Orrisdale House was for a time home to the Crellin family, prominent in Manx ecclesiastical life: the Reverend John Crellin (c.1738-1808), Rector of Bride and Vicar General, and central to the first translation of the Bible into Manx, is associated with the property. An 1870s tourist guide to the Island described the house as 'a large family mansion, prettily surrounded, and comfortable in the extreme,' noting it was 'almost enveloped in leaves in the summer season.'