St Magnus was struck on the head with an axe by one of his brother’s henchmen and died for trying to defuse a power struggle. He was regarded as a martyr. His bones were taken to the new cathedral in Kirkwall on mainland Orkney on his memory.
In 1917 his bones were found hidden in a cavity in a column in the cathedral. The place is marked by a cross on the stone in the very middle of the picture. His battered skull is now in the museum.
