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Article A PRE-HISTORIC BROTHER. Page 1 of 1
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A Pre-Historic Brother.
A PRE-HISTORIC BROTHER .
BY BBO . T . B . WHITEHEAD . THE question so ably and fully opened out by " Masonic Student " in the columns of The Freemason as to the pre-revival character of Freemasonry is of the deepest and Avidest interest , and every scraj > of information bearing on the Craft in the seventeenth century should be carefully preserved . Some time ago Bro . the Hon . W . T . Orcle-Powlettof Wensley Halltold me that he
, , had discovered in the churchyard at Wensley a monumental slab recording the death of a Freemason in 1689 . At my request he very kindly made a rubbing of the stone , a task of some difficulty , as the slab is leaning forward at a considerable angle , and the surface is much honeycombed by the weather . From this rubbing I have made a reduced sketch , which it may be worth your while to produce in the pages of the Magazine . The measurements of the stone are about two
feet six inches by two feet , ancl it is a curious circumstance that it faces west , or in an opposite direction to the rest of the stones . The reason for the interment of the dead with their faces to the east is well known . May not the western position in this case have reference to the direction in Avhich the Master Mason is supposed to go in search of that Avhich was lost ? The entry of the interment of Bro . Bowes occurs in the parish register , ancl the date on
the stone coincides Avith it . The North Riding of Yorkshire has long been a very old seat of Masonry , and at Richmond exists the Lennox Lodge , one of the oldest on the roll . Several lodges were , during the eighteenth century , from time to time Avarranted by the Grand Lodge of All England , ancl worked at North Riding centres , and it is not improbable that BoAvesif not made at Yorkwas made bYork
, , y Masons . The legend on the stone , " George Bowes , Free Mason , " is exceedingly curious , because it would seem to point to the fact either that the man was best known in his character of a "Freemason , " or that the singularl y terse inscription was placed on the stone at his own request . In either case it would imply that Bowes was a prominent man in the Soo ] ec 3 r , ancl something more than an operative mason .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Pre-Historic Brother.
A PRE-HISTORIC BROTHER .
BY BBO . T . B . WHITEHEAD . THE question so ably and fully opened out by " Masonic Student " in the columns of The Freemason as to the pre-revival character of Freemasonry is of the deepest and Avidest interest , and every scraj > of information bearing on the Craft in the seventeenth century should be carefully preserved . Some time ago Bro . the Hon . W . T . Orcle-Powlettof Wensley Halltold me that he
, , had discovered in the churchyard at Wensley a monumental slab recording the death of a Freemason in 1689 . At my request he very kindly made a rubbing of the stone , a task of some difficulty , as the slab is leaning forward at a considerable angle , and the surface is much honeycombed by the weather . From this rubbing I have made a reduced sketch , which it may be worth your while to produce in the pages of the Magazine . The measurements of the stone are about two
feet six inches by two feet , ancl it is a curious circumstance that it faces west , or in an opposite direction to the rest of the stones . The reason for the interment of the dead with their faces to the east is well known . May not the western position in this case have reference to the direction in Avhich the Master Mason is supposed to go in search of that Avhich was lost ? The entry of the interment of Bro . Bowes occurs in the parish register , ancl the date on
the stone coincides Avith it . The North Riding of Yorkshire has long been a very old seat of Masonry , and at Richmond exists the Lennox Lodge , one of the oldest on the roll . Several lodges were , during the eighteenth century , from time to time Avarranted by the Grand Lodge of All England , ancl worked at North Riding centres , and it is not improbable that BoAvesif not made at Yorkwas made bYork
, , y Masons . The legend on the stone , " George Bowes , Free Mason , " is exceedingly curious , because it would seem to point to the fact either that the man was best known in his character of a "Freemason , " or that the singularl y terse inscription was placed on the stone at his own request . In either case it would imply that Bowes was a prominent man in the Soo ] ec 3 r , ancl something more than an operative mason .