In July 2015, the Datchet Village Society was invited to visit a Grade II listed building in Church Lane, Windsor, by DVS member Richard Orton. Now known as the Windsor Masonic Hall, the building was originally the Windsor Royal Free School.
Richard explained to the group that in the early 18th century, Queen Anne had become very concerned that the vast majority of the population could neither read nor write. She persuaded Parliament to pass an enabling bill in 1705 to encourage the setting up of free schools supported by locally-raised trust funds, to be known as Royal Free Schools.
In Windsor, an application was made to set up such a fund and the townspeople were invited to subscribe. The intention was to raise £700 to create a school for up to 40 boys and 30 girls, and provide them with a suitable uniform, food, and educational materials such as slates to write on. Windsor Parish Church Council provided the northeast corner of the churchyard for the school building.
Queen Anne made the largest initial subscription of £50 but the vast majority of subscribers could only afford shillings. After a few months the project stalled having raised only £201 19s 6d.
Some ten years after the death of Queen Anne, Theodore Randue (1642-1724) came to the rescue, bequeathing £500 in his will.
(There is a portrait of Randue in the Royal Collection. He is described as the “Keeper of their Majesties’ Royal Palace at Windsor Castle in the reigns of King Charles II, King James and King William, also to Queen Anne and to King George.” See www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/404070/theodore-randue-1643-1724 )
With the funds secured, the trustees immediately set to work and by 1726 the Royal Free School had a building. By 1862, needing larger premises, the school moved to Bachelors Acre. The original building was bought by the Castle Lodge of Freemasons (founded 1859), which soon changed its name to Windsor Castle Lodge. The building remains the property of that Lodge to this day.
INSIDE THE BUILDING
The Robing Room
The DVS group was welcomed into the large ground floor room which is believed to have been the schoolroom for the younger children, with the relatively fewer older children taught upstairs. Today it is used as a robing room for masons to dress in their regalia before meetings and also serves as a committee room and practice room. Most of the photographs around the walls are of the Worshipful Masters of Windsor Castle Lodge. There is also an 1830 Fire Mark which was originally fixed outside to indicate that this building was insured with the Royal Exchange Insurance at a time when such arrangements were rare.
The Lodge Room
The DVS was also invited into the richly-decorated, wood-panelled Lodge Room on the first floor. Clearly, when the school was using this building the room was nothing like this. The windows have been covered to prevent anyone looking in from neighbouring buildings and to allow easy control of the lighting because some masonic ceremonies are carried out in dim light.
Many thanks to Richard Orton, who arranged this visit for the Datchet Village Society and who guided us through both the history and current uses of this unique building.