Westside Church of Tuquoy
The ruins of the small Westside Church of Tuquoy on the Orkney island of Westray are one of the best preserved medieval church ruins of the Orkney in Scotland .
They consist of the original choir and a short, later extended nave. The interior 2.78 m long and 2.1 m wide choir with a barrel vault is remarkable for the inclined post of the altar arch . The 4.1 m wide nave was originally 5.56 m long, which is made clear by a different paving . After the expansion, the internal length was 14.17 m. The extension is usually assigned to the 13th century, but the shape of the south portal appears to date from the 16th or 17th centuries. Where the walls have not been reduced to the foundation height, they are about 2.5 m high.
The church is assigned to the neighboring Nordic settlement. The original construction can be attributed to Hafliki Thorkelsson, next to Harald Maddadsson, Kolbein Hrúga and Sweyn Asleifsson one of the most influential chiefs of the archipelago around the middle of the 12th century. For many years the church, surrounded by a cemetery, served the island's population as a parish church. The church's cemetery wall has already slipped off the cliff on the south side.
A runic inscription , " Porsteinn Einarsson scratched these runes ", was found during the last archaeological excavation.
See also
literature
- Charles Tait: The Orkney Guide Book. Edition 2.1. C. Tait, Kelton - St. Ola - Orkney 1999, ISBN 0-9517859-0-7 .
Web links
- Description Engl. (last accessed on December 4, 2012)
Coordinates: 59 ° 16 ′ 16.9 " N , 2 ° 57 ′ 28" W.