Archaeological excavations are taking place at the site of St Nicholas’ Chapel on the island of Papa Stronsay, Orkney until the end of July. The site which is likely to be one of the earliest locations of Christianity in the Northern Isles, is being actively eroded by the sea. These excavations are designed to understand more about the chapel and its history before it becomes totally lost.  The importance of the site is reflected in the ‘Papa’ name  (the Norse name for a priest) which suggests that the foundation may have been monastic in nature and date from late Iron Age times through into the Middle Ages. Historic Scotland and the Arts and Humanities Research Board are the principal sponsors of the project which is being carried out by the University of Birmingham and Headland Archaeology Ltd.

Preliminary work in 1998 uncovered chapel foundations and floor levels, probably dating from around AD 1200. The building consisted of a stone-built nave and a smaller chancel. The nave had two side altars, the chancel having a central altar set against the east wall. The floor of the nave was flagged but showed evidence of at least two phases of occupation before it was destroyed to provide stone for a barn in the late 18^th century. The whole structure had been positioned on top of an earlier stone building with curved walls, probably similar to later Iron Age domestic buildings known from elsewhere in Orkney.  A perimeter wall seemed to be on a slightly different alignment to the chapel and possibly respected an earlier building on the site.

The early tasks this year involved cleaning the building and excavated areas after the winter and beginning to investigate some specific questions:

Are the nave and chancel of a single phase?

Is the earlier structure secular or ecclesiastical?

What is the size and function of the earlier building?

Does the dating range cover the period of the later Iron Age to Norse periods?

Why is there so little in the way of artefactual material?

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