Description: Lodge of Edinburgh, Mary's Chapel No.1. Origins and history of the oldest still extant Masonic Lodge.
edinburgh (1851) masonic (412) no 1 (17) scottish freemasonry (8) 1599 (3) hill street (2) lodge of edinburgh (1) marys chapel (1)
The Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's Chapel) enjoys an enviable position, not only within Scottish Freemasonry, but in the Craft throughout the world. Owing to the diligence of the Brethren who have served the Lodge in the capacity of Secretary and of the foresight of those Brethren who saw fit to safeguard our records, the Lodge has minutes reaching back to July 1599.
This is the oldest minute of a still-extant Lodge anywhere in the world and its contents reflect the wholly operative nature of the Lodge at that time. It was only with the introduction of the non-operative, or speculative masons in the seventeenth century that the Craft began to adopt the form we recognize today. In this respect the Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's Chapel) can also claim precedence with a minute of 1634 which records the admission of Lord Alexander, Sir Anthony Alexander and Sir Alexander Strach
With the admission of Speculative masons came a change of focus for the Order, and by the eighteenth century, the Grand Lodges began to be erected to guide and govern the Craft. The Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's Chapel) sent their representatives to the foundation of the Grand Lodge of Scotland in Edinburgh in 1736.