The name Kirkwall comes from the Norse name Kirkjuvagr ( Church Bay ), which was later corrupted to Kirkvoe, Kirkwaa and Kirkwall.

The ' Kirk ' of Kirkwall was not the Cathedral ( which was originally at Birsay ), but the 11th century church of Saint Olaf of Norway.

Kirkwall also once had a medieval castle, which was destroyed in the 17th century.

Kirkwall also has the most northerly of the world's Carnegie libraries, which was opened by Andrew Carnegie and his wife in 1909.

It was represented by one Member of Parliament until 1918, when the constituency was abolished and the Kirkwall component was merged into the county constituency of Orkney and Shetland.

Scottish film-maker Margaret Tait was born in Kirkwall, and many of her films ( in particular the Aspects Of Kirkwall series ) are set there.

Magnus's nephew, Rognvald Kali Kolsson, laid claim to the Earldom of Orkney, and was advised by his father Kol to promise the islanders to " build a stone minster at Kirkwall " in memory of his uncle the Holy Earl, and this became St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall.

In the meantime, Fox sat for the Scottish pocket borough of Tain or Northern Burghs, for which he was qualified by being made an unlikely burgess of Kirkwall in Orkney ( which was one of the Burghs in the district ).

Haakon was buried in the St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall for the winter, and when spring came he was exhumed and his body taken back to Norway, where he was buried in the Old Cathedral in his capital Bergen.

From 1832 to 1918 Cromarty was a parliamentary burgh, combined with Dingwall, Dornoch, Kirkwall, Tain and Wick in the Wick Burghs constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Dornoch was a parliamentary burgh, combined with Dingwall, Kirkwall, Tain and Wick in the Northern Burghs constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1801 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1918.

* Sir John Clere's son, a brother of the poet Thomas Clere, ( John Clere of Ormesby, Norfolk was killed in battle at Kirkwall on 21 August 1557 )

Dingwall was a parliamentary burgh, combined with Dornoch, Kirkwall, Tain and Wick in the Northern Burghs constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1801 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1918.

Tain was a parliamentary burgh, combined with Dingwall, Dornoch, Kirkwall and Wick in the Northern Burghs constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1801 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1918.

The third creation came in 1696 when the soldier Lord George Hamilton was made Lord Dechmont, Viscount of Kirkwall and Earl of Orkney in the Peerage of Scotland.

In 1486, King James III of Scotland elevated Kirkwall to the status of a royal burgh ; modern roadsigns still indicate " The City and Royal Burgh of Kirkwall ".

Described as the " town and port " of Carrick it became a burgh ( the only other one in Orkney being Kirkwall ) with the right to appoint baillies and hold markets but it was never likely to flourish in such a location.

It is owned not by the church, but by the burgh of Kirkwall as a result of an act of King James III of Scotland following Orkney's annexation by the Scottish Crown in 1468.

* Fair Isle Airport serves the island with flights to Lerwick and Kirkwall ( Kirkwall only seasonal ).

Situated on the northern coast of Mainland Orkney and with a population of about 8, 500, Kirkwall is a port with ferry services to Aberdeen and Lerwick, as well as the principal north islands in the group.

As with the rest of the British Isles and Scotland, Kirkwall experiences a maritime climate with cool summers, mild winters, often strong winds, plentiful rainfall, frequently overcast skies and sparse amounts of sunshine.

Haakon over-wintered at the Bishop's Palace in Kirkwall, Orkney, with plans to resume his campaign the next year.

The bulk of the Mainland is west of Kirkwall and is low-lying, with coastal cliffs to the north and west and two sizeable bodies of freshwater, the lochs of Stenness and Harray.

Many indications of glacial action exist in the form of striated surfaces in Kirkwall Bay, with boulder clay with marine shells, and many boulders of rocks foreign to the islands made of chalk, oolitic limestone, flint, & c. Local moraines are found in some of the valleys.

The main ferry terminal is at Rapness with regular sailings by Orkney Ferries to Kirkwall.

Stewart is said to have been involved with a murder in Kirkwall in 1725, and went on the run for twenty years.

For hundreds of years the story of St. Magnus, part of the Orkneyinga saga, was considered just a legend until a skull with a large crack in it, such as it had been stricken by an axe, was found in the walls of St. Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall.

Flights link the island with Kirkwall on the Orkney Mainland, as does a weekly ferry operated by Orkney Ferries.

Loganair continued to maintain its relationship with the Scottish Ambulance Service and continued to provide air ambulance cover with dedicated Britten-Norman Islander aircraft at Glasgow, Kirkwall and Lerwick.

This building, along with the Earl's Palace in Kirkwall, and Scalloway Castle on Shetland ( all Historic Scotland ), were the main residences of the Stewart Earls of Orkney in the Northern Isles.

In July 1937 Fr Fynes-Clinton, with two members of his congregation, travelled to Kirkwall to be present at the 800th anniversary celebrations of St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall.

It trades as Stagecoach in Orkney ( Kirkwall depot & outstations ), Stagecoach in Lochaber ( Fort William depot ), Stagecoach in Skye ( Portree depot & outstation ), Stagecoach in Inverness ( Aviemore, Inverness and Tain depots ) and Stagecoach in Caithness ( Thurso depot & outstations ).

However, Helicopters frequently use Wick, Kirkwall, Scatsa and Sumburgh for refuelling stops.

BEA operated its first commercial Herald service on 16 April 1962 on the Northern Isles route from Glasgow to Sumburgh via Wick, Aberdeen and Kirkwall.

* C ( Highlanders ) Company at Inverness, Wick, Kirkwall and Stornoway

However before 1918 the town of Kirkwall ( the capital of Orkney ) formed part of the Northern Burghs constituency.

The Pictish settlement is attested by a small well and an important collection of artefacts ( now in Tankerness House Museum, Kirkwall and in the Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh ).

Other sites of interest include St. Magnus Cathedral and the ruin of the Bishop's Palace in Kirkwall, the Earl's Palace, a ruined 16th century castle in Birsay parish, and Skaill House, a merchants house and museum near Skara Brae.

Early Christian carved stones, which may date from as early as the 7th century AD, found at this site are on display in Tankerness House Museum, Kirkwall and the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh.

The following museums have important collections of Pictish stones: Meigle ( Perthshire ), St Vigeans ( Angus ) and St Andrew's Cathedral ( Fife ) ( all Historic Scotland ), the Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh ( which also exhibits almost all the major pieces of surviving Pictish metalwork ), the Meffan Institute, Forfar ( Angus ), Inverness Museum, Groam House Museum, Rosemarkie and Tarbat Discovery Centre, Portmahomack ( both Easter Ross ) and Tankerness House Museum, Kirkwall, Orkney.

Selected Papers from the FRLSU Conference, Kirkwall 2009, edited by Robert McColl Millar.

Apart from the main historical buildings mentioned above, Kirkwall has many 17th-18th century houses and other structures in the local vernacular style.

The Simpsons Character, Groundskeeper Willie is said to be from Kirkwall.

The island is sometimes referred to as " Pomona " ( or " Pomonia "), a name that stems from a sixteenth century mis-translation by George Buchanan and which has rarely been used locally, although it is retained in the name of the Pomona Inn at Finstown in the parish of Firth, as well as a local cafe in the capital of Kirkwall also known as the Pomona.

Most of the scheduled flights within Orkney depart / arrive at Kirkwall from one of the other islands.

Orkney Ferries sail from Whitehall to Kirkwall on the Orkney Mainland, and planes fly there from the island's airstrip.

The rock is easily quarried and some of the yellow sandstones from Fersness were used in the construction of St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall.

There is one village on the island, Balfour, from which roll-on / roll-off car ferries sail to Kirkwall on the Orkney Mainland.

Mains electricity arrived on Shapinsay in the 1970s, when an underwater cable was laid from Kirkwall.

Orkney Ferries sail from Papa Westray to Pierowall and Rapness on Westray, and Kirkwall on the Orkney Mainland.

Britten-Norman Islanders operated by Loganair fly from Papa Westray Airport to Westray and Kirkwall ; the hop from Papa Westray to Westray is the world's shortest scheduled flight, at approximately 2 minutes.