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Lodge Scoon and Perth No. 3. Over the past few months we have
looked at the history of some of the oldest Scottish Lodges. Continuing on that
theme, this month we feature a brief history of Lodge Scoon and Perth No. 3.
Though the earliest record of the Lodge dates from 1658, that record is one
which maintains that the Foundation of the Lodge took place in the year 1193.
Nor does this document claim that the Lodge of Scoon and Perth is the most
ancient Lodge in Scotland, but gives pride of place unhesitatingly to venerable
Mother Kilwinning. It is surely of interest here to note that it is because of
our records that the Lodge finds justification and support for her claim to be
the Mother Lodge of Scottish Freemasonry. The year 1193 takes us back into the
dark ages of Scottish history; to the building of the Abbey of Scoon, and
provides a reasonable conjecture for the erection of the Lodge. It is likely
that there was a close connection between operative Masonry and the early
monastic institutions which used and fostered the labours of the craft. In those
days the "religious" were patrons of all trades and crafts, and were
very frequently able exponents themselves of that industry, agriculture and
architecture which they used to civilise and Christianise our native land. The
practical association of prayer, labour, and charity, which are the marks of our
Masonic Orders springs also from this connection and in all probability many of
the old established Lodges owe their erection likewise to the building of some
great church or monastery. The Abbey of Scoon was founded in
1114 - 15 by Alexander 1 and it is our belief that the erection of the Lodge of
Scoon must have followed within a short time. Scoon was then and continued to be
a favourite royal residence and the site of the crowning of Scotland`s Kings. The neighbouring city of Perth
became the capital city and continued so until the middle of the fifteenth
century, and with the change of capital from Scoon to Perth, the Lodge of Scoon
would become that of Scoon and Perth, operating as it still does in both both
towns. The written records of the Lodge are
much bound up with the Crown and Court as befits the Lodge of the capital city.
The first Masters of the Lodge were also the Master Masons to the Crown, and it
is interesting to note that among the first Masters
of whom we have any record there is a noted ecclesiastic. John Mylne, was Master
Mason to James 111, being so appointed in 1481. His sons followed the Craft also
Alexander, the elder, a noted priest, ambassador and judge, became Master Mason
to James V. Robert, the younger, became Provost of Dundee and was charged with
building and repairing of the King`s Palaces of Falkland, Stirling and
Linlithgow. Robert`s son John was Master Mason
to Mary Queen of Scots, and in the years 1573-4 he repaired and built the arches
of the bridge over the Tay at Perth. He in turn was succeeded by his son, John,
as Master Mason to King James V1 of Scotland and I of England and by him, while
, while he was Master of the Lodge, the King was "entered Freemason and
Fellowcraft of the Lodge of Scoon". Other members of this distinguished
family followed their ancestors in the service of the Crown and the Lodge. In
those days the office of Master Mason seems to have been held for life, but this
does not exclude the possibility of there being other Masters of Scoon and Perth
of whom we have no record apart from the members of the Mylne family. The Union of Scotland and England
broke the connection of the city and the Lodge with the Crown;
and also with the Mylne family, who followed their Royal Master into his
new kingdom. John Mylne, son of John aforementioned,
was Master Mason to Charles I and Charles II. His nephew followed as Master
Mason to Charles 11 and continued to serve the Crown till his death in 1710. The next Master of whom we have any
record is James Roch, who followed John Mylne in 1658, and from this
date we have the oldest existing
record of the Lodge called
"The Mutual Agreement". This sets forth the history of the
Lodge as it was then known and details its laws. It is signed by the new Master,
his Warden, Andrew Norie, and by thirty eight Brethren.
Quite frequently it is stated that
Speculative Masonry is a comparatively recent development, but this is not borne
out by the records of our Lodge in the admission of the King, James V1 on 15th.
April 1601 , nor by the concluding words of the Mutual Agreement. If further
attestation of this is needed, it can be seen in Adamson`s Muses Threnodie,
which is a metrical account of the City of Perth and its neighbourhood,
published in 1638, where there is a reference to Rosicrucian Masonry, "For we be brethren of the
rosie cross, We have the mason word and the second sight". One of the signatories of the Mutual
Agreement was a Thomas Craigdillie, and while identification is not positive,
there was a Bailie of that name, a rather uncommon one, in the year 1675, only
seventeen years later. Now Craigdillie was a dyer to trade, and even the
supposition that the two are merely related, and not one and the same individual
does not mean that this Thomas was not a brother drawn to the craft because of
his admiration of those ideas which can be deduced from the contemplation of its
working tools. The first minute book of the Lodge
commences in 1725 and continues to 1777. The Master at the time was one Andrew
Norie (1725 - 27), doubtless descend from that Andrew Norie, who was Warden in
1658. The business of the meeting referred to was the Initiation of Mr. Patrick Stobie, one of the doctors of the Grammar School of Perth; David Miller, a Writer (that is , solicitor or notary) in the town; and Mr. Patrick Mill, a Flesher. These gentlemen, by their own request, were admitted entered apprentices and paid the ordinary dues of the Lodge. David Miller subsequently became the Clerk to the Lodge and so continued till his death in 1735.
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Copyright: Lodge St Bryde No 579 Revised: November 10, 2007 .
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