The Hall of Clestrain on Orkney Mainland was the birthplace of Arctic explorer John Rae. DETAILS IN DESCRIPTION.

---

The Hall of Clestrain on Orkney Mainland was built in 1769. In 1813 it was the birthplace of John Rae, the arctic explorer and, in 1814, was visited by Sir Walter Scott. The house was lived in until 1952 when it lost its roof to hurricane-force winds and has since fallen into disrepair. The ground floor has at some stage been converted to house modern concrete pigsties. Although not a winner, the building featured in the Second Series of the BBC programme 'Restoration'. Campaigning continued to restore the hall as a boat museum and as John Rae's home but following an unsuccessful bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund proposals have now been scaled back to simply restoring the building.

---

Size: 4288px × 2848px
Location: Mainland, Orkney, Scotland, UK
Photo credit: © UrbanImages / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: .., 1700s, 18th, birth-place, birthplace, britain, british, building, buildings, century, clestrain, conservation, derelict, deserted, domestic, eighteenth, gb, georgian, great, hall, heritage, historic, historical, history, home, homes, house, houses, islands, isles, john, kingdom, listed, mainland, monument, orcadian, orkney, orkneys, preservation, property, rae, raes, remote, residence, restoration, scotland, scots, scottish, semi-derelict, uk, united, western