This round kirk, dedicated to St Nicholas, is thought to have been built about 1120 by Earl Hakon. On his return from pilgrimage to Jerusalem, it was built to atone for ordering the death of St Magnus on Egilsay around 1116. Inspired by Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre, it is Scotland's only circular medieval church. It lasted until 1756 when much was pulled down to repair the adjacent newer parish church—now gone without a trace.
