Oldest Masonic Temple.

It is Heritage week for the North East of England. It encompasses Newcastle, Sunderland and South Shields. Many buildings are open that would normally be inaccessible and places usually have guides and experts on hand. There are also many talks and experiences. I went to a talk about a local family that lived at Roker (a seaside suburb of Sunderland) this morning at South Shields museum. This afternoon I went to Sunderland Masonic Temple.

The Masonic Temple is the oldest Masonic Temple in continuous use in the world and a grade 1 listed building. There are only two grade 1 listed buildings in Sunderland and the other is a church about 50 yards from the temple. The Temple was built in 1785. It was an interesting visit and the guide told us that there are 3 degrees of attainment in Masonry each one getting progressive harder. At each stage or degree the brother is interrogated about his knowledge of that subject. The phrase getting the 3rd degree meaning to be questioned thoroughly comes from Masonry.

The picture shows the aprons the men wear. The extra shows Tracey boards that were originally on the floor to symbolise various tenets of Masonry. Three boards for the three degrees.