Page 33 - Ashlar January - March 2025

N A L G R
I O
G E AND LODGE
The Ashlar R Vol. XIX Issue IV
Origins of Mark Masonry
by R.W.Bro.J.N.Choudhary, PDyGM, PDyRGM,
Recipient of 50 Years Long Term Sevice Jewel in Mark Degree.
It is well known that operative stone masons Goose and Gridiron Alehouse, St Pauls
indented the stones they had prepared with Church Yard, in the City of London in 1717 and
special marks. These were of two types, those this marked the start of organised
that indicated the orientation and position of Freemasonry. Because of disputes about
the stone within the building together with a certain practices and principles, a breakaway
personal mark to identify the mason who rival Grand Lodge was formed in 1751. The
prepared it. two Grand Lodges eventually reconciled their
Operative stone masonry, as a major trade, differences and the Act of Union was signed in
began to evolve in the early 11th century with 1813 when the present United Grand Lodge
the Saxon builders and intensified in the of England came into being. As to the ritual,
centuries following the Norman conquest. By we know (from early exposures) that a system
the 14th. century building had reached a scale of three Craft Degrees was well developed by
that required the trade to be regulated in its 1730 and that the Royal Arch emerged in the
customs and practices. The first regulatory 1740s. The first mention of a brother being
body was the Masons' Company, formed in made a Mark Mason was at a Lodge in
London sometime before 1375, later known Newcastle in January 1756, although earlier
as the London Masons' Company. It was references to a brother having "received his
granted a coat of arms in 1472. These arms mark' are known. But it is not clear from these
were later adopted by the first Grand Lodge records whether a degree ceremony was
soon after its foundation in 1717, and still form being worked.
one half of the arms of the present United The earliest records of a speculative Mark
Grand Lodge of England. degree being worked in England are those of
The earliest known document regulating the Royal Arch Chapter No 257 at Portsmouth on
trade is the Regius Manuscript of c.1390. 1 September 1769 when several brethren
These and later documents, now referred to were made Mark Masons and Mark Masters.
as the Old Charges, are the origins of the Note that in the earlier working the Mark Man
present charges found in the Craft Book of and Mark Master were performed as two
Constitutions, abbreviated forms of which are distinct degrees as opposed to the present
delivered to each new Mason and to the practice of the Mark Man forming no more
Master before his installation. than an introductory phase to the Mark Master
Although the origins of speculative Degree. It is also apparent from the earlier
Freemasonry are unclear, it is evident that it working that the Mark Man degree was
has borrowed heavily from the medieval conferred on Fellow Crafts and the Mark
operative stone masons' trade in a number of Master Degree on Master Masons.
respects - including the symbolism of working The early Mark Degrees were closely
tools and gauges in the Craft and other associated with the Royal Arch, as they still
Masonic Orders, and the use of marks in are in many parts of the world. Their
speculative Mark Masonry. The earliest development probably followed soon after
authenticated record of a man being made a that of the Royal Arch. Many different
truly speculative Mason - is that of Elias ceremonies were known to exist, parts of
Ashmole (founder of the Ashmolean Museum which would be recognisable to the present
at Oxford, among other things), who was day. It is also clear that the Mark Degrees
admitted to a Lodge in Warrington in 1646. were worked in Craft Lodges and in Royal
The first Grand Lodge was founded at the Arch Chapters up until 1813. The existence of

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