A ‘jerkin-headed’ Church

RECENTLY I wrote an article on St Columba’s Parish Church, Longhope, on the island of Hoy and Walls in Orkney.

Writing in the year after the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War I make no apology for including another Orkney church. This is one on the Mainland (the largest island) of Orkney, which is almost split in two by part of Scapa Flow on the west and Kirkwall Bay on the east.

The southern part of this near-peninsula is the parish of Holm and what is now East Mainland Parish Church was built in 1814 by a congregation of the Secession Church, of the Antiburgher branch. The roofl ess remains of the former Church of Scotland parish church, built in 1818, survive in its graveyard, on the shore of Holm Sound.

The parish was mainly farmland, with a small village, St Mary’s Holm, whose 17th-century grain warehouse is evidence of the long history of arable farming in the area. In the late 19th century the parish was noted for its herring and cod fi sheries.

To the south of St Mary’s is a chain of islands, the South Isles: Lamb Holm, Glims Holm, Burray and South Ronaldsay, which protect Scapa Flow from easterly winds.

Scapa Flow has since human habitation in the area began been an invaluable safe anchorage for vessels rounding the north coast of mainland Scotland. The Flow was a strategic base for the Royal Navy during both World Wars. The gaps between the islands were protected from submarine attack during the First World War by a combination of wire-mesh ‘booms’ and block-ships can still be seen.

In 1941, however, a German submarine managed to enter the Flow and sank the battleship HMS Royal Oak.

Accordingly the War Cabinet decided to construct concrete barriers linking the South Isles to each other and to the Mainland. These were made of massive concrete blocks, tipped at random, with roads on top. These, now known as the Churchill Barriers, were largely constructed by Italian prisoners of war. The chapel they built on Lamb Holm from two corrugatediron ‘Nissen’ huts is now a treasured reminder of their work and their faith. It was designed by Domenico Chiochetti, and its plasterboard lining is beautifully painted to look like masonry. During the Second World War Scapa Flow was ringed by military and naval facilities, and many service-people must have worshipped in the little Church of Scotland churches round the Flow. The long pier of St Mary’s Holm was extensively used by vessels serving warships at anchor in the Flow.

The present East Mainland Church became part of the United Presbyterian Church in 1847, the United Free Church in 1900 and the Church of Scotland in 1929.

As elsewhere in northern Scotland the ‘Established’ Church of Scotland was seen by many as the Landowners’ Church, so it is not surprising that it is the former Secession church building that has survived in use. It now serves the united parishes of St Andrew’s, Deerness and Holm, the whole of the ‘near-peninsula mentioned earlier.

My drawing shows the unusual form of the roof of the building, technically known as ‘jerkin-headed’, dating from the restoration of the building following a fi re in 1920.

Other jerkin-headed churches can be seen on the Orkney islands of Westray and Shapinsay (the latter roofl ess). Other features of the East Mainland church characteristic of Secession churches are the little pyramidal fi nials on the angles of its roofs.

At this time the eastern shores of Scapa Flow are good places to remember the contribution made by those who served on and round the Flow during both World War, and to think on the peace of God

This article appears in the February 2021 Issue of Life and Work

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