Undiscovered Scotland

 

The roofless ruins of St Mary's Church lie a few hundred yards south-west of the building containing Midhowe Cairn and can be reached from it along the rough coastal path forming part of the Westness Walk.

The church probably dates back to the 1600s, though is thought to be on the site of a medieval church associated with The Wirk (see below) dating back to around 1300. It was abandoned in the 1820s after the clearance of Westness by the landowner of the day, though the graveyard remained in use until the 1920s.

The vast buttresses on the west side of the east and west gables were added in the late 1800s in an effort to keep them standing. They still are, but at angles that don't leave you wanting to stand too near either of them.

A little south-east of St Mary's are the shells of the buildings that one formed the farmstead of Skaill. These have been derelict since the inhabitants were evicted in the early 1800s and they add to the slightly forlorn atmosphere of the area.

Immediately north-east of Sy Mary's and almost forming part of the wall of the kirkyard, is one of Westness's most enigmatic structures. This is The Wirk. It comprised a square tower associated with a large rectangular building which extended into the field on its landward side. The rectangular building is thought to have been a grand hall along the lines of the Bishop's Palace in Kirkwall and dating back to around 1300.

The purpose of the tower is unclear: perhaps it simply finished off the seaward end of the hall in the same was as its circular tower finishes off the end of the Bishop's Palace nearest St Magnus Cathedral.