Masonry In Northumberland.

of the lodge held 5 th July 1819 : " P . M . AVilliam Loraine proposed , 'That a committee of operative Masons be formed to conduct the working part of the ceremony of laying the foundation or corner stone of the clerical Jubilee School . ' " Northumberland , as everyone who has lived or travelled in it is quite aware , abounds in the ruins of more or less

magnificent baronial castles or keeps , built with peculiar cunning for the purposes of concealment and of defence . To mention a few , there is Alnwick Castle , the seat of the Dukes of Northumberland ; Ford Castle , where James 4 th of Scotland ' played Marc Antony with Lady Helen , while the Archbishop

of St . Andrews is romping with her daughter ; " Warkworth Castle , belonging to the Percies ; Prudhoe Casile , the Castle of Wark , and many others . Ford Castle was built , in 1287 , by Sir Wm . Heron , but totally reconstructed , in 1761 , by Sir John Delaval . It is evident

that there must be some error in this date , for in the transactions of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Northumberland , dated 15 th July , 18 35 , it is recorded , "that on going from Woofer ( to which Lodge , All Saints ' , No . 161 , a provincial visit was made ) , the Provincial Grand Registrar , Brother Jno .

Bell , went to the old town of Ford to make enquiry about the Delaval Lodge , No . 140 , which had been held there , he found in the hands of a joiner , named Burn ( one of the

IlliO . RALPH CAKIi , I' . I ' . C . W ., I'ltOV . < i . THUASURKli . surviving members ) , the warrant of the Lodge , dated 24 th January , 17 66 , granted by ' Kelly , ' Grand Master , with many other relics and books of the Lodge ; but the custodian would not show all he had . " Sic gloria iniiinii .

Now , it is more than probable that the lod ge was constituted at Ford for the repairs of the castle , which non-Masonic records assign to the date 1761 , but which should most likely be 1766 . Nothing further is known of this lodge , except that the last initiation took place in 1815 ,

the fee being three guineas . A very interesting incident in connection with Freemasonry in Northumberland is referred to b y Bro . John Strachan , K . C ., Grand Registrar of England , in his book on Northumbrian Masonry , on page thirty-three , where he says

that the Lodge of St . John Kilwinning , Haddington , claims to be an off-shoot of the Lodge of Wark , in Northumberland , A . D . 1599 . There is much controversy about this . There are no documentary proofs of a lodge being in existence at Wark at that date ; but we do know that very

extensive repairs of the immense castle there were completed about the year 1549 , so that it is highly probable that , according to custom , a lodge was constituted there by the master , named Archan , an Italian , who conducted the repairs at a cost of £ 186 4 16 s . 7 d .

there is another Wark on the Tweed , two miles from Coldstream , where the remains of an old castle exist , which was unsuccessfully besieged by the Scots in 1533 . It would therefore doubtless require much repairing about the time ,

liliO . . 1 . STHAKNH WILSON , l' . I ' . G . W .. I'llOV . ( J . D . C . which would allow for the lodge , doubtlessly opened there for that purpose , to send an off-shoot to Haddington . There are , however , no known means of satisfactorily deciding these various claims and suggestions .

Coming to the historical period of Masonry in the province , what a mass of interesting records present themselves from which to make selection . Doubtless Provincial Grand Lodges and Grand Lodges were evolved out of the lodges , and so the logical order would be to begin with the latter ; but to be logical is often to be uninteresting . Logic

into . FiiKD . 11 . coiinion , I'liov . <; . . SKCIIKTAHV . offers no pleasant little surprises , no hiatus here and there . It gives off a steady light , no diamond like flashes . If the illogical is not always brilliant , it is sometimes surprising , sometimes surprisingly dull . The records of Masonry , how-