An important piece of Exmouth’s Masonic history has been conserved and returned to its home following a presentation at The Sun Lodge No. 106 on Monday, 10 August 2026.
The framed photograph records the opening of Exmouth Masonic Hall in 1894, showing the assembled members outside the newly completed building, together with a record of their names. More than 130 years later, the photograph provides a remarkable visual link with the brethren responsible for establishing the Hall that continues to serve Exmouth Freemasonry today.
The photograph had been discovered by W Bro Michael R Hooper PPrJGW, Archivist, in a very poor state of preservation. Recognising its historical importance, W Bro Trever Deadfield helped to arrange professional paper conservation so that the image could be preserved rather than allowed to deteriorate further.
The conservation and restoration work was carried out by W Bro Vesian Fipp Easthope, a member of Friendship and Unity Lodge No. 1271 in Wiltshire. The work included the removal of foxing from the historic photograph before it was carefully reframed for its return to the Hall.
At the meeting of The Sun Lodge, W Bro Easthope formally presented the restored photograph to the Chairman and Secretary of the Exmouth Hall Committee, W Bro David Richards PPrGSwdB and W Bro David Greenaway PAGDC. It will now be displayed in the Archives at Exmouth Masonic Hall, where it can be preserved as part of the building’s historical record.
The story behind the photograph
The photograph captures an important moment in the history of both The Sun Lodge and Freemasonry in Exmouth.
The foundation stone of the new premises was laid on 28 March 1894. Before the Hall was built, members of The Sun Lodge had for many years met at the Beacon Hotel. A report published in The Freemason’s Chronicle in April 1894 records that a site had been obtained in Ferry Road and that the proposed building would include both club accommodation and a purpose-built Lodge room.
The new Masonic Hall was formally opened and dedicated on Saturday, 8 September 1894 after it became clear that the previous accommodation at the Beacon Hotel had become insufficient for the Lodge’s requirements. The building was constructed in red brick with Bath and limestone dressings.
The Exmouth Masonic Hall history records that, on the day of the opening, members assembled at the Royal Beacon Hotel before processing in Masonic regalia, accompanied by the Exmouth Rifle Volunteers Band, to a service at Holy Trinity Church. Freemasons from Lodges across Devon attended the occasion.
The road on which the Hall stood was then known as Ferry Road; it later became St Andrew’s Road. The building has remained the home of Freemasonry in Exmouth ever since.
The Sun Lodge itself has an even longer association with the town. Founded in 1759, it first met in Exmouth at the Dolphin Inn on 18 January 1784, before subsequently meeting at a number of locations and eventually making the purpose-built Hall its permanent home.
The restoration of the 1894 photograph therefore preserves more than an old image. It safeguards a record of the brethren who gathered at the beginning of a new chapter in the history of The Sun Lodge and of the building that generations of Exmouth Freemasons have used since.
Its return to the Hall Archives ensures that this tangible link with the events of September 1894 will remain available for future generations.