The ruins of the 12th-century Round Church at Orphir is likely the ‘magnificent church’ mentioned in the Orkneyinga Saga. It is dedicated to St. Nicholas and is the only surviving round medieval church in Scotland. Its layout is thought to be based on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, in Jerusalem.

Earl Haakon Paulsson of Orkney is known to have travelled there after the First Crusade of 1099. He may have had it built as penance for ordering the death of Earl Magnus (later St. Magnus). It remained in use until the 1750s before being partly demolished for building materials.