(by Ian Scott, The Falkirk Herald, 24th Aug 2023)
Although I am not a ‘brother of the mystic tie’ as Robert Burns described his fellow masons, the annual celebrations in his honour have brought me at different times to every masonic lodge in Falkirk district. If my arithmetic is correct there are nine of them, each full of interesting architectural features and symbols of the craft and each with a different name and number which tells us when they were registered with the Grand Lodge of Scotland. Today the craft has a much less formal public role than it once did but the charitable work and social activities continue and still play a significant part in the life of our communities.
Of course the Masonic Order likes to trace its origins to Biblical times and the men who built Solomon’s temple, but the modern form dates only to the 17th century. The first Falkirk Lodge was formed sometime before 1736 when it was given the number 14. One of the first masters was the infamous Earl of Kilmarnock who…
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