The older Bishops Palace - opposite the road from the Earls Palace, Kirkwall, Orkney - built for Bishop William the Old in the 1150s, and known as the Palace of the Yards. The building was already over a hundred years old when King Håkon IV of Norway took up residence in 1263 following his defeat by Alexander III (and the weather) at the Battle of Largs: After a period of illness, Håkon IV died here at midnight on 15 December 1263. Håkon was buried in St Magnus Cathedral until the weather was good enough to take him to his final resting place in Bergen. The full story can be read in The Norwegian Account of Hacos Expedition Against Scotland; 1263. The palace fell into disrepair in the following centuries before being extensively rebuilt by Bishop Robert Reid (the founder of Edinburgh University) in the 1540s. It was Reid who added the round tower that is today the most striking feature of the Bishops Palace. In 1568 the palace was acquired by Earl Robert Stewart, whose family then effectively enslaved the islands for over 40 years. Roberts son Patrick further remodelled the Bishops Palace in 1600, before deciding the potential of the building had been exhausted. He therefore acquired neighbouring land (in a process involving the trial and execution of the previous owner on trumped up charges of theft) and in 1607 used slave labour to build the Earls Palace. Today the Earls Palace hides away behind a thick screen of trees, but it is generally agreed to have been the finest Renaissance building in Scotland. Earl Patrick Stewart did not enjoy it for long. He was tried for his misdeeds in 1610 and imprisoned in Dumbarton Castle.
Posted on: Tue, 28 Oct 2014 13:02:19 +0000
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