Description

Currie, Scott & Young, 1766; substantial additions 1939. Single storey, 4-bay, rectangular-plan lodge. Sandstone rubble, harled in places, polished raised margins.

SE (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: obscured by harled, flat-roofed 1939 additions.

NE ELEVATION: not seen 2000.

NW ELEVATION: obscured to left by harled addition; window to flanking bay to right, infilled with brick.

SW ELEVATION: harled; doorway to bay to left, with sandstone infill; 3 regularly placed window openings to right, all with harled infills; piend-roofed addition to outer right.

Window openings to lodge predominantly infilled. Piended graded grey slate roof with lead ridges and inset louvred ventilators. PVCu and cast-iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: rectangular-plan principal room; boarded floor covers original flooring; panelled timber door to NE side, flanked to left by small round-arched recess (supposedly to bottomless pit), depressed-arched niche flanking doorway to right, housing statue of St Andrew, by Sir John Steele, 1827, stained glass memorial window opposite; segmental-arched niche to SE, with hexagonal sounding board oversailing; coombed ceiling with plaster cornices. Datestone from lodge, reading "1766" set in wall of 1939 addition.

Statement of Interest

Dalkeith Masonic Lodge is one of the oldest purpose built lodges in the world and one of 2 in Scotland. The other is now in possession of the Royal Order of Scotland, a property occupied until recently by Canongate Kilwinning Lodge, No 2, in Edinburgh, built in 1735 with the members first meeting there in December that year. J F Millar (Country Life, see above) points out that until recently St John's Lodge, Newport, Rhode Island, built in 1759 by Peter Harrison (but not consecrated until 1803), predated the Scottish lodge, however it was recently sold to be converted into a house. Minute books for Dalkeith Masonic Lodge date back to 1764, when the first plans to erect a lodge began on the anniversary of St John the Evangelist, (27 December 1764). The site of the lodge was in the garden of Mr Barclays' school, which belonged to a William Hardy, who agreed to feu an area of his garden for 12s 6d per year. The building was consecrated on 24 August 1767, although it was finished the year before. Dalkeith Masonic Lodge has been substantially extended, the original meeting room survives largely intact. The wooden statue of St Andrew in the meeting room is by Sir John Steele (b. 1804), who was Sculptor to Queen Victoria between 1838 and 1891. The statue was originally at the door of the North British Fire and Life Insurance Company in Princes Street (at Hanover Street), which was burned down, the statue was subsequently gifted to the lodge by Sir James Walker Drummond.

Another lodge in an early structure, if not purpose built, is Lodge Elgin and Bruce, No 1077, Linekilns, Fife which meets in the King's Cellars there.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17827703

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

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  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
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  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
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  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)