Earl's Palace, Birsay facts for kids

The Earl's Palace, Birsay.

The Earl's Palace in Birsay, Orkney, Scotland, is a cool old castle from the 1500s. It's mostly in ruins now, but you can still visit it! A powerful man named Robert Stewart, 1st Earl of Orkney built it. He was the son of King James V, the King of Scotland. Today, Historic Environment Scotland looks after the palace, making sure it's protected as an important historical site.

History of the Palace

The Earl's Palace was built in two main parts.

• First Part (1570s): Building started around the 1570s. The first part included a big hall on the south side, right above the main entrance. Next to it was Robert Stewart's own private room, located in the tower at the southeast corner. You can still see a special message carved above the entrance, dated 1574, which shows when this part was finished.

• Second Part (1580s): The second part of the palace was finished in the 1580s. This added a whole new section on the north side of the courtyard, with another large hall and more rooms. This expansion probably happened after Robert Stewart officially became the Earl of Orkney in 1581.

After Robert Stewart passed away, other Earls of Orkney didn't use the palace very often. By the mid-1600s, no one lived there anymore. By 1701, the palace had started to fall apart quite a bit.

Exploring the Castle

A close-up of a window at the palace.

The Earl's Palace has two floors and is built around a central courtyard with a well. It has large stone towers at three of its four corners. This palace was designed to be both a fancy home and a strong fortress.

The upper floors of the palace had big windows, letting in lots of light. But the ground floors, which were easier to reach, had only small openings. They also had many "gun-holes." These were small holes where musketeers (soldiers with muskets) could stand and shoot to protect the building from all sides.

We don't have many old records that tell us exactly what the palace looked like inside or what furniture it had. However, a writer named Reverend John Brand visited the palace in 1701 and wrote about it.

The Earl's Palace in Birsay during reconstruction.

He mentioned that the upper floor was "prettily decored." This means it was decorated very nicely. He wrote that the ceiling was "all Painted," mostly with pictures showing stories from the Bible, like "Noah's flood" and "Christ's riding to Jerusalem." The Bible verses were even written next to the pictures!

See also

In Spanish: Palacio del Conde (Birsay) para niños