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BACK NEXT Issue 53 Letter from the Editor Grand Secretary's Column Grand Lodge News Grand Lodge Speeches Grand Chapter Speeches Grand Chapter Convocation Grand Chapter News News and Views On The Level Masonic Education International News Freemasonry's Dream The Beautiful Game Honourable to the Builder Singapore and Freemasonry An Argonaut - A Journeyman Hermes 'The Philosopher' Celebrating Wives and Friends A Frog in a Beer Mug Review: Researching British Freemasonry Review: The Portfolio of Villard De Honnecourt Review: Nightfighter Navigator Review: Belief and Brotherhood Letters to the Editor Library & Museum of Freemasonry Grand Lodge: Board of General Purposes Grand Charity Masonic Samaritan Fund RMBI RMTGB Revealing Our Craft Copyright 1997-2010 Grand Lodge Publications Ltd Designed and Maintained by: Cyberpoint

FREEMASONRY TODAY Masonic Centres A Masonic Temple in West London? In the leafy suburbs of west London stands one of England’s finest architectural edifices, Chiswick House. It is a beautifully proportioned Italianate villa executed in the style of the late-renaissance architect, Andrea Palladio. Built during the second-half of the 1720s by the Anglo-Irish peer, Lord Burlington, it is an enigma. Most commentators consider it too small to have been designed as a place of residence and yet, curiously ... Bath and the 'Lost' Furniture It was at a chance encounter late last year with the Assistant Grand Master, David Williamson, that the extraordinary Masonic Hall – the converted Theatre Royal - in Old Orchard Street, Bath, was pointed out to me. Bath is a University City and David Williamson’s interest is in the contacts between University students throughout the country and local masonic authorities. The Masonic Hall at Bath will certainly make an exceptional venue ... Ghosts, Manacles and the Noose On the edge of the City of London, near to Smithfield meat market, stands a reminder of England's grim past: the Middlesex Sessions House. From here convicted criminals were sentenced to death - there is a condemned cell in the building used as a linen cupboard - transported to Australia and much else that befell enemies of society in those days. Today it is home to 230 London lodges, 70 Chapters, 160 Lodges of Instruction and other degrees and is known as the London Masonic Centre. It even has its own website at www.london-lodges.org/clerkenwell ... Is this the Oldest Masonic Hall? What is believed to be the oldest building still used as a Masonic Hall, The Old Duchy Palace in Lostwithiel in Cornwall has always been referred to as a palace, although it was never any such thing. It is now the home of Restormel Lodge No 856. It is said to have been built as a replica of the Great Hall of Westminster – or Palace of Westminster – the parliament buildings in those days, circa 1265-1300. The Dukes and Earls of Cornwall, who were of Royal blood, had their residence at Restormel Castle near Lostwithiel, so the correct name for the place would have been ... Bristol's Uniqueness Bristol is unique in that it is the only Province within the English Constitution that is a City, and the ceremonies are unique, and all the degrees meet in one building. Freemasons’ Hall was built for the Bristol Philosophical Society in 1820 and cost more than £14,000. In 1871, local Freemasons, who had been seeking larger premises, offered to buy it for £5,500. The society decided to go to auction and the building was purchased for £5,950. A mortgage was raised at 4% for £4,000 and this was paid off in the following year ... Fit for a Queen The connection between the Lovekyn Chantry Chapel in the Province of Surrey, Kingston Grammar School and Lovekyn Chantry Lodge No. 6807 goes back 691 years. On 11 January 1309 Edward Lovekyn, Bailiff of the Borough, received Letters Patent from King Edward II to found a Chantry chapel. A few months later the licence of the Bishop of Winchester was granted, and in 1310 the chapel was consecrated and the first Chaplain installed. Edward died a few months later, and through misappropriation of the endowments by his son Robert, the chapel fell into decay ... The Cloisters, Letchworth In 1907, when Sir Ebenezer Howard’s dream of a first Garden City was in embryo, an eminent Quaker lady from London with a Quaker’s social conscience came to Letchworth. This was Miss Annie Jane Lawrence, the daughter of Mary and Alfred Lawrence whose prosperous forebears had all distinguished themselves by social and civic deeds - one becoming Lord Mayor of London, another being instrumental in the formation of the City and Guilds Institute. Alfred Lawrence himself, a staunch upholder of responsibility to the poor and needy, died young of consumption ... The Horn Tavern The original site of the Horn Tavern (also known as the Horn Coffee House) was at Doctor’s Commons, 10 Godliman Street, off Carter Lane on the south side of St Paul’s Churchyard. The origin of the name is unclear. Larwood and Hotten’s History of Signboards tells us that the bugle horn occurs on traders’ tokens as early as 1667, and could be seen on many roadside inns during and after the good old coaching times, when the guard on the mail coach used to announce his arrival with a cheerful tune. Larwood and Hottten also inform us that the Horn was ... Protecting the Family Jewels Those old stone masons could not have imagined what they were starting four or more centuries ago; they met in rude and dusty huts close to the college, cathedral or cloister at which their particular skills were needed. The ‘lodges’, precursors to the portacabin, were probably despatched to the bonfire once the masons had earned honest maintenance; but within them were established codes of conduct and a sign language that were the foundation stones of the ethical movement that was to become Freemasonry. The aprons and tools of their trade had not yet ... Where Masons Met: Leeds The people are warm and friendly, the food is good, the beer is excellent and the place is as bright as a button, but Leeds in a thunderstorm might not be top of everyone’s priorities. However, on the day I met proud Yorkshireman Jim Reddyhoff, the world, in spite of the drenching, became a brighter place. A Past Master of the Leeds and District Lodge of Installed Masters, Past Master of Leeds’ Fidelity Lodge, Honorary Librarian of the Yorkshire West Riding Province, and a member of Quatuor Coronati Lodge of Research, Jim celebrated 52 years ... The London Coffee House Built on the site of the Old Ludgate Prison on Ludgate Hill (Lud was, appropriately, the Celtic god of Light), the London Coffee House stood on the left when facing S.Paul’s Cathedral. Opening its doors during the reign of King George II, its proprietor issued the following advertisement in May 1731 : Whereas, it is customary for Coffee Houses and other Public-Houses, to take 8s, for a quart of Arrack, and 6s for a quart of Brandy or Rum, made into Punch : This is to give notice That James Ashley Has opened, on Ludgate Hill, The London Coffee House ...   Masonic Centres © Grand Lodge Publications Ltd 1997-2010