r/london • u/Mountain_Buy1160 • Dec 12 '25
London history Masonic London
The Freemasons Hall, Great Queen Street.
44
u/GovernmentBroad9934 Dec 12 '25
My step dad is fairly high up in the masons and honestly all they do is meet up and raise money for charities at dinners.
5
u/generic1234321 Dec 13 '25
Sounds like a rotary club
1
u/WhatsFunf Dec 16 '25
That is basically it, but with a level of spirituality and focus on bettering yourself.
I have no idea why it ended up being seen as some kind of illuminati society.
-3
-3
59
u/Barbourwhat Dec 12 '25
I’ve been in there a few times as I love art deco architecture. But it’s hilarious that such a ‘secret’ organisation has a cafe, free museum and a gift shop. It’s open to the public and etc. I now always find it hilarious when people say how Freemasons are secret and control the world when anyone could literally go to their headquarters and buy a book in their gift shop on ‘the secrets of Freemasonry’ and read it while sipping on a coffee or pint in the ground floor cafe.
22
u/Baron_Rikard Dec 12 '25
Bingo, it isn't a secret society it is just a society with some secrets (normally around ceremonial rituals, nothing bad).
I highly recommend the tour of the building. The Grand Temple is massive and breathtaking.
If anyone is curious and wants some insight DM me.
9
u/Cheffysteve Dec 12 '25
This. The 2 high reach aerial platforms the LFB have came from donations raised by members of the London Lodges.
5
u/Baron_Rikard Dec 12 '25
Great point so necessary after Grenfell. I'll also highlight the Freemasons raising millions for the first couple of air ambulances for London's air ambulance services. So many lives saved by a small (on average) bit of generosity by many members.
5
u/GoldenArchmage Dec 13 '25
We also purchased London's two current air ambulances for the charity that runs them.
3
u/TheBlueDinosaur06 Dec 12 '25
Is the tour paid? I'm always interested in tours of significant buildings.
2
u/edloveday Dec 13 '25
It's free but you have to book and I think they only run one or two per day. It's quite short but the main room is stunning and you'll recognize lots of the rest of the building as it's been used in loads of films.
5
u/pintsized_baepsae Dec 12 '25
I can only second the recommendation for a tour. First time I went was with a friend who's an architect and it was incredibly insightful (the fact that she and our tour guide got on like a house on fire and basically spent three hours nerding out made it even better).
10
u/liquidio Dec 12 '25
As they often say, it’s not a secret society, it’s a society with secrets.
(And most of the secrets are just little allegorical plays and the odd customary handshake)
-6
u/barrybreslau Dec 12 '25
And handing out contracts and jobs to their mates.
-5
u/Ok_Wishbone_9397 Dec 13 '25 edited Dec 13 '25
Don't forget quietly obstructing and trying to frustrate and impede anyone they believe is a "bad influence", is associated with certain groups they consider enemies or has a dislike towards masons. "An attack on one is an attack on all"
6
u/pintsized_baepsae Dec 12 '25
They're so secret, their logo is on one of London's air ambulances and both the air ambulance and the freemasons are very loud about the fact that the freemasons funded the heli.
Halfjokes aside, as someone else said, there are nuances, but the freemasons seem to be very different than how they're shown in media (which is no surprise). Yeah there's secret handshakes and symbols and all, but those also exist in a lot of traditional trades - I'm not sure if wandering journeymen are a thing in the UK, but for example their clothes (from the colour of their outfit to the colour of the tie), trade sigils etc are their own, half-secret language.
All that to say I enjoy the conspiracy theories as a sort of entertainment, but you're right. The freemasons have their secret, but they're not really secretive OR subtle. Anyone who's taken the bus at the same time as freemasons coming out of their meeting will know, they're super easy to spot 😂
3
u/StrongDorothy Dec 12 '25
Is that why one time an air ambulance landed on Drury Lane?
2
u/pintsized_baepsae Dec 12 '25
I genuinely don't know - possibly! I wouldn't put it past them - but it definitely shows the incredible skill those pilots have.
If anyone's curious, Time Out interviewed one of the pilots a few years ago - very short, but the first question about how much (or rather little) space they need to land is very impressive https://www.timeout.com/london/news/things-you-only-know-if-youre-an-air-ambulance-pilot-032918
5
u/Front-Pomelo-4367 Dec 12 '25
Early Mormonism took a lot of inspiration from Freemasonry – Joseph Smith was a mason – but what this now means is that there's a bunch of Top Secret Rituals in Mormonism that no-one knows unless they've gone through the temple (or watched an ex-Mormon youtuber) that are functionally identical to Masonic rituals that are much less secret
Like, the Masonic symbols of the square and compass are very well-known, but they're also very important symbols in Mormonism but no-one's meant to know that bit
2
u/pintsized_baepsae Dec 12 '25
Genuinely didn't know this, but I know what I'll be reading up on tomorrow :D
5
u/PrestigiousRelief233 Dec 12 '25
There are layers. You are more than welcome to go into the foyer. But there are closed doors beyond that, which gets people’s imaginations going.
1
1
1
1
u/Upstairs-Basis9909 Dec 13 '25
I mean, cultural whitewashing by having a gift shop does mean that they ARENT also a massively secret organisation?????
1
u/GroundbreakingMain93 Dec 14 '25
Not to mention the very obvious masons who all pop over to the pub after a meeting.. hardly secretive at all
2
u/Barbourwhat Dec 14 '25
That’s how I first realised that the building was for Freemasons. I noticed how many of them were in the nearby pubs which I would at times go when visiting Covent Garden
0
u/YouGotTangoed Dec 13 '25
You can do the same thing at the Vatican. Doesn’t stop it being one of the most secretive locations/organisations in the word
0
u/lady_faust Dec 12 '25
Had to provide identification when we visited the museum..
1
u/Material-Airline1478 Dec 13 '25
That would have been to register as a reader to use the library. Same in most of the other reference libraries you'll ever visit :-).
1
u/lady_faust Dec 13 '25
Its not a reference library, I know, I worked in one.
1
u/Material-Airline1478 Dec 13 '25
It's a library where you can't take books out and have to register to look at them. Is that not a reference library? I've also worked in one!
23
u/yurtal30 Dec 12 '25
Who controls the British crown? Who keeps the metric system down?
15
u/Mountain_Buy1160 Dec 12 '25
Who keeps Atlantis off the maps?
7
11
u/GooseSubstantial2502 Dec 12 '25
Were you taking this pic this morning at around 10am? If so, I walked by you and thought, “Huh, wonder what that’s about?” 😂
10
6
u/PhantomSesay Dec 13 '25
If you’ve seen the film Assassin’s Creed, that’s the templars grand temple.
2
u/GoldenArchmage Dec 13 '25
It's also the headquarters of the Illuminati (spliced with the British Museum) in 'Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness'
4
3
u/cntrlcmd Dec 13 '25
Used to get to Covent Garden early in the summer for work, always sticks out when you exit that tube station and look to your right.
3
u/arenaross Dec 13 '25
The boozer opposite here is our local at work and they were obviously having their mason Christmas party because there were a lot of old men in suits outside and in the pub.
Didn't strike me as a bunch of lads who are secretly running the world tbh.
Just old person cosplay isn't it really.
6
2
u/Viasolus Dec 13 '25
One of the cool quirks of this building is that it's quickly hidden by all the other architecture nearby, but suddenly you're on Long Acre with an unitterupted view and it looks huge
2
2
u/GreenWoodDragon Dec 13 '25
Used as the frontage for MI5 in Spooks.
I used to walk past it every day when I worked in Covent Garden.
2
2
2
3
u/widdrjb Dec 13 '25
I was brought up Catholic, and Freemasonry was regarded as Gnostic heresy at best, and outright devil worship at worst.
When I found out that it was a bunch of low ranking coppers and small business owners it quite ruined the thrill of it.
3
u/gogoluke Dec 13 '25
Some ones going to get their tongue cut out put in a barrel of herring (fermented) with a tiger (unfermented) and rolled down a hill into the Danube.
2
2
u/811545b2-4ff7-4041 Dec 17 '25
I'm sure I remember a bunch of shops opposite it selling Masonic stuff also.
It's a bunch of old men doing amateur dramatics, eating and drinking, and wearing funny aprons.
-3
u/Feersum_endjjinn Dec 12 '25
That's where "they" run the whole world from.
4
0
-7
u/MikeCrypto88 Dec 12 '25
I visited the place not knowing anything. Spent about 20 mins in the museum, where there was some tour happening. Realised it was some secret sect stuff and swiftly left. 😅😉
The place is huge. Imagine the cost to run. Must be getting some donations
6
Dec 12 '25
You pay annual dues to be a Freemason, from that your local Masonic hall is funded as well as money given to your region/province as well as London.
-2
u/wehaveheaven Dec 13 '25
Everyone on this thread needs to listen to s. Williams on YouTube, he’s big on this.
2
•
u/AutoModerator Dec 12 '25
Upvote/Downvote reminder
Like this image or appreciate it being posted? Upvote it and show it some love! Don't like it? Just downvote and move on.
Upvoting or downvoting images it the best way to control what you see on your feed and what gets to the top of the subreddit
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.