Crowley Lodge No 6901

A Brief History

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Crowley Lodge was founded by Brethren of Liddell Lodge No. 3616 who were keenly interested and deeply conscious of the important history of their Mother Lodge, The Lodge of Industry No. 48. They were also keenly interested in Ambrose Crowley and his colony of workers, with which this history is inextricably bound up. Before 1690 very little was known of the village of Winlaton, but Joseph Cowen said concerning Winlaton - "Since then (i.e. the year 1690) it has risen to National Renown". He also said "When many busy centres of industry in Durham were moorland and forest, Winlaton was the seat of a vigorous industry". The semi-socialist experiment of Crowley was interesting, both politically and industrially. It is important to note that it is now established that Crowley's idea preceded that of Thomas Owen by …? Years, which makes Crowley the pioneer in industrial development and social experiment in Europe.
The workers lived largely in community: they began their work with prayer; they ate together; they had a code of laws and voluntary courts; they built schools and a chapel and supported a Minister; they had a Surgeon, they had benefits for sickness, retirement, disability and death. They were stout church and king men, rough but loyal. 'Crowley's Crew' would brook no outside interference with their rights and privileges. The success of the Crowley 'Experiment' and of Crowley's Courts became widely known.
The man at the head of the firm upon which these people depended was Ambrose Crowley, who was knighted in 1706, served as Sheriff of London in 1707 and was M.P. for Andover when he died in 1713.
This was the man who not only built up a great industrial concern, employing 1,500 men, but who also planned this 'experiment' and encouraged and assisted his workers in carrying it out, and we know that there is a direct connection between the Crowley Colony and Freemasonry in the North-East, although the documentary evidence to give absolute proof is not yet complete.
There is little doubt that there was an Operative Company at Sunderland in 1680 and at Winlaton in 1687, the members of which built the great works of Mr. Ambrose Crowley at Sunderland and Winlaton respectively and W.Bro. William Waples, after a great deal of research work, says of the Embleton MS, "I believe it was originally written for or by the Masons engaged by Crowley to build his ironworks at Sunderland in 1680". At Winlaton, in 1687, Ambrose Crowley started to build his new works, and began to move into them in 1689. (These works were closed in 1816, after which the greater portion of Crowley's manufactures was made at Swalwell and Winlaton Mill). Bro. Waples, speaking of the William Watson MS (which is dated 1687) asks "Did the famous William Watson MS, also come into existence to serve the 'constitutional' need of the Masonic Operative Lodge at Winlaton" and feels that there is enough evidence to make this a reasonable assumption. It is important to note all the works and houses of Crowley's 'Industrial Colony' were stone built.
The Lodge of Industry has documentary evidence of its existence as an Operative Lodge in the year 1725. The tradition in the Province of Durham is that it was established in 1690, and the Lodge has a pair of Columns bearing that date, but lacks the necessary documentary evidence. The Provincial Grand Lodge of Durham have in their Museum a Water Clock made in 1701 by L. Barton. This clock was purchased by the late Bro. Lord Ravensworth, P.G.M. of Durham from a dealer who stated that he bought it at Ryton-on-Tyne. Whilst it is not claimed that this clock ever belonged to the "Lodge at Swalwell", the probably origin of the clock is of special interest to Masons generally because of the proximity of Winlaton to Ryton and that it is the earliest bit of Masonic symbolism yet traced.
It may be that the establishment in this district, of a Lodge bearing the name Crowley, so closely associated with the history of Freemasonry in the North-East, will be of great assistance in perpetuating and emphasising the importance of these associations, and that it may be the means of gathering information and documents to close the gap between the years 1690 and 1725, which would be of such enormous value to freemasonry in the North-East and to the grand old Lodge of Industry in particular.

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