Bishop's and Earl's Palaces, Kirkwall

Centuries before Orkney joined Scotland, Kirkwall was a bustling Norwegian port, the capital of the Norse-held Nordreyjar (the ‘Northern Isles’). Along with St Magnus Cathedral, the Bishop’s Palace is one of the best-preserved buildings from this era.

It is the only episcopal palace ever built in Norse Scotland and the oldest surviving domestic building in a town that retains its distinctive medieval street plan. The great Haakon IV of Norway died in the Bishop’s Palace in 1263, a momentous event in its history.

The ornate Earl’s Palace was added much later, in the early 1600s, well after James III of Scotland had annexed the islands in 1472. Patrick Stewart, Earl of Orkney, had the ambitious plan to make the Bishop’s Palace part of a splendid palace complex called  ‘The Palace of the Yards’.

You can still admire the façade of the Earl’s Palace, with its oriel windows, corbelled turrets and elaborate entrance, and spot the statue of St Rognvald on the outside of the Reid Tower.