Page 5 - Hall of Clestrain - Conservation Plan

1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1.1 Hall of Clestrain

Hall of Clestrain is an eighteenth-century villa in its original designed-landscape
setting, located in Orkney. It is owned by the John Rae Society who intend to restore
the mansion to form part of a visitor attraction overlooking Hoy and Graemsay, and
offering opportunities to learn about, understand and research links between Orkney,
Scotland and Arctic Canada. The project will generate the revenue to support the
conservation of the building and provide a memorable and intelligible tourist
experience of the site and inculcate the values of John Rae. The project will be
environmentally sustainable.
It is listed at Category A, the highest level of statutory protection for a historic building
in Scotland. It is considered to be of considerable cultural-heritage significance with
some elements of lesser significance.
Hall of Clestrain is largely single-phase villa of c.1750. It ceased being a family
residence in the mid- twentieth century. The house straddles the old Stromness to
Orphir road and is aligned with it, with the principal elevation facing South. It is on
three floors with an attic and almost square in plan and with three bays to each
elevation. An outbuilding to the north west was formerly matched by another on the
north east as a pair of flanking pavilions. Evidence from old photographs shows that
these pavilions were taller with an attic storey. The principal rooms were located on
the first floor with bedrooms above and service rooms below.

Hall of Clestrain has a formal Georgian design with good quality stone detailing, door
and window surrounds. The rubble walls of Orkney stone were harled. Until the
1950s the building had an Orkney slate roof. The windows are traditional sash
windows and parts of some early sash windows survive. The front elevation has an
advanced section in the centre. This conservation plan supports the theory that there
was a pediment over the advanced centrepiece.
To the south east there is a large walled garden which contains a stone-edged circular
ornamental pond, now considerably overgrown. A number of agricultural buildings
of low quality have been located alongside the walled garden.
Apart from its architectural significance, Hall of Clestrain is highly significant as the
Birthplace of John Rae, the Arctic explorer. John Rae (1813-1893) grew up at the house
and learned to sail, shoot and fish in the area around it. He went on to become a doctor
with the Hudson’s Bay Company and mapped large parts of the North Coast of
Canada, largely on foot. Relying on advice from the indigenous peoples he travelled
light and managed to live off the land. He also discovered the last navigable link in
what became the route for Roald Amundsen to sail through the North West Passage
in 1903-1906. Amundsen named this narrow waterway between King William Island
and the Boothia Peninsula, Rae Strait. John Rae was one of the greatest, but least
celebrated, of the Victorian explorers.
1.2 This plan

This conservation plan begins with a summary of the development of the mansion and
its landscape. This information is evaluated in an assessment of cultural-heritage
significance, following international best-practice, recognised by Historic
Environment Scotland. This evaluates the Hall of Clestrain as a place embodying
values that are important for our society today and in the future, in a broad cultural

Hall of Clestrain, Orkney – Conservation Plan 3