The Arcana of Freemasonry (1915) - The Masonic Trowel

20 THE ARCANA OF FREEMASONRY
The following extracts from an historical record
of the successful efforts made for the Union of
the Grand Lodges and the final establishment of
the United Grand Lodge of England in 1813 is
reprinted from The Freemason of 27th December,
1913, and will be of interest to readers of the
foregoing :—
St. John's Day in winter— the 27th December
— has always been recognized as the great Festival
of the Order of Freemasons. It was on this day,
a hundred years ago, that the Union of the several
Grand Lodges in England was consummated.
GRAND LODGES OF ENGLAND.
Formerly England had four Grand Lodges.
The oldest, and much the strongest, was founded
at the Apple Tree Tavern, Charles Street, Covent
Garden, London, in 17 17. Members of it traced
their origin to an assemblage of Freemasons by
King Athelstan at York, in a.d. 926. The Scotch
Lodges did not go back nearly so far. They
were content to claim descent from those foreign
Masons who came to their country in the twelfth
century to build the abbeys of Melrose, Holyrood,
and Kilwinning, and there is abundant
evidence that the Lodges of York and Kilwinning
were the parents of many Lodges founded in
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