Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables
- List of Figures
- List of Abbreviations
- Acknowledgements
- The Contributors
- Preface
- A Dedication to Colleen Batey
- Foreword
- Before Vikings in Scotland: A Brief History of Viking-Age Archaeology in Scotland
- Part I The Arrival of the Vikings and Native–Norse Interactions
- Part II Scandinavian Settlement
- Part III Place-names: Interactions with the Landscape
- Part IV Environmental Impact and Land Use
- Part V Power and the Political Landscape
- Part VI Economy and Exchange
- Part VII Death and Burial
- Afterword: Major Advances and Future Directions
- Index
17 - The Earl’s Bu, Orphir, Orkney
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 October 2023
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables
- List of Figures
- List of Abbreviations
- Acknowledgements
- The Contributors
- Preface
- A Dedication to Colleen Batey
- Foreword
- Before Vikings in Scotland: A Brief History of Viking-Age Archaeology in Scotland
- Part I The Arrival of the Vikings and Native–Norse Interactions
- Part II Scandinavian Settlement
- Part III Place-names: Interactions with the Landscape
- Part IV Environmental Impact and Land Use
- Part V Power and the Political Landscape
- Part VI Economy and Exchange
- Part VII Death and Burial
- Afterword: Major Advances and Future Directions
- Index
Summary
Located on the northern shore of Scapa Flow (Figure 17.1), this expansive site has as its focus today the remains of the 12th-century Round Church, dedicated to St Nicholas, and the grass-covered remains of substantial walling commonly identified with the Late Norse Earl’s drinking hall. However, the site is considerably larger than traditionally viewed, incorporating industrial activity at Lavacroon to the west, additional dwellings under the current Saga Centre, and a Norse-period horizontal mill with water management system, all complementing the considerable complexity of the visible grass-covered remains in the area under State Care (Guardianship). A Pictish symbol stone was incorporated into these remains, but otherwise it would appear that this site is unusual in being a virgin Viking-Age foundation, lacking immediate estate evidence of the Pictish/Iron-Age periods. There is, however, a growing body of data from the excavations considered here, that there was scattered evidence related to Late Neolithic and Bronze-Age activity, including an earlier discovery of a pecked and decorated stone, flint working and a Bronze-Age burnt mound with ceramics.
There are several entries in the Orkneyinga Saga concerning activities at the Earl’s Bu (farm) and the church at the site, which add considerable colour to our understanding of the archaeology.
Earl Paul made preparations for a great Christmas feast at his estate called Orphir, and to it he invited a large number of important guests … There was a great drinking-hall at Orphir, with a door in the south wall near the eastern gable, and in front of the hall, just a few paces down from it, stood a fine church. On the left as you came into the hall was a large stone slab, with a lot of big ale vats behind it, and opposite the door was the living-room. (Palsson and Edwards 1978: ch. 66, 112–13)
Within this entry, the main elements of the site are described: the hall in some detail, but the distinctive Round Church is barely described at all. There are various interpretations about the origins for the form of the Orphir Church, citing inspiration from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem as well as southern Scandinavian similarities (summarised in Fisher 1993).
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- Information
- The Viking Age in ScotlandStudies in Scottish Scandinavian Archaeology, pp. 223 - 228Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2023