Brough of Birsay

The Brough of Birsay was settled by the Picts from the 7th century, the Norse from the 9th century, and served as the seat of the Earls of Orkney and the first Orcadian bishopric. The Orkneyinga Saga records Earl Thorfinn's founding of Christchurch around 1048. After St Magnus's burial here in 1117 and canonisation in 1135, Birsay became a medieval pilgrimage destination.

The Picts left no written account of why they chose this tidal island. What survives is the evidence of their presence: traces of buildings, moulds for casting fine bronze brooches and ornaments, and a remarkable carved stone depicting three figures in long robes, processing with spears, swords, and square shields. Four Pictish symbols, the crescent and V-rod, the eagle, the mirror case, and the swimming elephant, complete the composition. This is not the work of a marginal community. The stone speaks of a place of ceremony and authority, established here in the 7th or 8th century on an island that the sea isolates for most of each day.

The Norse arrived in the early 9th century and recognised what the Picts had seen. Over three centuries, they built a substantial settlement that grew and was rebuilt repeatedly, leaving a complex maze of overlapping walls. The Orkneyinga Saga, composed in Iceland around 1200, records that Earl Thorfinn the Mighty held his seat at Birsay. Thorfinn was a figure of considerable ambition. The saga claims he controlled Orkney, the Hebrides, nine Scottish earldoms, and a portion of Ireland. In his later years he made a pilgrimage to Rome and returned to build a minster dedicated to Christ, establishing the first episcopal seat of Orkney around 1048.

The event that transformed Birsay from a centre of political power to a place of pilgrimage occurred on 16 April 1117. On the island of Egilsay, Earl Magnus Erlendsson was murdered on the orders of his cousin and co-ruler, Earl Hakon. Magnus had gone to Egilsay for a meeting that was supposed to resolve their rivalry. Instead, Hakon's cook, Lifolf, struck the fatal blow. Magnus's mother arranged for his body to be carried by ship to Birsay and buried at Christchurch. Soon, miracles were reported at his grave: the sick were healed, lights were seen, fragrance filled the air. Pilgrims came. In 1135, Magnus was canonised, and his feast day was set on 16 April. Around the same time, his relics were translated to the new St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall, and Birsay's centrality began to fade.