Scotland · Ruin
Earl's Palace
The Earl's Palace at Birsay, Orkney is a late 16th-century two-storey palace built for Robert Stewart, 1st Earl of Orkney. Constructed around a central courtyard with a well and large towers at three corners, it combined residential great halls with defensive gun-holes and small ground-floor openings. It is now a ruin managed as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
First raised
1569
Its prime
1585
Today
Ruin
As it stood in 1585
What Earl's Palace looked like in its prime.
A two-storey stone palace set around a rectangular central courtyard with a visible well, anchored by large square corner towers at three of the four corners. The south range contains the main entrance with the great hall directly above; a south‑east corner tower houses a private chamber. Upper floors have larger glazed openings while ground floors show small windows and numerous gun-holes positioned to cover every side; rooflines are simple and continuous across the ranges.
Its story
The story of Earl's Palace.
Adam Bothwell, Bishop of Orkney, kept a house at Birsay, the 'place of Birsay', which Henry Sinclair of Strom seized and occupied in December 1560. The palace proper was built by Robert Stewart, 1st Earl of Orkney, illegitimate son of King James V and Euphemia Elphinstone, in two phases: a great hall in the south range from the 1570s, marked by a 1574 inscription over the entrance, and a north range with a second hall and chamber in the 1580s, probably after Robert acquired the Earldom of Orkney in 1581.
As much fortress as residence, the two-storey palace wrapped around a central courtyard and well, with large stone towers at three of the four corners. Only the upper floors had large windows; the accessible ground floors were pierced with small openings and an array of gun-holes from which musketeers could cover every side of the building. After Robert Stewart's death in 1593 later earls of Orkney used it only occasionally.
The Reverend John Brand, writing in 1701, recorded upper rooms 'prettily decored', their painted ceilings showing scripture histories, Noah's flood, Christ's riding to Jerusalem, with the verses set down beside each figure. The ruin is now in the care of Historic Environment Scotland as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
Step inside
7 places to explore in 1585.
The record describes 7 distinct spots at Earl's Palace, including 3 interiors: great hall above the main door (south range), lord orkney's private chamber (south-east tower), north-range great hall and chamber (second phase). Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
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Clans who held Earl's Palace.
The families that held Earl's Palace for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Built by Robert Stewart, 1st Earl of Orkney, from the 1570s; after his death in 1593 the later earls of Orkney used the palace only occasionally.
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