Papa Stronsay

The island has the remains of two chapels and has been described as the site of the most northerly early Christian monastery ever found. St Nicholas' chapel dates from the eleventh century, and an eighth-century Pictish monastery may lie under it. St Bride's Chapel, located near to what is now the monastery, was of a similar size to St Nicholas's. It was in ruins in 1900 and all surface trace of it had vanished by 1928. Other remains include cairns, a burnt mound, and a number of abandoned crofts. The island is one of the "Papeys" or "islands of the papar". Joseph Anderson noted that in the Orkneyinga saga "The two Papeys, the great and the little (anciently Papey Meiri and Papey Minni),…

can be seen in the background.]] On 31 May 1999, the island was purchased from farmer Charles Ronald Smith by the monastic community of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer, a traditionalist Catholic religious congregation formerly affiliated with the Society of St. Pius X. In 2008 the congregation, along with most of its members, was received into full communion with the Holy See. Monks at the Golgotha Monastery, which has a working farm, hail from as far afield as New Zealand, Australia, Samoa, South Africa and Poland. The ancient monastic ruins dating back to the 7th and 8th centuries mark Papa Stronsay as a holy island and the intention is to rebuild them. A replica of the Papa Stronsay…