The formation of the first Grand Lodge in London in 1717 marks the beginning of the Modern (or “Speculative") era of Freemasonry, when members were no longer limited to actual working stonemasons. These “Accepted” Masons adopted more enlightened philosophies, and turned what was a tradesmen’s organization into a fraternity for moral edification, intellectual recitation, benevolent service, and gentlemanly socialization.

Hi all,

i am a brethren of Mother Kilwinning “No 0” in Scotland UK.  I was reading on the homepage of “ask a freemason” about the history of freemasonary and read the above remark.  I have always known of the history of my own beloved lodge was much older than the above London lodge and wondered if anyone agreed with me that masonic Lodges was in Scotland when french templars came over to build abbeys around the 1100’s.  We have minutes of every meeting since 1642, and we uncovered a minute of a meeting from just the turn of the 1600’s. We were a Grand Lodge before the grand lodge of edinburgh was set up in 1736.  So if anyone wants to check this out, feel free.  I’m sure i’m not wrong.

Hi Stew, you’re posting a bit far afield.

What you say has some truth but it is not entirely accurate. Mother Kilwinning didn’ actually call itself a “Grand Lodge” and in fact the Grand Lodge of London and Westminster (later known as the “Moderns” or “Premier") formed on June 24th 1717 was the very first Masonic grouping to call itself a Grand Lodge hence the statement that you started with.

The membership of MK never even thought of calling itself such a thing until the Scottish Freemasons decided to form a Grand Lodge of their own in 1736. That is when the arguments started but that is a piece of Scottish Masonic history that you, I’m sure, are well familiar with. I think what you meant to write was that MK was “warranting” or “chartering” daughter Lodges before this time.

You are however quite right that there was Freemasonry before there were Grand Lodges, in Scotland, England and Ireland in fact. In England we know that Elias Ashmole was Initaited into a Lodge of speculative (not Operative) Freemasons in 1646, we also know that Sir Christopher Wren was a speculative Freemason. Then of course we also have the Masonic Legend that puts the genesis of English Masonry in 926 AD with King Athelstan our first royal patron.

Mike

For an examination of pre-1717 Masonic theory and possible historic foundations, check out the book The Temple and the Lodge. It draws extremely good, if long-winded connections between the Templars and Freemasonry as well as pre-1717 Freemasonry in Scotland.