The Filton Masonic Hall Company was established in 1947, its purpose was to secure a meeting place for the newly consecrated Filton Lodge of Fortitude, which had been consecrated at the temple in Downend.
The company obtained the use of the Filton War Memorial Hall, next to the Shield’s Laundry (which later became Filton Technical College), and the first regular meeting was held there on the 27th October 1947.
It was a public building, and so was in daily use for various local activities, lodge meetings were held there until the hall was acquired 1961, and the building was demolished alongside many others to make way for the new Filton Link road.
The Memorial Hall, Stapleton
By 1961, the Filton Lodge of Fortitude had sponsored two further lodges, the Lodge of Fidelity (1949) and the Lodge of Sincerity (1959).
During the summer recess in 1961, The Filton Masonic Hall Company found and purchased the freehold on the Memorial Hall in Park Road and the old School building in nearby Brinkworthy Road. The School building was demolished to make way for the Car Park, while work started on the Memorial Hall to convert it into a purpose-built temple for masonic use.
While the building works were in progress, the three lodges met by special dispensation at the Masonic Hall, Downend (Fidelity and Sincerity) and at the Masonic Hall, Avonmouth (Fortitude).
In 1962, the Hall was formally opened, for the three lodges it was the start of a new era in a Masonic Hall they could call their own.
Although the founding fathers moved to Stapleton they still called it the Filton Masonic Hall. To some it will always be known as such, but more recently it has adopted the name of its new home and is known as The Stapleton Masonic Hall.
One thing that remains unaltered, is the name of the company that looks after the Hall (which is limited by guarantee) and so continues to be called the Filton Masonic Hall Company Ltd.
Information sourced from the “History of the Lodge of Fidelity” by W Bro K.Hearn – with thanks.