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The Hall of Clestrain is a house in the parish of Orphir, Orkney, Scotland. The house was the birthplace of the explorer John Rae in 1813. Currently derelict, the house became a listed building in 1971. It featured in the second series of the BBC TV series Restoration in 2004.
Although a relatively small domestic structure, the house had Palladian aspirations, and was once one of the most impressive buildings in north Scotland. Stone steps rose to a moulded entrance (once possibly pedimented) on the main front, with pavilions to either side. The square main block has three bays on each side and the gable ends. It was constructed from ashlar and harl. An internal stone staircase connects the basement, main floor and upper floor.
The house was occupied until the roof was blown off in gale in 1952. With a "temporary" replacement roof of asbestos sheets, many of the large sash windows were blocked up, and it was used as a farm building, with pigsties in the basement.
Clestrain was part of the Graemsay estate. The estate had come into the Honeyman family as the dowry of Cecilia Graham, daughter of Harie Graham of Breckness, when she married Robert Honeyman, grandson of Andrew Honeyman who was Bishop of Orkney from 1664 to 1676. The former hall nearby (now the storehouse nearer the shoreline) was raided by the pirate John Gow on 10 February 1725.
The new hall was built in 1769 for Patrick Honeyman. He inherited the Graemsay estate after his father and brother drowned together in the Pentland Firth on journey to Edinburgh. The Honeyman family later moved to the mainland, and the house was occupied by their agent, John Rae. The hall was the birthplace of Rae's son, the Arctic explorer John Rae, in 1813. Sir Walter Scott visited Rae's parents at the house in August 1814, while touring the north of Scotland. [1]
Currently derelict, the house became a listed building in 1971. It was included on the first Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland in 1990, and upgraded to a category A listed building in 1993. The house featured in the second series of the BBC TV series Restoration . It was intended that the building would form the centrepiece of a proposed Orkney Boat Museum. After a successful preliminary funding application in 2007 to the Heritage Lottery Fund, a second application in 2009 was turned down, and the museum plans were abandoned. [2] The Friends of Orkney Boat Museum were wound up in 2014, but the John Rae Society hopes to restore the dilapidated hall as a museum.
In September 2016, the John Rae Society, [3] a registered charity under Scottish law, [4] announced that it had completed the purchase of the building, and planned to restore it and create a visitor and events centre to celebrate Rae and his legacy. [5] [6]
Hoy is an island in Orkney, Scotland, measuring 143 square kilometres (55 sq mi) – the second largest in the archipelago, after Mainland. A natural causeway, the Ayre, links the island to the smaller South Walls; the two islands are treated as one entity by the UK census. Hoy lies within the parish of Stromness.
Kirkwall is the largest town in Orkney, an archipelago to the north of mainland Scotland.
Stromness is the second-most populous town in Orkney, Scotland. It is in the southwestern part of Mainland Orkney. It is a burgh with a parish around the outside with the town of Stromness as its capital.
John Rae was a Scottish surgeon who explored parts of northern Canada.
The Castle of Mey is located in Caithness, on the north coast of Scotland, about 6 miles (10 km) west of John o' Groats. In fine weather there are views from the castle north to the Orkney Islands.
The Mainland, also known as Hrossey and Pomona, is the main island of Orkney, Scotland. Both of Orkney's burghs, Kirkwall and Stromness, lie on the island, which is also the heart of Orkney's ferry and air connections.
Graemsay is an island in the western approaches to Scapa Flow, in the Orkney Islands of Scotland. The island has two lighthouses. Graemsay lies within the parish of Stromness.
Alloway is a village in South Ayrshire, Scotland, located on the River Doon. It is best known as the birthplace of Robert Burns and the setting for his poem "Tam o' Shanter". Tobias Bachope, the mason responsible for the construction of Hopetoun House, Craigiehall, and Kinross House, also hailed from Alloway. Some historic parts of the village make up a conservation area.
Cameron Stout is the winner of Big Brother 2003. He received 1.9 million votes, 500,000 more than runner-up Ray Shah. Cameron is the elder brother of television and radio presenter Julyan Sinclair.
The Bishop of Orkney was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Orkney, one of thirteen medieval bishoprics of Scotland. It included both Orkney and Shetland. It was based for almost all of its history at St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall.
Cava is an uninhabited island in the Orkney archipelago in Scotland. It is 107 hectares (0.41 sq mi) in extent and rises to 38 metres (125 ft) above sea level. The literal meaning of the name is calf island, a terminology often used to designate a small island near to a larger one. Cava is unusual in that it includes a small peninsula joined to the main body of the island by a narrow isthmus, which is in turn called Calf of Cava.
Orphir is a parish and settlement on Mainland, Orkney, Scotland.
Abingdon County Hall Museum is a local museum in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England. The museum is run by Abingdon Town Council and supported by Abingdon Museum Friends, a registered charity. It is a Grade II listed building.
Sir William Honyman, 1st Baronet, also known by his judicial title Lord Armadale, was a Scottish landowner, and judge from Orkney. On his lands in Sutherland he was one of the first landlords to evict tenants in order to create sheep farms, a process which grew to become the Highland Clearances.
Sir Richard Bempdé Johnstone Honyman, 2nd Baronet was a Scottish official of the British East India Company who served for six years in the House of Commons as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Orkney and Shetland.
The remains of the Orphir Round Church, also St Nicholas's Church, are located in Orphir Parish on the Mainland, Orkney, Scotland. It has been part of a scheduled monument since 2014.
Stromness Museum is a small independent museum in the town of Stromness in Orkney, Scotland focusing on the town's connections to maritime and natural history. The building which accommodates the museum was originally constructed as the town hall of Stromness and is a Category B listed building.
The Orkney Museum, formerly Tankerness House Museum, is a history museum in Kirkwall, Orkney, Scotland. Run by Orkney Islands Council, the museum covers the history of the Orkney Islands from the Stone Age through the Picts and Vikings to the present day.