The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
St Ninian (now)
Parish church
In the 16thc, the parish of Deerness was united with the parish of St Andrews W of it. The medieval parish church of Skaill in Deerness was taken down and rebuilt in late 1790s on a new site about 40 feet NW of the earlier church. The last of the foundations of the earlier church were removed in the 1870s. The present church is the 1790s church, remodelled in the 20thc. The medieval church of Skaill was described and drawn by George Low in 1773/4, who said that the chancel was vaulted and that there was another room above this. The church was unusual in that it had two round towers flanking the E end. A coped grave cover carved with tegulation was located until at least 1930 in the NE corner of the graveyard. By 1946, it had been the moved inside into the Session House, where it remains.