The chief or county town of the Orkney Isles, lying off the north of Scotland (the name is frome the Norse, "Kirkjuvagr", i.e. "church-bay"). The original church was dedicated to St. Olaf in 1033, and the landward part of the parish is still called St. Ola. The importance of Kirkwall is due, first, to its having been the residence of the Norse earls of Orkney, who, while nominally under the Kings of Norway, were practically independent; and from its having become the seat of the bishops of Orkney. When the Norsemen left and King James III of Scotland took over the Islands he granted the lands to the cruel Earl Patrick Stewart, who built a palace near to the old cathedral. Fter the Stewart Earls lost their grip on the Island they began to really prosper. As a port, trading with the Baltic ports, Kirkwall in particular grew at this period. The suitabilty and closeness of the deep anchorage at Scapa Flow led to it being used by the British Navy in the two world wars. The Gema ... < more >