Freemasons' Hall

Freemasons' Hall

Freemasons' Hall on Quay Street is a Grade I listed building, formerly known as the Duchy Palace. It originated circa 1280 as the Convocation Hall of the Duchy Palace and later served as the meeting place of the Stannators, the representatives of the tin miners, after the Great Hall fell into disuse. The building was sold to the Freemasons in 1878, who undertook substantial restorations and alterations.

The structure is built of slatestone rubble with granite and Pentewan stone dressings. The roof is covered in slurred slate, with a gable end to the left and hipped end to the right, featuring an axial stack to the left of the ridge, a rear lateral stack to the rear right, and an end stack to the right.

The building's plan is distinctive. At ground floor level there is a continuous vaulted undercroft or cellar, originally accessed only from outside. The upper level contains a stairwell at the left end leading to an antechamber, with the main hall to the north. The partition wall between them is unusually thick. Evidence from a Bucks engraving of 1734 suggests the south wall of the Convocation Hall abutted directly onto the north wall of the Great Hall, though remains of a window at upper level on the south side indicate there may once have been space between the two buildings. The Bucks engraving shows a second floor lit by four dormer windows on the front, with a straight stair leading from the antechamber to a small room above it; the rest of this upper floor lies within the roof space.

The front elevation facing Quay Street features heavy setback wall surfaces divided into four bays by four weathered buttresses. The leftmost bay has a gabled porch from the 1878 restoration, with a pointed arched doorway of two chamfered orders with stops in Pentewan stone (said to have been removed from the south end of the building) and studded double doors. The second bay contains a pointed arched door with a relieving arch providing access to the cellar, and at upper level a 2-light granite arched window with upper quatrefoil and cusped lights, also from 1878. The third bay retains a single cusped light under the eaves in a granite surround, possibly one of the original windows. The fourth bay has a similar 2-light window of 1878. Between the first and second bays, above the partition wall, stands a ridge stack dating to circa 1600, constructed in granite ashlar with cornice and shaped top.

The right end has weathered setback buttresses, with the wall setting back above ground floor level as at the front. A central wide 4-centred arched doorway with 19th-century double doors occupies this elevation. Above is a blocked central window with granite lintel and a recess featuring a chamfered granite surround with a carved stone coat of arms and helm, displaying a shield with 15 besants in pile flanked by lions. A second block opening appears above, with a chimney in slatestone rubble with granite quoins. At the top of the roof hip is a plume of three feathers carved in oak, said to have been erected by the Black Prince during his first visit to Lostwithiel in 1353. The upper stage of the building features granite quoins.

The rear elevation is not wholly accessible. It displays a rear lateral external stack with a brick chimney to the rear left, which heats the hall only.

The interior has been much altered. All fireplaces have been blocked, though a chimneypiece remains at second floor level in the room above the antechamber, along with a blocked fireplace to the rear left of the hall and a projection in the wall to the rear right which may also have been a fireplace. The rear wall of the antechamber contains a 3-light chamfered granite window. The cellar features a continuous plastered barrel vault. The roof dates largely to the late 18th or early 19th century, with straight principals morticed at the apices and straight collars pegged to the faces of the principals; it formerly had two rows of trenched purlins.