The Mark Degree is the third largest Degree in Freemasonry and is considered by those who are members of it to be “the fourth regular step in Freemasonry”.

The Mark Degree is one of encouragement and the ritual is built on a single verse from Psalm 118 “The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner” It deals with the building of King Solomon’s Temple and the various craftsmen employed. Its real message, however, is one of the contemplation of human strengths and weaknesses.

The degree contains many lessons for the discerning mason and illustrates that the wisest of men can be mistaken: that the experts are often wrong; that the weakest often display perseverance far better than the strongest and that we all have a part to play in the building of life. It is for each to put his own interpretation on the message that the degree proclaims, but there is a clear encouragement that no man is beyond redemption and that the possibility of distinction is always within our power.

The qualification for Advancement into the Mark Degree is that a brother has been raised as a Master Mason.

The Hungerford Mark Lodge no 1342 now meets at the Newbury Masonic Centre, Clarendon Gardens, London Road, Newbury on the second Tuesday in April (Installation), July and September. If you are thinking of joining a Mark Master Mason’s Lodge email their secretary.