Pier Arts Centre

Pier Arts Centre

The Pier Arts Centre from opposite pier
Established	1979
Location	Stromness, Orkney, Scotland
Coordinates	58°57′47″N 3°17′54″W / 58.96297°N 3.29834°W / 58.96297; -3.29834
Type	Art Gallery & Museum
Website	Pier Art Centre

The Pier Arts Centre is an art gallery and museum in Stromness, Orkney. It was established in 1979 to provide a home for an important collection of British fine art donated to "be held in trust for Orkney" by the author, peace activist and philanthropist Margaret Gardiner (1904–2005). Alongside the permanent collection the Centre curates a year-round programme of changing exhibitions and events for the education and enjoyment of the general public. Admission is free.

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 Clouston erected stores and offices. On the first floor of his house, he had a finely panelled drawing room, furnished with books, family portraits and a pianoforte.

The arrival early each summer of the Hudson's Bay Company ships en route for Canada was a social highlight in Stromness. In June 1840 Mr and Mrs Clouston entertained for a week a party of ladies travelling to join their husbands in the Hudson's Bay Company. Their daughter, Anne Rose married 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 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.

The herring boom passed 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. Later the upper floor was used as a dwelling. Between 1965 and 1971 the property was split between three 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.