History

In medieval times and long before its industrial neighbours Stockton-on-Tees and Middlesbrough existed, Yarm was an important port and market town, being the first crossing point over the river Tees.

Yarm was the home town of many freemasons living on Teesside and, in 1994, sponsored by Vulcan Lodge No.4510, Yarm Lodge was consecrated with the objective of a high standard of formal ritual uncluttered with excessive protocol.

The Lodge first met in Yarm School which occupied a listed Georgian house known as the Friarage, built for the local Meynell family in 1770's, on the site of a 13th century Dominican Blackfriars monastery which had been surrendered in 1538 under the dissolution of Henry VIII. The lodge also adopted the school emblem of a Phoenix for the Lodge banner.

The lodge was consecrated on 21st May 1994 in the newly built theatre at the school by the Provincial Grand Master, R.W. John Malcolm Raylor who set his seal of approval on the new lodge with his "F Plan" diet of "Family, Fellowship and Fun", objectives which
the Lodge still follows.

From the start, the lodge grew so quickly that the School became impractical and a new venue had to be found. Fortunately, the Lodge was able to relocate to the local Tall Trees Hotel and this remained its happy and successful home from September 1999 until 2013, when the hotel closed.

An intensive search was mounted in the months before the hotel closed, to find a suitable venue which would satisfy the original aims of the founders to maintain a Masonic presence in the immediate area of the town. Various venues were suggested and investigated without success, and, after much discussion, it was decided that the lodge would move (initially on a temporary basis) to the Masonic Hall in Stokesley.

Having moved in June 2013, the search for a venue local to Yarm continued without success, and eventually, in May 2015, the lodge agreed to adopt Stokesley as its permanent home. Yarm Lodge has been warmly welcomed in Stokesley and is now happily established in its new surroundings. A picture of Stokesley Masonic hall is shown below.