Rarely are Freemasons seen in public in full regalia. More’s the pity – the colourful spectre, along with banners and flags, is a sure crowd-puller, as Durham masons found when they marched through the streets of Beamish to lay the foundation stone of a reconstructed pre-First World War Masonic hall.
    Beamish, the North of England Open Air Museum, is of national and international importance, situated in over 300 acres of the District of Derwentside in North West County Durham, about 10 miles from both Durham City and Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
    In recent times it has won numerous accolades, including both European Museum of the Year and British Museum of the Year and attracts some 350,000 visitors annually from the UK and overseas.
    It depicts the industrial and cultural heritage of the North East, mainly at a time immediately before the First World War. In its carefully constructed town, many institutions and the character of the era are faithfully portrayed, mainly through the reconstruction of buildings from all over the region, which have been brought to life by being filled with everyday items of that period.
    In addition, trained staff with an interest in particular parts of the museum are on hand in period costume to guide visitors through each exhibit.
    Shortly before Lord Barnard retired as Provincial Grand Master, several ideas for a Millennium Project had been floated, but at a meeting at Raby Castle, senior officers of the Province considered the idea that a Masonic Hall should be constructed at Beamish and this received Lord Barnard’s approval.
    The plan was enthusiastically carried forward by the present Provincial Grand Master, RW Bro Dr Alan Davison who, together with the chairman of the Provincial Library and Museum Committee and the Provincial Grand Secretary, met the Director of Beamish Museum.
    The Director and his staff warmed to the idea. After a year-long feasibility study, involving the staff of Durham’s Provincial Library and Museum and directors and curators from Beamish, the governing body of Beamish agreed to add a Masonic Hall to the buildings which comprise the main street of the town.
    A site for the proposed Hall has been earmarked next to a recently completed Barclays Bank. Provincial Grand Lodge has already secured the frontage of the former Park Terrace Masonic Hall, Sunderland, which was originally built as a Masonic Hall in 1869, remaining in use as such until the Wearside Masonic Temple was opened in 1932.
    The Park Terrace building, having stood disused for some 20 years after fulfilling several purposes, was demolished in 1998 and the Province was extremely fortunate to secure the frontage, which was taken down, stone by stone, and is now in store at Beamish.
    The project to construct the Masonic Hall, known as Beamish 2000, will have the effect of giving Masonry an Open Day every day for over 300 days a year. It will enable more than 350,000 people annually to see a Masonic Hall, as it would have been in 1913, just before the First World War, and to discover the essential facts about Freemasonry.
    Masonry will take its rightful place as an integral part of society, alongside the bank, the garage, the Co-op and all the other institutions of life in the period depicted.
    On a beautiful summer morning, over 3,000 Durham Freemasons and their wives, families and friends gathered at Beamish to witness and take part in a ceremony which had not been performed in the Province for some 70 years. The Provincial Grand Master, accompanied in procession by approximately 350 brethren in Masonic clothing and regalia, having opened Provincial Grand Lodge, made its way through the townscape of Beamish to lay the foundation stone of the Hall with traditional Masonic ceremony.
    As the masses gathered, a Masonic choir, in full Masonic regalia, entertained from the Victorian bandstand in the ornamental park adjacent to the Co-operative Store.
    Leading the procession, the Union Flag was carried by a Past Provincial Grand Sword Bearer, a former Grenadier Guardsman, who was flanked by two acting Provincial Grand Tylers carrying swords. They were followed by the Cockerton (Darlington) Prize Silver Band.
    A small group of Master Masons led the Worshipful Masters, or their representatives, of the 206 Lodges in the Province. The Flag of St George was carried before around 60 Grand Officers, mainly from the Province of Durham, and the leaders of other Masonic Degrees and Orders in Durham, all in Craft Regalia, together with visiting Provincial Grand Masters from other Provinces.
    Next came the Flag of Provincial Grand Lodge of Durham and all the acting Officers of Provincial Grand Lodge in order of rank. Several were carrying the implements and elements of consecration, and Provincial Grand Stewards attended each section of the procession.
    Preceding the Provincial Grand Master was the Provincial Grand Sword Bearer carrying the magnificent Provincial Sword, a gift of the brethren of Hartlepool to Lord Ravensworth, Provincial Grand Master in the early 1920s. The two Provincial Grand Standard Bearers carrying their colourful standards accompanied the Provincial Grand Master.
    As soon as the procession reached the site of the Masonic Hall, the ceremony commenced with all those present singing the Hundredth Psalm, “All People that on Earth do dwell”. Peter Lewis, Director of Beamish Museum, addressed the assembly, expressing his thoughts on how the Masonic Hall would add to Beamish, and then formally requested the Provincial Grand Master to lay the Foundation Stone.
    The upper stone was raised and the Provincial Grand Master delivered an address, emphasising how pleased he was that the project to build the Masonic Hall at Beamish, which had been in the planning stages for the previous two years, was now taking an important step towards completion. He thanked the Director of Beamish and its management committee for their co-operation and assistance.
    The Provincial Grand Chaplain offered prayers, the Provincial Grand Treasurer placed the phial, containing documents relating to present day Freemasonry in the Province and to the day’s ceremony, into a cavity in the lower stone and the Provincial Grand Secretary read aloud the inscription on the stone and on a brass plate, which was placed over the cavity.
    Cement was spread on the lower stone and adjusted by the Provincial Grand Master, after which the upper stone was lowered with three distinct movements. The Provincial Grand Master then adjusted the stone on its bed by striking it on its four corners with the maul and it was then “proved” by the Provincial Junior and Senior Grand Wardens and the Deputy Provincial Grand Master, who applied the Plumb Rule, Level and Square.
    The Provincial Grand Superintendent of Works handed the plans of the building to the Provincial Grand Master who, after inspecting them, conveyed them to the builder, John Gall, Director of Museum Services at Beamish.
    With solemn prayer during each circuit, the vessels containing corn and wine, Provincial Grand Deacons carried oil and salt round the stone. The Deputy Provincial Grand Master, who explained the symbolic significance of each element, then presented these consecrating vessels in turn.
    The Provincial Grand Master scattered on to the stone corn (the symbol of plenty), poured wine (the symbol of joy and gladness), oil (the symbol of charity) and sprinkled salt (the symbol of hospitality and friendship).
    The Provincial Grand Chaplain offered prayers and the assembly then sang the first verse of the National Anthem. There then followed a Benediction and the ceremony closed with the singing of the Masonic hymn, “Hail Eternal, by Whose aid”. The procession reformed and returned to the area at the west of the museum, near Rowley Station, where Provincial Grand Lodge was closed.
    Afterwards a large number of brethren joined friends and family in groups for a picnic lunch and an afternoon of fellowship in warm sunshine and present the pastoral setting of the Beamish Museum grounds.

Charles Marshall is Deputy Provincial Grand Master for the Province of Durham.