By Fiona Grahame

“Look for support where men will say the true owner of the realm granted it to you, and that’s the holy Earl Magnus, your uncle. I want you to make a vow to him, that should he grant you your family inheritance and his own legacy, and should you come to power, then you’ll build a stone minster at Kirkwall more magnificent than any in Orkney, that you’ll have it dedicated to your uncle the holy Earl Magnus and provide it with all the funds it will need to flourish. In addition, his holy relics and the episcopal seat must be moved there. “ OrkneyInga Saga

This was the advice given to Rognvald Kali Kolsson by his father, Kol, to try and win over the people of Orkney in his campaign to be the ruler over all of the islands completely displacing Earl Paul with whom he shared the Earldom.

Earl Magnus had sacrificed himself in 1116 in order to prevent wider bloodshed in an earlier power grabbing struggle between Earls. 

Using the cult of St Magnus, which had developed after his murder to further his own popularity and claim to the islands, Rognvald made good on the pledge he had given to his father.

Engineering the capture and murder of his rival, Earl Paul, Rognvald became sole ruler of the Earldom. Earl Magnus was canonised in 1135 and St Magnus Cathedral, in Kirkwall, was founded in 1137 by Earl Rognvald. It was to take over 300 years before it was completed.

The interior of the Cathedral suffered over the centuries firstly by the Reformation and when Orkney was occupied by Cromwell’s soldiers  who did much damage including stabling their horses within it. It also suffered from neglect and by the 19^th Century it was in a poor state. In 1848 during some renovations a wooden casket was found within a stone pillar. The casket contained the bones of Earl Rognvald who had been canonised in 1192. In 1919 during extensive repairs and building work, in the opposite pillar, the bones of St Magnus were discovered.

The Orcadian born artist, Stanley Cursiter, (1887 – 1976), Director of the National Gallery of Scotland and Queen’s Painter and Limner for Scotland, was a frequent visitor to the Cathedral. In 1965 he embarked on a project to design a memorial to St Rognvald which would be a tribute to the Earl for founding the Cathedral. Stanley Cursiter drew sketches, created designs in paint, and models in plasticine, for a chapel dedicated to St Rognvald at the East End of the Cathedral.

To bring his designs into reality, he collaborated with an Orkney craft maker, Reynold Eunson. A series of old oak panels had been preserved from the Cathedral and Reynold Eunson shaped these for inclusion in the Chapel. For the front of the communion table, the stall which had once belonged to a Bishop was used. For the pulpit, the frontal panel used a pew which had been that of the notorious Earl Patrick Stewart, ‘Black Patie’.  On another panel can be seen the coat of arms of Edward Sinclair of Essenquoy and of his wife Ursula Foulzie.

Reusing materials meant that although the Chapel was ‘new’, it was very much part of St Magnus Cathedral’s past history.

In each arch on the wall are the figures of St Rognvald, his father Kol, and Bishop William – Orkney’s first resident bishop and who had been responsible for transferring the relics of St Magnus to Kirkwall for interment in the new cathedral being built.

Reynold Eunson taught himself to carve as he produced these fabulous works of art. In 3 months the figures were complete. Kol holds a scroll and plumbline for he was the one to encourage his son to build the cathedral, Rognvald is in the centre with a model of the cathedral, and Bishop William has his right hand raised in a blessing.

A gilded cross, alms dish and a replica of a Viking longship made from mahogany by Stanley Cursiter, were added. Miss Ethel Linklater of Stromness made the pulpit and lectern falls in a Fair Isle design. The prayer desk was made by Reynold Eunson after an anonymous donation. He also made three hand carved oak chairs, donated by Mrs Dora Barclay, widow of the Rev. William Barclay, the Cathedral Minister from 1919 to 1936. Two silk book markers, and silver gilt medallions – replicas of Magnus and Rognvald incorporated on the Provost’s chain – were donated by Mrs M.B. Gorie of Kirkwall.

St Rognvald’s Chapel was dedicated on Sunday, 28^th November 1965. The dedication was conducted by Rev J.M. Rose with Stanley Cursiter present to see the completed work.

On 1^st May 1976 at 2.30pm, a memorial service took place in St Rognvald’s Chapel for Stanley Cursiter and his wife Phyllis. His ashes were interred in Finstown cemetery.

Two year later, a memorial service was held in the Chapel  for Reynold Eunson who had died on 18^th March 1978, aged only 46 years old.

This article first appeared in iScot Magazine.

This article is part of a series relating the story of the Norse Earls of Orkney.