St Kew go back 157 years!

On Friday 14th March 2025 the members of St Kew lodge were invited by Rev Stuart Boyd, known to a lot of us as W.Bro Stuart Boyd PPrSGW to all saints church in Weston-Super-Mare to learn about the history link of the church and St Kew lodge.

St Kew was the first lodge in Weston and was consecrated and installed on Tuesday 7th July 1868, sponsored by the lodge of agriculture in Yatton and made up of a lot of masons from Bristol, At that time Weston only had around 10,000 residents.

The first master of the lodge was Francis George Irwin and the fees back in 1868 were 5 guineas initiation fee, annual subscription was 7/6d quarterly in advance and the entrance fee for a joining member was 1 guinea.

On the 24th June 1898 the Worshipship Master Bro. J.J.Lovell led a procession of around 200 freemasons to all saints church to lay the foundation stone, The stone was laid by Provincial Grand Master Viscount Dungarvan after which the Provincial Grand Treasurer deposited a phial containing current coins of the realm in a cavity in the stone, The stone was lowered and found using the working tools, to be truly laid.

The foundation stone is still visible within the back corridors of the church, but wear from damp has made the engravings worn, it was great to learn about St Kew’s history and link to the church and unfortunately I cant make this article long enough to include everything but I’m sure Stuart will gladly tell anymore more in person.

Article By Chris Cooke

Lodge Information Officer