Welcome to a brief history of 42 Castle Street, Farnham

In 1951 Farnham gained its own Masonic Hall. A move from The Institute was on the cards. The September (Installation) Meeting of that year was held at the Scarborough Rooms, Aldershot. A move to the newly acquired 42, Castle Street, Farnham then took place for the next (Emergency) Meeting. Both St. Andrews and Castle Lodges have claimed to hold the first meeting at the new premises. As a matter of record, Castle Lodge first met there on October 5th. 1951. To the best of our knowledge this was indeed the first Masonic Meeting at the new home. To celebrate the occasion a double Raising and a Passing were performed.

 The Farnham Masonic Hall Co., formed from the early Farnham Lodges, obtained the rather dilapidated premises to house the growing local Masonic population. The original was an outbuilding or barn belonging to Farnham Castle, and was built well before the English Civil War. It was used as barracks for the Roundhead troops during the War (1642-1648) and was later obtained by a William Baker who rebuilt it as a ‘Musick House’. It boasted a large musical organ which, it is thought, was moved to the Parish Church in 1800. Thankfully the organ went - it would really have cramped things in the Lodge Room!

 The external appearance of the building has changed little for two hundred and fifty years. Internally it has seen many changes and uses. From 1820 to 1860 it was ‘The School’ until being replaced by a purpose built National School adjacent to St. Andrew’s Church in that year. That is now the local Junior School. In 1877 another charitable application was in evidence when the building became ‘The Working Men’s, or Castle Street Institute’. 

The Education Committee continued to use the building for some types of lessons. A local gentlemen’s hairdresser, still plying his mystic arts in South Street, recalls the building during his own schooldays. It was in a ramshackle condition, with gaps in the floorboards. A favoured pastime of the boys in the upper floor woodworking class was to enlarge the gaps with their chisels. They then poured sawdust into the cake mixes under formulation by the girls' cookery class on the ground floor. ‘It is by the advantages alone that we are rendered fit members of...........’. Oh dear!,  but at least he can cut hair - even if he isn’t a Mason. 

A lot of redecoration has taken place over the years since 1951, a great deal by members of the various local lodges. An organisation of the local lodges going under the ugly acronym of CLAWCO (the letters stood for the names of the lodges and the Ladies Club) supported the Hall in its early day as a home to Freemasonry. CLAWCO must be given a lot of the credit for the present good condition of the Hall. The organisation ran various social occasions such as dances, and on one evening a Race Night. This unfortunately appears to have been a disaster. No reasons are recorded in our Lodge books, but once again our imaginations can run riot with perhaps less than complimentary results regarding the conduct at (or of?) the event. 

Following the minor fire at the Hall (see below in ‘The Latter Years’) and general subsidence, the building began to skew outwards and collapse in 1991. An expensive restoration, luckily largely covered by insurance, was undertaken. Again Fortune smiled, and most of the work was carried out during the summer ‘closed season’.  W.Bro. Bob White, a notable member of Castle Lodge, was the overseer of the remedial work on behalf of the Farnham Masonic Hall Company. Another Castle member - W.Bro. Norman Gudge - also chaired the Company. This was probably as well, as it could be alleged that Castle Lodge was responsible for the fire in the first place.