St Magnus Cathedral, Orkney

We’re very sorry - Orkney is about to experience Storm Amy and there is an Amber Weather Warning for tomorrow morning. So unfortunately we have made the decision to postpone this tour until a later date.

A stone arch set into the wall of a church with a pointed pitched canopy above.

Day 3 of #31DaysofGraves, and the prompt is 'tomb'. So here's a wall-set tomb from the south nave aisle. It's thought to date from the 14th century, and was possibly the burial place of the Paplay family.

A wooden grave marker for J Thompson, ship’s carpenter.

A gravestone featuring an anchor and a flag at half mast.

It’s Day 2 of #31DaysofGraves, and the theme is ‘nautical’. So here are two from our graveyard - a wooden marker for a ship’s carpenter, and a stone ensign at half mast for a captain… 🫡

A corner of a carved stone showing a woman's head and a rose, under an arch with stars.

It's a wet, windy day in Orkney but it's also the first day of October, and that means... #31daysofgraves! The prompt for today is 'Flower', so here's a lovely carved rose from the gravestone of one Elizabeth Cuthbert who died in 1685. Follow @annaandthedead.bsky.social if you want to join in ☠️🪦

A carved gravestone showing a skull-and-crossbones, a candle, and other symbols of mortality.

☠️Skulls and Dancing Skeletons - Saturday 4 October!☠️
This weekend sees the return of this popular cathedral tour, exploring the symbolism of the skull-and-crossbones, the candles, hourglasses, and much more. Meet your guide inside at 10am; the tour lasts 1 hour approximately, and costs £15pp.

Tomorrow (Monday 29 Sept) sees the last 🪦 historic graveyard tour🪦 of the season. It starts at 2pm inside, next to the custodian’s office - costs £10pp and lasts an hour.

Yesterday we said goodbye to our Team Leader for Heritage, Meredith. She joined us as cathedral conservator in 2019, and has transformed care of the cathedral building over the past 6 years. Here she is on her final day with Peter, technician, and Fran, curator. Good luck for the future, Meredith!

***cough***

We are looking forward to once again taking part in the #31daysofgraves!

Gravestones on green grass. A wooden cross with gold writing.

***Please remember*** there is no tour of the historic cathedral graveyard today (Monday 15 September). The next tour will be on Friday 19 September at 2pm.

A person in a striped jumper standing in a stone archway.

Huge thanks to everyone who came along on our special Graffiti Tours, put on as part of the Orkney Festival of Archaeology. Here's Curator Fran Flett Hollinrake in full flow! (Thank you to Valeria for the photo) ⛪

***UPDATE*** These tours have now sold out! Many thanks to everyone for their interest.

A stone spiral staircse

Painted letters on a stone wall reading 'DF 1945'

A stone wall with the carved initials TS

As part of the inaugural Orkney Festival of Archaeology, we are offering lots of tours, including a special Graffiti Tour, featuring parts of the Upper Levels that we don't usually go to! More details here: orkneyarchaeologysociety.org.uk/events/list/

The same applies today - graveyard tour at 2pm.

A guide standing next to a gravestone.

***Graveyard tour today - Monday***

A reminder that there will be a tour of the historic cathedral graveyard at 2pm today. It costs £10pp and lasts 1 hour - no need to book. Join us at the custodian's office in the south transept.

A large red church with some gravestones in the foreground.

***Graveyard tour today***

There is a tour of the cathedral's historic graveyard at 2pm today (Monday). Meet at the custodian's office, in the south transept. The tour lasts 1 hour and costs £10pp, no need to book!

Tours of the graveyard are on Mondays & Fridays at 2pm until the end of September.

South Ronaldsay is indeed named after St Rognvald. But it's now thought that North Ronaldsay was once Rinansay (Rinan's Island), with Rinan being an alternative form of Ninian. There's a rich linguistic legacy of saints in Orkney!

Yes, Rognvald did indeed write poetry.

A large red sandstone church with a pointed spire.

A wooden statue of a man holding a model of a church. A wooden model Viking longship in the foreground.

It's the Feast Day of St Rognvald, the Norwegian earl of Orkney who built our wonderful cathedral.

The Flower Festival continues all this week, and the theme is ‘Let There Be Music!’. Please come by and see the beautiful displays and give generously - all money raised goes towards the upkeep of our cathedral.

***RESTRICTED ACCESS TODAY***
🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

Please remember that there is very limited access in the cathedral today, as we set up for the annual Flower Festival.

A flower arrangement featuring a TARDIS and a space-theme background, celebrating 60 years of Doctor Who.

🌸🏵️🌸 PLEASE NOTE 🌸🏵️🌸
On Tuesday 12 August there will be very restricted access in the cathedral as we get ready for our annual Flower Festival. Only the west end and the central nave aisle will be open, so please plan accordingly. Enjoy this image from last year's Flower Festival!

This should be a really interesting talk - we've got our tickets!

A graveyard in the sun with trees and a large church.

🪦***Graveyard tour today***🪦
There will be a tour of the cathedral's historic graveyard today at 2pm - meet at the custodian's office inside. The tour costs £10pp and lasts for one hour.

Not an OAS event but this first in a series of 'Music for Malawi' lunchtime concerts may be of interest to our followers. Sat 26 July at @stmagnuscathedral.bsky.social at 1pm. Admission free but donations to Malawi Music Fund gratefully received.

We had the best view in town for the Cycling Criterium! #islandgames #orkney

These two young Island Games athletes, Cian snd Cameron, are from Ynys Môn (Anglesey). They visited the cathedral yesterday and heard the tale of the Battle in the Menai Strait when St Magnus refused to fight. He stood untouched, singing psalms, whilst the battle raged around him. 😇🙏

The Island Games 2025 are upon us! It’s sunny and hot and buzzing out in the street, but inside we are a cool, calm and quiet. We have a beautiful sound installation and the wonderful Sails in St Magnus - come in for a gentle moment.

* it's

The inside of a cathedral with a group standing listening to a guide

Thank you to everyone who came for the special curator tour about the stained glass windows - its such a fascinating subject! Here is curator Fran in action at the west window.