Sindlesham, The Berkshire Masonic Centre
Mole Road, Sindlesham, Wokingham. RG41 5DB
Tel. 0118 978 3902
Junction 10 off M4 to Reading
First turn off to Winnersh and Wokingham onto A329
Right at traffic lights along King Street Lane to Mole Road.
Excellent Car Parking.
Before the Second World War the house, then known as Sindlesham Lodge, was owned by a Mrs Smith, a relative of Lady Astor. During the war the building was requisitioned and used by Miles Aircraft of Woodley as a hostel for female employees, and as a training school. After the war it became a Jesuit Training College which extended the building considerably by adding extra classrooms and dormitories and, in 1964, built the magnificent Chapel which is now the main Temple.
Sindlesham Masonic Centre
When the Jesuits combined with another college at Queens Langley the property was put up for sale and came to the notice of W.Bro. K.E. Wickham who immediately alerted the province to its potential. W.Bro. Louis Lesser, then the Charity Steward of the province, quickly realised the additional possibility of a Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution home being built on the land which would become available there; this was to become Lord Harris Court.
After much rebuilding and refurbishment, the Berkshire Masonic Centre was opened in 1969.Since then the facilities have been steadily improved and extended, and now provide three Temples, two dining rooms plus a separate banqueting suite, three rehearsal rooms, a library and museum, a club bar, offices for the Provincial Secretariat, and excellent car parking facilities.
Inside Sindlesham Masonic Temples
The premises are used by a very large number of Craft lodges, Royal Arch chapters, Mark lodges, and masonic units of several other Orders. The Berkshire Masonic Centre has become very much the hub of Freemasonry within the province, and the permanent staff take pride in the high degree of professionalism exhibited in the service which they provide.