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History Freemasonry in Chesterfield:Freemasonry has been practised in Chesterfield since 1762, though with quite long gaps in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The first known record of a Chesterfield Lodge is of Lodge No.106 (it didn't have a name) constituted at the Three Cranes Inn on 27th December 1762. The Three Cranes was on Low Pavement, somewhere between the present Barnsley Building Society premises and McDonald's. The Lodge appears to have had a very short life, though the names of nine of its members are known. The second Lodge in Chesterfield was called the Scarsdale Lodge, and was initially numbered 519. It took its title from the Hundred of Scarsdale - the old parliamentary constituency containing Chesterfield and much of Northeast Derbyshire. Its warrant was dated 5th March 1793 and the first meeting was held on 23rd May 1793. The Lodge has been said to have emanated from Sheffield, but this is only a technicality, as the founders had been made Masons in Sheffield. They were all prominent citizens of Chesterfield or the surrounding district. The Lodge originally met at the Angel Inn, which was on the top of the Market Place on a site now occupied partly by the Post Office and partly by Hudson's music shop. On 6th July 1808 the Lodge resolved to move to the Falcon at the top of South Street; the building is still there and is occupied by the Barnsley Building Society. Then, on 30th June 1817, it moved back to the Angel. The records of the old Scarsdale Lodge are still in existence, though sometimes not as complete as one could wish, and the more important items of its property are still in use. From the records, we learn that membership was never high, usually about 12 to 15, but rising almost to 30 by 1822, then falling rapidly through the 1820's. The last meeting of the Lodge was on 2nd February 1830 at the Angel. Members then walked in procession to the site of the new church at Brampton Moor, (St Thomas's) where the Duke of Devonshire laid the foundation stone. The members then returned to the Angel, where the Lodge was closed - for good. Grand Lodge erased it in 1838. During the Napoleonic Wars, French Officers who were prisoners of war were billeted in Chesterfield. They formed two Lodges during the years 1809 - 12 Loge de l'Espérance and Loge de St Jerôme et l'Espérance. Scarsdale members made 8 visits to Loge de St Jerome et l'Espérance, while the Scarsdale minutes record that on 5th March 1810, "Hy. Vinclair and R. de la Croix, two foreigners, visited this night." Both were prominent French Masons. The French prisoners had little money and were not allowed to go more than a mile from Chesterfield, but they found a sympathiser in Sir Windsor Hunloke, Master of Scarsdale in 1800 and a Roman Catholic, who is said to have moved the milestone further along Derby Road so that the Frenchmen could visit him at Wingerworth Hall! After the old Scarsdale Lodge ceased to meet, freeMasonry in Chesterfield was in abeyance, and remained so until a new Lodge, also called Scarsdale, was consecrated at the Star Inn at the bottom of Glumangate on 10th September 1856. A banquet was afterwards held at the Municipal Hall, later to become the Court House, on New Beetwell Street. It was extensively reported in both the Derbyshire Times and the Derbyshire Courier, the two accounts being almost identical. They can be consulted (on microfilm) in the Public Library. In 1861, the Lodge moved to the Angel next door, and continued to meet there for the next 16 years. In 1878 the North East Derbyshire Club was formed and built what is today the Masonic Hall in Chesterfield. Many founders of that Club were members of Scarsdale Lodge and so secured a lease of the upper floor as a Temple. Thereafter in the late 19th and early 20th centuries Freemasonry in Chesterfield expanded considerably. In 1890 Hardwick Lodge was formed; in 1904 Cavendish Lodge was formed; and in 1918 Cestrefeld Lodge was formed. In 1926 these Lodges purchased the Club premises and the whole building became the Masonic Hall. After the Second World War there was an upsurge in interest in Freemasonry, and the possibility of a new Lodge was mooted to cater for this. The new Lodge was a long time coming, but eventually, in 1989, Lutudarum Lodge was formed, Lutudarum being, it is believed, the name by which the Romans knew Chesterfield. All the Lodges considered so far are Craft Lodges - what a non-Mason might think of, as mainstream Masonry - and every Mason must belong to a Craft Lodge, at least for a time. There are, however, additional Masonic orders open to members of Craft Lodges; they are optional, but many Masons join and enjoy them. The oldest of these additional orders is the Royal Arch Chapter, often abbreviated to just Chapter. The first Chapter to be held in Chesterfield was formed in 1823 and was called Scarsdale Chapter. (Reports of an earlier Chapter were due to the misinterpretation of a document.) This was not a good time to be starting new Lodges or Chapters because, as we have seen, Freemasonry was in decline in the 1820's, so the first Scarsdale Chapter had a very short life and ceased to meet in 1826. As the new Scarsdale Lodge eventually arose from the ashes of the old one, so it was with the Chapter, and a new Scarsdale Chapter was formed in 1878 and continues to meet here. Its formation was delayed until the new (present) building was available. Again pressure of numbers eventually led to the formation of another Chapter, Lutudarum, in 1992. Another important and old Masonic order is called Mark Masonry. The first Mark Lodge in Chesterfield (called Scarsdale) was formed in 1899, and the second, called Chesterfield Mark Lodge, in 1976. A Mark Lodge may have a Lodge of another order, Ark Mariners, attached to it (but meeting separately) and Scarsdale Ark Mariners Lodge was formed in 1921. Other Masonic orders meeting in Chesterfield are Rose Croix, Knights Templar, Red Cross of Constantine, and Secret Monitor, none of them bearing the name of Scarsdale. Over the years, many Mayors of Chesterfield and other prominent citizens of the town and district have been members. They include: - Mark Hewitt, Mayor 1788, who lived at a house at the top of the Market Place, later occupied by Boots; John Bale, Mayor 1783/6/9; John Saxton 1789; Thos. Dutton, Mayor 7 times; John Bower - 4 times; T.P. Wood, Mayor 3 times, wine and spirit merchant, and who gave Queen's Park; G A Rooth, C.P. Markham, S.E. Short. W Hawksley Edmunds, H.J. Watson, J.E. Bird, H.C. Day; Wilfred Edmunds, of the Derbyshire Times, and four of his sons, including Hawksley (the fifth son became a Mason in Reading); W.W. Jeudwine, The Duke of Devonshire's Agent; Thos. Shipton, solicitor; Plowright Brothers, engineers of Brampton; Archdeacon Crosse; R Kilpatrick and Capt. (later Sir) Percy Sillitoe, Chief Constables of Chesterfield; Rev. Thomas Field; A.E.P. Voules; James Mansell; E.G. Price - All Headmasters of the Grammar School. In parallel with the decline in public respect for local politicians, there has been a decline in their interest in freeMasonry. Co-incidence, perhaps? [Top] The Lutudarum Lodge: After much discussion over a decade during which W.Bro. R.M. Lewis (who did not survive to see the Lodge formed) suggested the name 'Lutudarum' , Cavendish Lodge approved a petition in September 1989, and a Warrant was granted in December 1989. The Lodge was consecrated in Derby Masonic Hall in May 1990, and the senior Founder, W.Bro. G.A. Hotter was installed as the first master. Among the founders were W.Bro. J.M. Beard and W.Bro. Dr. B. Quartermain, the first later to become Deputy Provincial Grand Master, and the other later to become Assistant Provincial Grand Master. The founders were well aware of the many variations of Emulation Ritual used in the Province, and wishing the Lodge to have a distinctive Ritual, and to avoid interminable discussion after formation, decided to adopt Universal Ritual and so be unique in the Province. [Top] The Name and Logo: The mining of lead in Derbyshire may have been practised in pre-historic times. It was certainly practised by the Romans. Several pigs (ingots) of lead found in the County are distinguished by the letters 'LVT' or 'LVTVD' and in one case 'LVTVDARES', all of which are believed to refer to LUTUDARUM, a place in Derbyshire not precisely located, but which a number of researchers advance good reasons for placing it in or very near Chesterfield. Indeed, in 1835 the Rev. R. Wallace, in a communication to the editor of the Derbyshire Courier, propounded that Lutudarum was the Roman name for Chesterfield, not as the place in which metal was originally procured, but as the depot or market to which it was brought for the purpose of sale and transmission to different parts of the country. The design on the Banner of Lutudarum Lodge is freely adapted from a carving on an ancient tombstone in Wirksworth Church. It represents an Anglo-Saxon Lead Miner with his pick and kibble ( a bucket used for hoisting). The Banner, designed
by his daughter, and approved by Grand Lodge, was presented to
the Lodge by W.Bro. G. A. Hotter.
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