Some Early Orkney Armorials

Abstract

The sources considered are the more ancient tombstones in St Magnus Cathedral, and certain seals attached to early fifteenth-century Orkney documents now in the Danish Record Office at Copenhagen. Of the stones dealt with, all in fact, save one, come from St Magnus. The exception is a stone that was found in Orphir churchyard. The earliest stones considered are dated to the fourteenth century. The native Orkney arms noticed in this paper are those of Paplay, Flett, Halcro, Skea, and Clouston, and very possibly of Rendall.