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The
buildings occupied by The Pier Arts Centre are firmly rooted in the
history of Orkney. The house fronting the street was built in the 18th century, and during much of the 19th century was occupied by Edward Clouston, a prosperous merchant and Agent of the Hudson’s Bay Company. On the pier behind the house Edward Clouston erected stores and offices; the close from street to pier echoed to the footsteps of the many Orkney men who signed on for service in the ‘Nor’Wast’. On the first floor of his house, in keeping with his position, he had a finely panelled drawing room, furnished with books, family portraits and ‘piano forte’. The arrival early each summer of the Hudson’s Bay ships en route for Canada was a social highlight in Stromness. In June of 1840 Mr. and Mrs. Clouston entertained for a week a party of ladies travelling to join their husbands in Hudson’s Bay. A side effect, no doubt, of the Clouston’s hospitality was the marriage of their daughter, Anne Rose, to Augustus Edward Pelly of Montreal, a relative of John Henry Pelly, governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company from 1822-52, and of the Bank of England in 1841-42. In 1872 the premises came into the possession of John Aim Shearer, whose general merchant’s business was to last nearly 100 years. In the late 19th century Stromness was a flourishing centre of the herring fishing. J.A. Shearer erected a handsome shop across the street from his house, and on the pier established a cooperage. At this time most trade with the east coast of Scotland was carried on by local trading vessels and Shearer’s schooners, Maggie, Janet, Mary Ann and Minnie, three of them named after his daughters, were a familiar sight discharging their cargoes at the end of the pier. Time passed; the herring boom was over and by 1918 all Shearer’s schooners were gone-three of them lost at sea; the pier became a quiet backwater. It remained thus until the Second World War, when the upper part of the pier store was requisitioned by the Royal Engineers as a base for planning the many army camps and installations required in the area. Since that time the upper floor has been occupied as a dwelling. Between 1965 and 1971 the business changed hands and property was split between 3 owners. The main dwelling and part of the pier building became a private lodging house and hostel. In 1977 The Pier Arts Centre Trust purchased the original dwelling and the pier store. |
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© 2008 The Pier Arts Centre