Neale[129] supposes that the church to which St. Magnus fled was on the east side of the island; supposing Haco to have come from Birsay by the north of Rousay to the east of Egilsey. Haco’s starting point is not certain; but if it was Birsay, he would naturally have come by the south of Rousay to the west of Egilsey. There is some confusion about the Episcopal Church and residence. Barry (p. 162) quotes Torfœus as stating that Bishop William lived in Egilsey. Neale (following Barry) has made the same statement. Torfœus twice states that the bishop resided at Birsa. The Saga is still more to the point, and states that at the time of St. Magnus’s death William the Old was bishop, and the see was then at Birsa. But Torfœus, in three or more other passages, states that Bishop William _was in_ Egilsey--not necessarily _residing_ there. We must understand (if Torfœus is right) that he generally _lived_ in Birsa, but often officiated at Egilsey. We may thence infer that Egilsey was an important church in Bishop William’s time, and that it was fixed [Illustration: FIG. 103.--Church on Egilsey.] on as the place of meeting of Haco and Magnus from being frequently the bishop’s abode. We do not, however, find the bishop mentioned in the account of the murder of St. Magnus as adviser or mediator.[130] Wilson, in his _Prehistoric Annals_, p. 587, has a notice of this church, to which the reader is referred. He supposes it to be the work of Irish Christians before the expedition of Harold in 876, and to be the church which caused the Norsemen to give its present appellation to the island. There is at all events nothing to disprove this, but if we put the tower for the moment out of the question, there is little to induce the assignment of so early a date. The absence of freestone, the round arches, the chancel vault, the small number and size of the windows, do not necessitate a date earlier than the twelfth century. The tower, then, is the feature which specially points to an earlier period. Dr. Wilson apparently inclines to class this tower with the later round towers of Scotland and Ireland. When, however, we compare it, there appears little or no resemblance except its circularity. The round towers, with one or two exceptions, are detached buildings, though situated within a few feet of churches, have their entrances at [Illustration: FIG. 104.--Church on Egilsey. North-West View.] several feet from the ground, and have jambs inclined towards each other upwards. They have other differences of construction, which, however, may be in part accounted for by the difference of the available materials.