Reblogged from Deborah Jay:

After crawling into Neolithic tombs on the first morning of our Orkney holiday, the afternoon was time for a shift to a more recent historic site – St Magnus Cathedral.

Of course, ‘recent’ is relative, if you get my drift. Kirkwall’s impressive cathedral was founded in 1137, by the Viking, Earl Rognvald, in honour of his martyred uncle, St Magnus.

Over the centuries, the building has been part of the Roman Catholic Church, the Norwegian Church, the Scottish Episcopal Church, and the Church of Scotland (Presbyterian).

One of the most striking external features of the building is the use of alternating red and yellow sandstone

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