Historic SiteOrkneyHistoric Scotland4.3
Free entry for everyone; no membership card is needed.
The Trust's page does not say how parking is charged.
Historic Scotland names no parking and says only that the site is 8 miles west of Kirkwall on the A964 to Houton and Orphir. Orkney.com's walk starts at the car park for the Orkneyinga Saga Centre, about 90 m from the church; no charge or free statement exists, so the status is recorded as unknown. The Saga Centre itself is not Historic Scotland's and has been closed for renovation through 2026.
Driving pin: the Saga Centre car park, 94 m west-north-west of Historic Scotland's own pin on the church. Orkney's bus routes 2 and 5 run to Houton from Kirkwall and Stromness; the nearest public toilets are at Waulkmill and at Houton ferry terminal during ferry hours.
At Orphir, above the bay and looking across Scapa Flow to Hoy, are the remains of a Norse earl's residence and a rare round church. The Orkneyinga Saga describes a great Yule feast given here by Earl Paul in 1136 in a large drinking-hall with a magnificent church before its door, and the long ruined building beside the kirkyard may be that hall. The church of St Nicholas is one of only two round medieval churches in Scotland, modelled on the rotunda of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and probably built by Earl Haakon Paulsson after his pilgrimage of atonement for the killing of Earl Magnus, later St Magnus. Its stone-vaulted apse with a round-arched east window still stands, with the line of the circular nave beside it. A Norse horizontal water mill of the 1000s, the earliest of its kind recognised, was found just to the north. The church stands in a working graveyard, and the Orkneyinga Saga Centre by the car park is closed for renovation.
Historic Scotland: 'The Earl's Bu and Church are free to visit and open year-round.' No hours, closures or notices on 20 October 2026.
The Bu's low foundations lie on grass outside the kirkyard wall, and the round church's apse stands inside the Orphir kirkyard, still a burial ground, so visit with respect. No facilities on site.
Photo: The surviving apse of the round church of St Nicholas at Orphir, with the outline of its circular nave marked in gravel and the kirkyard beyond. Beep boop beep, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Orphir_round_kirk_st_nicholas.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.
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Dog access not confirmed
3.5 km, grade 2, about 1.5 hours, on close-cropped coastal grass path, quiet tarmac road and a short optional woodland section, with care needed on the eroding shoreline; from the Saga Centre car park past the Bu, across the graveyard by the Round Kirk, along the Scapa Flow shore and back through Gyre Wood. Free public route.
