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WINDSOR MASONIC HALL
Church Lane, Windsor.
Behind Guildhall - Not Accessible by Car.
Park in Castle Hotel (If Dining), or Public Car Park.
WINDSOR
Documents
in the possession of Windsor Castle Lodge No. 771 suggest that the building
dates its origin from 1725. Although reputed by some sources to be the work of
Sir Christopher Wren there is no documentary proof to support this. It is,
however, possible that his advice on the design was sought as he was a resident
of Windsor for many years and he was instrumental in the building of the
Guildhall in 1702. The building served as a Charity School from 1725 until 1862
when, the Royal Free School having transferred to a new building in Bachelor’s
Acre, the old schoolhouse in Church Lane was sold to the newly consecrated
Windsor Castle Lodge for £500.
Included
in the alterations was the purchase of a second-hand organ from Messrs. Hill of
London for £50. This little chamber
organ was already a hundred years old but served the lodge until 1963 when it
was scrapped and replaced with a Compton electronic organ. Later the pieces were
recovered from the scrapyard by an unknown enthusiast who rebuilt the instrument
in its original case; today the organ is in use in one of the Temples at
Freemasons’ Hall, London where it is rightly known as the ‘Windsor Organ’.
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The
Masonic Hall, Windsor, in the early eighteenth century. |
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