Time Immemorial Lodges

desire , had been " entered ffrieman , measone , and fellow craft , a circumstance which Bro . D . Crawford Smith—in his admirablywritten History of the Lodge ( 18 9 8)—thinks is entitled to our credit , and considers must have taken place in April , idoi . The Lodge of Glasgow . St . John for a long time claimed an

extraordinary antiquity , by virtue of a charter supposed to have been granted by Malcolm III ., King of Scots , so far back as the year 1057 . But the earliest authentic notice of the lodge occurs in a document bearing the date of 1620 , which refers to its existence in 1613 . It was a party to the St . Clair charter of

1628 , but did not join the Grand Lodge until 1850 , when it was enrolled under its present name and number ( 3 bis ) . Unlike other pre-18 th century lodges , its membership was exclusively Operative , and though doubtless giving the Mason Word to Entered Apprentices , none were recognised as members until

they had joined the Incorporation , which was composed of Mason Burgesses . The admission of non-Operatives did not take place until 1842 . A "Sketch of the Incorporation of Masons and the Lodge of Glasgow St . John " has been written by liro . James Cruikshank ( 1870 ) .

Old Kilwinning St . John , No . 6 , is sakl to be the oldest of the "Kilwinning" Lodges , and to date from 16 7 8 , which seniority has been confirmed by the Grand Lodge . An excellent sketch of its career will be found in Bro . A . Ross ' s" Freemasonry in Inverness" ( 1877 ) .

Hamilton Kilwinning , No . 7 , has already been referred to Of its history very , little is known , but ii is considered to dati from 16 95 . The period of origin and the date of its chartei

from the Grand Lodge , of the other Hamilton Kilwinning , ong No . 16 4 ( which , and not present No . 7 , Laurie thinks was re pro sented at the formation of the Grand Lodge ) , are alike unknown It was " cut off" the roll in 1800 .

Dunblane St . John , No . 9 , possesses records from 16 9 6 , at which date Viscount Strathalan was the Master . The following entry appears in the minutes of December 27 th , 1720 : "

Compeared John Gillespie , writer in Dunblane , who was entered on the 24 instant , and after examination was duely passt from the Square to the Compass , and from an Entered Prentice to a Fellow -of Craft . "

Commissions were issued by the Lodge of Dunblane authorising tin : entry , elsewhere than in the lodge , " of gentlemen or other persons of entire credit and reputation , living at a distance from the town " —brethren holding such

licences being instructed to " have present with them such members of this lodge as cm be conveniently got , or , in case ol necessity , to borrow from another lodge' as many as shall make a quorum without any more . "

No . 9 ( as we also learn from Bro . D . M . Lyon ) , 15 years after it had joined the Grand Lodge ( which took p lace in 1741 , and not as erroneously staled above , in 1700 ) , constituted a number of affiliated brethren into a branch lodge , much in the same way that Canongatc Kilwinning , No . 2 , had been raiseel to that position . This circumstance occurred in 175 6 .

Torpichen Killwinning , No . 13 , ranks under a " constitution applied for as a kind of warrant of confirmation from Mother Kilwinning in 1728 . But on joining the Grand Lodge in 1737 , it again obtained the recognition of Kilwinning , em the ground of having once accepted " a charter of erection , of a very ancient date , " from lhat source .

St . John , Dunkelel , No . 14 ; Montrose , Kilwinning , No . 15 ; and St . John , Falkirk , No . 16 , were in existence ( according to an extract from the Records of the Grand Lodge , 174 8 ) in 1726 . The hist named ( dormant 183 S , revived 1863 ) was the lodge

which recommended the petition of St . Andrew , Boston , Massachusetts , for a charter from the Grand Lodge ol Scotland , from whom it first held . A history of No . id , by Bro . Thomas Johnston , was published in ( 88 7 .

Ancient Brazen , Ne > . 17 , which was present at the erection of Grand Lodge , and is shown in the sixteenth p lace-, on the mil eif lodges givem in Lawrie- ' s History ( 1804 ) , never-had a numb <; r al all until the- pn-ci-deiicy of all the Scottish lodges was

readjnsted and new numbers issued—alter the healing of the Kilwinning Schism—in iNib . Its present position on the roll was only ensured bv an entry in the minutes eif No . 1 , showing that it visited the Lodge of Edinburgh about the year 1653 .

The earliest records of St . John , Lesmahagow , No . 20 , go back to 1716 , and those of the Lodge at Dunse , No . 23 , to 1728 . William , fourth Earl of Kilmarnock ( executed in 174 6 ) , was

the first Master of St . John Kilwinning , Kilmarnock , No . 22 , and lie held the same of / ice in the Lodge of Falkirk , No . id , and Mother Kilwinning , when in November , 1742 , he- was e-lecled Grand Master Mason of Scotlantl .

Peebles Kilwinning , No . 24 , was at work in 1716 . fl observeel many ancient customs long after they hatl ilisappearcel from the oilier lodges , such as holding an annual trial ejf the Appreutie : es and Fellow Crafts , appointing inlenelers ( or in-

Time Immemorial Lodges

structors ) , and engaging in prayer at the opening ceremony with the special object of ensuing strict impartiality in the transaction of business — otherwise called " Fencing the Lodge . " Sketches of No . 24 , have appeared from the pens of Bros Robert Saunderson ( "Scottish Freemason , and "Masonic Magazine" ) , and W . F . Vernon ( 1893 ) .

St . Andrew , St . Andrew ' s , and St . John , Dunfermline , Nos . 25 and 26 , are , in all probability , identical with the " Lodge of Dumfcrling , " and " Sanct Androis , " parties to the St . Clair Charter of 1601 . If this be so , the latter , without doubt , must also have been present at the Convention of St . Andrew ' s in the

previous year . Glasgow St . Mungo , No . 27 , originally held its Charter from the Lodge Glasgow St . John , which being an Operative Lodge , and connected with the Incorporated Masons of Glasgow , refused to enter Speculative Masons , but granted a

Charter to St . Mungo , as a Speculative Lodge . It afterwardsabout 1728 or 1729—obtained a second charter from Mother Kilwinning , under the name of " St . John Kilwinning , Kirk of Glasgow St . Mungo Lodge . "

Ancient Stirling , No . 30 , claims a venerable antiquity , as representing the body of Masons who were engaged in the construction of Cambus-Kenneth Abbey , founded by David I ., in

11-47-Passing , however , from tradition , No . 30 may be identical with the " Third Lodge ; ol Scotland , " referred to in the Schaw Statutes of 1 599 , as we-11 as with " The Ludge of Stirlinge , "

one of the parties lo the St . Clair Charter of if ) 28 . A most interesting account of this lodge was given by Bro . W . J . Hughan in the columns of Ars On at nor Corona for 11 in ( VI ., 10 S-112 ) .

How long St . John , Selkirk , No . 32 , had existed before 1736 the- historian of the Ieielge , Bro . W . F . Vernon ( 1893 ) , was unable- to determine , but he gave the approximate elate of 1701 . It was dormant from 18 49 to 1 S 64 . Very little is known of St John , Falkland , No . 35 , but there is little or any doubt that it was at work prior to 1 73 6 .

Tin- Lodge of Dundee , present at the inauguration of the Grand Lodge-, may have- been , and probably was , identical with the- body of the same name , represented at the : Convention of St . Andrew ' s in idoo , which was also apparently a party to the St . Clair Charter eif 1628 . But whether the ; lodge which

attended the meeting at Edinburgh , m 173 d , is present No . 47 or present 49 , there would seem some elifliculty in determining . According to Laurie ( 1859 ) the Lodge " Dundee , " party to the St . Clair Charter of 1628 , and a founder of the Grand Lodge in

173 d , " is supposed to have been the Ancient Operative , No . 47 , which asserts a traditional antiquity of more than a thousand years . It also claims as one of its ancient Masters David , Earl e > f Huntingdon , to whom is ascribed the erection of a fine old cathedral , which was partly destroyed by fire in 1 S 41 . "

As will be seen , however , both lodges—4 7 and 49—have received warrants of confirmation , bearing the date of 1745 , and in the charter e ) f No . 49 , precisely the same traditional antiquity , with all its details , is recited , which [ as we learn from Laurie ] , has he-en advanced on the part of No . 47 !

1 he minutes of St . Andrew , Banff , No . 52 , extend back to i 703 . There is a tradition lhat in the early days of its existence it used lo meet in the Clay-holes , on a cliff near Banff . The lodge was " cut oil" in 18 37 , ' t ' ias s ' nce been restored ( after what interval I know not ) lo its former position on the roll .

According le > the ; " History of the Olel Lodge of Dumfries Kilwinning , Ne > . 53 , " by Bro . James Smith ( 1892 ) , the year 575 ls assigned as the date of its supposed origin . The minutes begin in 1 ( 18 7 . After 1 H 47 the lodge sank into a slumber , ( wm which it did not awake until 18 74 .

1 he oldest rejceirel in possession e ) f St . John Kilwinning , No . 57 ( according to Laurie ) , is dated 1 599 , which Sl ^ forth that a lodge was opened in Gullane Church ( now in ruins ) , upwards

of seven miles from Haddington , probably for the initiation ol candidates , as later minutes elischise- that the lodge was frequc-ntly opened feir that purpose in the parish church ol lladdinirlon .

It has also been asserte-tl ( and I believe remains a tradition of ( lie- lodge ) , that it was an offshoot of the "Lodge of Wark , ' iu Northumberland , about the same year ( 150 , 9 ) , as that in which il was assigned ( by the younger Laurie ) a habitation at Gullane .

No . 57 was a party to the St . Clair Charter of idoi , and Lyon informs us that the elate- of the oldest Masonic MS . possessed by the lodge ; is 16 S 2 , and that of its earliest existing minute , December 2 dth , 1713 .

The re-cords of the Lodge of Kelso , No . 5 8 , begin with the year 171 > 1 , and its story has been twice admirably relaleiel by tin Lid- Bro . \ V . F . Vernon , on the las ( occasion in his " History " Free-masonry in the Province of Roxburgh , Peebles , ami Selkirkshire- " ( 181 ^ 3 ) . In the same volume will be found sketches of the Loelges of Melrose-, Peebles Kilwinning , and