gate into the Kirkyard…
…… and straight ahead to the War Memorial, noticing how young the people named there were when they died - mostly in their 20’s and 30’s...…
From this point, looking to our right and over the wall, again, the rise in the land is clear….
There is a stone wall as the land rises by the Kirk, and we wondered is this the remains of an earlier Kirk, or of the Broch?
The Kirk is ruinous, but is still a fine building, with a window through which we could see an archway in an internal wall…..
We then walked round to the front of the Kirk, noticing again that there is definitely a large, raised area which the Kirk stands on….
Through the doorway…
….to the interior, which has a wonderfully peaceful feel to it.
There is an information board….
Which states that….
“Recent research by Dr. S.J. Gibbon of UHI has identified this Kirk as one of over 200 churches in Orkney dating from the 10th to 13th Centuries……
……the stone used for constructing the walls could have come from the surrounding ancient structure which may have been a broch.”
The information board also has an image of a Norse era decorated bone handle which was found in the vicinity of the Kirk and is now in the Orkney Museum, Kirkwall….
A modern cross has been placed at the end of the kirk….
Over the years, folk have carved their initials and heart-shapes into the plaster on the walls. Somehow, this didn’t feel wrong – just human….
There are also patterns in the plaster….
Looking out through the windows, we could see the obelisks and headstones of the Kirkyard, as folk would have been able to when the Kirk was in use and the sermon was long!...…
Back out through the door, and we walked to our left to the far corner of the Kirk…
….where, looking over the wall we could see how it would have been a good position for a Broch – overlooking the entrance to the Bay….
From this corner of the Kirkyard, the steep slope of the land away from the Kirk was again in evidence…
We’re not archaeologists or historians – just people who are interested in times past and lives lived. We both feel that there is a reasonable likelihood that the kirk stands on a Broch. It’s a site of great interest….and peace.
Then…to Polly Kettle for lunch…
http://www.spanglefish.com/berniesblog/blog.asp?blogid=16972
….which was ab-so-lutely gorgeous!
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