Journal of Geomancy vol. 1 no. 3, April 1977

{55}

THE ROUND CHURCH AT ORPHIR, ORKNEY

By Michael Behrend

Following Ian Worden’s paper on the dimensions of this church, I would like to put forward a design, based on “ad triangulum”, which the masons may have used for the ground plan.  St. Nicholas’s Church at Orphir, Orkney, is the only round church in Scotland.  It was probably built in 1121 or 1122 and thus seems unlikely to be connected with the Templar Order, which had been founded with 9 members in Jerusalem as recently as 1118. 

The church was partially demolished in 1757, and the inside diameter has been variously estimated as 20 feet (1756), 18 feet (1797), and “apparently 20 feet” by the Royal Commission on Historic Monuments.  In 1861 however, when the remains extended further to the west than at the time of the RCHM’s visit, George Petrie of Kirkwall took careful measurements and found a diameter of 18 feet 10 inches.  Presumably he deduced this from the figures shown on his plan, which theoretically give 18 feet 10·86 inches.  Assuming that Petrie’s measurements are correct, a simple geometric construction for the ground-plan can be deduced. 

The suggested design is based on a module of 14·216 inches (361·1 mm).  This is not to imply that such a unit was in general use at the time, though Sir Flinders Petrie found evidence in mediaeval Irish churches and round towers for a module of 21·34 inches, or 1½ Orphir modules, divided into 60 parts. 

Plan by George Petrie

Suggested geometry of groundplan

In the diagram, A is the centre of the Nave, which has an internal radius of 8 modules.  ABC is an equilateral triangle, and arcs of radius 8 and 4 are centred on B and C.  The intersection points D and E are then exactly 3 modules from the axis and determine the width of the chancel, which has the form of a 6 × 3 rectangle + a semicircular apse.  The outer wall of the nave is defined by a circle through D and E, and the outer wall of the chancel by a circle through B and C. 

The dimensions in inches are as follows:

{56}

In addition, the RCHM found that the height of the chancel vault above the original floor level was about 11 feet 10½ inches, while 10 modules equal 11 feet 10·16 inches. 

The ruins in 1861

REFERENCES: