Kirkwall - St Magnus Cathedral

Kirkwall was first mentioned in the Orkneyinga Saga in 1046, when it was recorded as the residence of Rögnvald Brusason, Earl of Orkney, who was killed by his uncle Thorfinn Sigurdsson (aka Thorfinn the Mighty) on the island of Stronsay.


St Magnus Cathedral is the oldest cathedral in Scotland and the most northerly cathedral in the United Kingdom - an example of architecture built when the islands were ruled by the Norse Earls of Orkney.

In 1137 the cathedral was founded by Jarl Rögnvald Kali Kolsson. The church was entrusted to the patronage of Saint Magnus Erlendsson, an uncle of the founder. Before the Reformation, the cathedral belonged to the Archdiocese of Trondheim. After Orkney had become part of the Scottish kingdom, the cathedral was handed over to the burgh of Kirkwall in 1486. During the Reformation worship was reformed in 1560. However, unlike many churches in Scotland, there was no iconoclasm. Today, the cathedral is used by the Church of Scotland.

The oldest parts of the cathedral are the transept, the choir and the east side of the nave. The cathedral was built in a mixture of northwest European, Romanesque-Norman and early Gothic styles. The east side ended in an apse in the 12th century. Only speculation is known about the west building. A double-towered facade is said to have been planned in the 13th century. The most recent parts of the cathedral are in the west.

The memorial of William Balfour Baikie, an explorer, naturalist and philologist.

Baikie was born in Kirkwall in 1825. After completing his doctorate, he was appointed surgeon and naturalist to the Niger Expedition, which was sent by Macgregor Laird with government support in 1854. After the death of the officer in charge, Baikie took over command.

The expedition ascended the River Benue some 250 miles beyond the point reached by previous explorers and returned to the mouth of the Niger after a journey of 118 days without losing a single man. On his return to the United Kingdom, Baikie reported on his work

In 1857 Baikie started on another expedition. After two years exploring the Niger, the navigating vessel was wrecked passing through some of the rapids of the river. The survivors were not rescued from Africa for a year. Baikie determined to carry out the purposes of the expedition.

He chose Lokoja as the base of his future operations, it being the site of the model farm established by the Niger expedition of 1841, and abandoned on the death of most of the white settlers. After purchasing the site, and concluding a treaty with the local emir, he proceeded to clear the ground, build houses and pave the way for a future city. In less than five years he had opened up the navigation of the Niger, made roads, and established a market to which the native produce was brought for sale and barter. His settlement grew to include representatives of almost all the tribes of West-Central Africa. To the area he acted not merely as ruler, but also as physician, teacher and priest. He collected vocabularies of nearly fifty African languages, and translated portions of the Bible and prayer-book into Hausa and Arabic. While on his way home, on leave of absence, he died at Sierra Leone in 1864.