St Peter
Brough of Birsay, Orkney Islands
Today, the Brough of Birsay is a small tidal island off the Orkney mainland. Between the 600s and 1200s AD, the area was settled by the Picts and Norse.
Fetlar kirk was built in 1791 on the site of previous kirks. It lies between a wonderful beach, Tresta beach and Papil Water a freshwater loch. Many birds can be seen both on the beach and on Papil Water, including Whooper swans, great and arctic skuas, various waders, eider ducks, greylag geese and arctic terns.
The kirk belongs to a community owned charity Friends of Fetlar Kirk having been bought from the Church of Scotland in 2021. Inside there is a light, peaceful ambience with simple stained glass windows. There is an exhibition inside detailing the local kirk history and also early Christian heritage on Fetlar, the flora, fauna and geology locally. There are also details about the various church plaques including to one for William Watson Cheyne a previous surgeon to Queen Victoria who worked closely with Lord Lister and was probably the UK's first microbiologist. The building is used for community events, e.g. concerts and talks and holds regular services for various denominations including Church of Scotland, Episcopalian and Catholic.
The graveyard holds one commonwealth war grave and also three graves of Norwegian sailors whose boat was torpedoed World War II off Fetlar. There are also the graves for the Cheyne and Nicholson families which are interesting.