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Article PBOVIUCIAL, ← Page 3 of 9 →
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Pboviucial,
* SOMERSETSHIRE . Appointments . — Lodge . —Friday , August 20 tb , Eural Philanthropic ( 367 ) , Highbridge , Huntspill , at 1 . Chapter . — Tuesday , 17 th , Eoyal Cumberland ( 48 ) , Masonic Hall , Bath , at 8 . LAYING THE FOUNDATION STOKE OF ST . MArVs , TAUNTON . The foundation stone of the new . -tower-of the parish church at Taunton , St . Mary Magdalene , was laid on Tuesday , August 3 rd , by the Right Worshipful Provincial Grand Master of Somerset . It is impossible to imagine a more imposing
ceremony . The morning was ushered in by the firing of the Sebastopol gun ( recently mounted ) in Viv & ry Park , and the bells of the neighbouring churches sent forth merry peals . The Lodge of Unanimity and Sincerity , No . 327 , assembled at eleven o ' clock on Tuesday morning , in the Grand Jury Room at the Shire Hall , ( the use of which had been kindly granted by the county magistrates ) , when the Lodge was opened , and the Grand Lodge proceeded to visit them at twelve . Among the Brethren were theR . W . Bro . Vernon , Prov . G . M ., Worcester ; H , Shute , Prov . G . M .
Bristol ; J . RTRandolph , D . Prov . G . M .,- of Somerset ; Dr . Falconer ( Mayor of Bath ) , Prov . G . Treasurer ; Major A . P . Browne , Prov . G . Secretary ( Avhose indefatigable and courteous services in connection With the entire proceedings have earned for him the Avarmest thanks of the Craft ); Dr . Pope , of Glastonbury ; H . Bridges , Highbridge ; the W . M . and officers of the Lodges of the province , with the Prov . G . Lodges of Dorset , Devon , and Bristol , the representatives-of the Grand Lodge at SAvitzerland , and many others whose names Ave could not ascertain—in all about three hundred . ^
In connection Avith the laying the first stone of the ugav tower , there is a coincidence somewhat singular and interesting . It is supposed by some of the most eminent antiquaries that the foundation-stone of the old tower was laid by the M . W . G . M . King Henry VII . If this supposition be correct , it is an extraordinary circumstance that a descendant of that monarch , the R . W . Prov . G . M . of Somerset —Colonel Charles Kemeys Kemeys Tynte—should , after a period of nearly four
hundred years , be the person selected to perform a ceremony so similar in every particular to the one before alluded to . The wide-world reputation Avhich , for centuries , Masonry has attained , and the moral influence which at all times and in all countries is enjoyed by its members , at once stamps its superiority over every other institution . On the present occasion , however , it must be a source of extreme gratification to this noble Order to know that the august ceremony of laying the foundation -stone on both occasions was entrusted to one of their Craft . As the
new tower is intended to be a / at ? simile of the old one , a description of its elegant style of architecture will doubtless be read with some interest . The old tower , Toulmin seems to think , was probably erected by King Henry the Seventh , as a reward for the Lancastrian party , in the civil wars between the two houses of York and Lancaster . Savage remarks ^ however , that it bears every character of having been erected about the latter end of the fourteenth , or beginning of the fifteenth century , which opinion , he says , is confirmed not only in the general
appearance of the tower , but also in its proportions , in its ornaments , and m all its parts , as compared with other structures Avell known to have been built during the period alluded to . That style which bears the name of the florid gothic , " was principally , if not always , confined to oratories , porches , and chapels , in our cathedral and collegiate churches . The principal specimens of this style now , are Henry the Seventh's Chapel in Westminster Abbey , Bishop Alcock ' s Chapel in Ely Cathedral , and St . George's Chapel , Windsor . There is certainly no parish church in the kingdom that exhibits a complete specimen of this style in all its parts . That
the tower of St . Mary Magdalene's Church had its origin about the time above mentioned , is farther confirmed from the circumstance that the manor of Taunton was always a favourite estate of the bishops of Winchester , whose property it is , in right of their episcopal see . Savage seems likewise to think that there is no doubt whatever that William of Wykeham , Bishop of Winchester , who was dis ^ tinguished for his skill iu architecture , was the founder of this tower some time between the years 1390 and 1400 , and that it was not only built under Ida auspices , but from a plan given by himself . The tower , as Avill be remembered , was a quadrangular structure , standing at tho ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Pboviucial,
* SOMERSETSHIRE . Appointments . — Lodge . —Friday , August 20 tb , Eural Philanthropic ( 367 ) , Highbridge , Huntspill , at 1 . Chapter . — Tuesday , 17 th , Eoyal Cumberland ( 48 ) , Masonic Hall , Bath , at 8 . LAYING THE FOUNDATION STOKE OF ST . MArVs , TAUNTON . The foundation stone of the new . -tower-of the parish church at Taunton , St . Mary Magdalene , was laid on Tuesday , August 3 rd , by the Right Worshipful Provincial Grand Master of Somerset . It is impossible to imagine a more imposing
ceremony . The morning was ushered in by the firing of the Sebastopol gun ( recently mounted ) in Viv & ry Park , and the bells of the neighbouring churches sent forth merry peals . The Lodge of Unanimity and Sincerity , No . 327 , assembled at eleven o ' clock on Tuesday morning , in the Grand Jury Room at the Shire Hall , ( the use of which had been kindly granted by the county magistrates ) , when the Lodge was opened , and the Grand Lodge proceeded to visit them at twelve . Among the Brethren were theR . W . Bro . Vernon , Prov . G . M ., Worcester ; H , Shute , Prov . G . M .
Bristol ; J . RTRandolph , D . Prov . G . M .,- of Somerset ; Dr . Falconer ( Mayor of Bath ) , Prov . G . Treasurer ; Major A . P . Browne , Prov . G . Secretary ( Avhose indefatigable and courteous services in connection With the entire proceedings have earned for him the Avarmest thanks of the Craft ); Dr . Pope , of Glastonbury ; H . Bridges , Highbridge ; the W . M . and officers of the Lodges of the province , with the Prov . G . Lodges of Dorset , Devon , and Bristol , the representatives-of the Grand Lodge at SAvitzerland , and many others whose names Ave could not ascertain—in all about three hundred . ^
In connection Avith the laying the first stone of the ugav tower , there is a coincidence somewhat singular and interesting . It is supposed by some of the most eminent antiquaries that the foundation-stone of the old tower was laid by the M . W . G . M . King Henry VII . If this supposition be correct , it is an extraordinary circumstance that a descendant of that monarch , the R . W . Prov . G . M . of Somerset —Colonel Charles Kemeys Kemeys Tynte—should , after a period of nearly four
hundred years , be the person selected to perform a ceremony so similar in every particular to the one before alluded to . The wide-world reputation Avhich , for centuries , Masonry has attained , and the moral influence which at all times and in all countries is enjoyed by its members , at once stamps its superiority over every other institution . On the present occasion , however , it must be a source of extreme gratification to this noble Order to know that the august ceremony of laying the foundation -stone on both occasions was entrusted to one of their Craft . As the
new tower is intended to be a / at ? simile of the old one , a description of its elegant style of architecture will doubtless be read with some interest . The old tower , Toulmin seems to think , was probably erected by King Henry the Seventh , as a reward for the Lancastrian party , in the civil wars between the two houses of York and Lancaster . Savage remarks ^ however , that it bears every character of having been erected about the latter end of the fourteenth , or beginning of the fifteenth century , which opinion , he says , is confirmed not only in the general
appearance of the tower , but also in its proportions , in its ornaments , and m all its parts , as compared with other structures Avell known to have been built during the period alluded to . That style which bears the name of the florid gothic , " was principally , if not always , confined to oratories , porches , and chapels , in our cathedral and collegiate churches . The principal specimens of this style now , are Henry the Seventh's Chapel in Westminster Abbey , Bishop Alcock ' s Chapel in Ely Cathedral , and St . George's Chapel , Windsor . There is certainly no parish church in the kingdom that exhibits a complete specimen of this style in all its parts . That
the tower of St . Mary Magdalene's Church had its origin about the time above mentioned , is farther confirmed from the circumstance that the manor of Taunton was always a favourite estate of the bishops of Winchester , whose property it is , in right of their episcopal see . Savage seems likewise to think that there is no doubt whatever that William of Wykeham , Bishop of Winchester , who was dis ^ tinguished for his skill iu architecture , was the founder of this tower some time between the years 1390 and 1400 , and that it was not only built under Ida auspices , but from a plan given by himself . The tower , as Avill be remembered , was a quadrangular structure , standing at tho ,