Sandy's Blog
The Loss of the Hammermen's Lodge
by Casagrandeblog - 17:35 on 18 August 2013
Cromarty Town Council didn’t just build new houses - like Townlands Park. It knocked lots of old ones down as well. And one fine building that is still missed by many is the Lodge - demolished by the Council in 1973. That’s it below, with its staircase to the upper floor, and fisherman John Merrick and his family seated outside. It filled the space at the east end of Rose and Well Lanes.
It had been built in the 1820s by the Wrights and Coopers Society - also known as the Hammermen. Cromarty had four such ‘Friendly Societies’ at that time. The Free Gardeners had more than 200 members and they built their lodge in 1830 - it’s now the Cromarty Arms. There was also the Cromarty Friendly Society. Their lodge, built around the same time, is now Speybank on the Braehead. And, of course, there was the Masonic Lodge. They were based originally in Bank Street - in what is now the Snooker Club.
In a pre-Welfare State age, these societies looked after members and their families fallen on hard times, as well as giving men an excuse to dress up in fancy costumes and take part in parades through the town. Taking into account Cromarty’s population at the time, David Alston has calculated that three out of every four working men were members of Friendly Societies.
Cromarty Town Council was not normally keen on conservation. When the County Council proposed making the Fishertown a conservation area in 1969, there was a public outcry against it - supported by the Town Council - and the County had to back down. Yet the Lodge was widely seen as worth preserving. The Town Council in the late 1960s wanted to buy it and restore it - for what purpose I don’t know - but never managed to achieve this.
Could it have been preserved? You can see it in the background of the 1940 flood photo below, and it looks pretty solid to me. Bellevue lay empty and abandoned in the 1960s, and the Retreat was in such a poor state in 1972 that the Council was considering a demolition order. In 1969 the Council got a written complaint from a holiday letter about the appalling condition of Albion House. Yet Bellevue, the Retreat and Albion House are all still with us. What a pity the Lodge has gone.
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