Lodge History & Heritage
Lodge Rosslyn St. Clair No.606 is situated in the historic village of Roslin, just 7.5 miles south of Edinburgh city centre. The Lodge takes its proud name, shared with only six other Lodges across Scotland, from William St. Clair of Roslin, the very first Grand Master Mason of the Grand Lodge of Scotland who was installed in 1736.
Granted its official Charter on 7th May 1877, the Lodge held its inaugural gathering in the historic Inn known as the ‘Old Rosslyn Inn’ dating from 1660 until it was occupied as a house in 1866. It is now called Collegehill House, situated directly adjacent to the world-renowned Rosslyn Chapel.
Our first Right Worshipful Master Sir George Douglas Clerk (1852-1911), 8th Baronet of Penicuik chaired the meetings after his installation in 1877.
After a short time we moved to Rosslyn Castle where we had more room to accommodate the rising membership, again after only a short time we moved to the premises of 'Creel Ha' owned by a member of the Lodge who charged rent for it's use.
In 1920 we purchased our current premises for the princely sum of £400 and we've been here ever since. We've obviously had one or two refurbishments since then and indeed, work is still in progress to upgrade and maintain the premises and ensure a comfortable environment for the Brethren of the Lodge.
Part of Our Story
The ongoing work began in 1986 to transform the old building into the Lodge we see today, it took a lot of hard work and a crafty lunch with the bank manager to raise the funds necessary to complete it!
It's amazing to see the old windows and pillars, none of which survive today.
In this picture you can see the bar hatch and access door to the Ladies and Gents toilets which are there today, of course the ceiling and the floor are totally different nowadays and the floor has seen a few changes itself over the years but that's another story, watch this space!
Today work continues in improving the Lodge with recent refurbishments to the Kitchen, Gents and Ladies toilets and planned work to be carried out on the Bar area.
We are very proud of our Lodge and we hope that all visitors will find it interesting and a comfortable place to socialise.