Earl's Palace
Earl's Palace is a ruined Renaissance-style palace near St Magnus's Cathedral in the centre of Kirkwall, Orkney. The register lists it as a scheduled monument. Add St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall, 100 m away, to a visit; it leads 10 places within 15 km.
Castle in Kirkwall
One of the best-known places to visit in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
#682 of the 8,556 museums, castles, gardens and other attractions we list, by how widely it is covered (8 Wikipedias). About ↓
Inside Kirkwall
Earl's Palace is inside Kirkwall’s locality, with 8 more places to visit within 5 km. Towns near it ↓
Cared for by Historic Environment Scotland
One of the places Historic Environment Scotland looks after; members usually get in free. About ↓
Scheduled monument
On the official list of protected heritage; Kirkwall has 186 listed buildings in all, on its History page. About ↓
Written from OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, NRS’s localities and Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Warm months and wet ones
In Kirkwall, July and August are the warmest, at 17°C in the afternoon.
Earl's Palace
It is conserved by Historic Environment Scotland. 8 Wikipedia editions have an article on it.
- Type
- Castle
- Run by
- Historic Environment Scotland
- Listed
- Scheduled monument
- Wikipedias
- Covered in 8 languages
- Town
- in Kirkwall
Mapping Earl's Palace
Orange marks Earl's Palace, and the numbered points match the list of places below.
© OpenStreetMap contributors · The dashed line is Kirkwall’s locality. · NRS locality 2022
The nearest towns
The list runs from its own town outward.
Kirkwall
Pair Earl's Palace with these
Nearby, 10 places within 15 km include 3 museums, 2 attractions and a cathedral.
CathedralSt Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall100 m away2
Castle · Historic Environment ScotlandBishop's Palace100 m away3
MuseumOrkney Museum200 m away4
MuseumOrkney Wireless Museum400 m away5
Historic houseBalfour Castle6.2 km away6AttractionAttractionHighland Park Distillery1.3 km away7AttractionAttractionScapa Distillery2.4 km away8MuseumMuseumShapinsay Heritage Centre6.4 km awayWithin 15 km, close and well known first. Numbers match the map.
Earl's Palace in questions
Where is Earl's Palace?
Earl's Palace is in Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, inside the town’s locality.
What is Earl's Palace?
Ruined Renaissance-style palace near St Magnus's Cathedral in the centre of Kirkwall, Orkney, Scotland.
Who runs Earl's Palace?
Historic Environment Scotland, so members usually get in free; check opening times before you go.
When is the best time to visit Earl's Palace?
July and August are the warmest months in Kirkwall, with afternoon highs of 17–17°C (Met Office 1991–2020 averages).
Is Earl's Palace a listed building?
Yes: scheduled monument.
What else is there to see near Earl's Palace?
Within 15 km: St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall (100 m), Bishop's Palace (100 m), Orkney Museum (200 m) and Orkney Wireless Museum (400 m).
Places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, Open Database Licence) and Wikidata (CC0), placed in the NRS 2022 locality (Open Government Licence v3.0). Visitor counts are the latest Wikidata gives, with their year.
Photos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Photo credits (6)
- Earl's Palace: Van de Beek at nl.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall: Robert Scarth, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Bishop's Palace: Van de Beek at nl.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Orkney Museum: Andrew Abbott, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Orkney Wireless Museum: G J Coyne, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Balfour Castle: Colin Smith, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.