Freemasonry: The Naked Truth

Becoming a Freemason in Bangor

Becoming a Freemason

The Masonic lodge is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. The Lodge meets regularly and conducts the usual formal business of any small organisation (approve minutes, elect new members, appoint officers and take their reports, consider correspondence, bills and annual accounts, organise social and charitable events, etc.). In addition to such business, the meeting may perform a ceremony to confer a Masonic degree or receive a lecture, which is usually on some aspect of Masonic history or ritual. At the conclusion of the meeting, the Lodge may hold a formal dinner, or festive board, sometimes involving toasting and song.

The bulk of Masonic ritual consists of degree ceremonies conferred in meetings guarded by a "Tyler" outside the door with a drawn sword to keep out unqualified intruders to Masonry. (This officer, the Tyler, is necessarily senior because at the door he may hear the highest degree ceremonies, and often a less affluent elderly Mason is offered the office to relieve his need for Masonic company, refreshments and/or fees, without having to pay a subscription. He takes minor parts at the door of all meetings and ceremonies.) Candidates for Freemasonry are progressively initiated into Freemasonry, first in the degree of Entered Apprentice. At some later time, in separate ceremonies, they will be passed to the degree of Fellowcraft; and then raised to the degree of Master Mason. In each of these ceremonies, the candidate must first take the new obligations of the degree, and is then entrusted with secret knowledge including passwords, signs and grips (secret handshakes) confined to his new rank.

Another ceremony is the annual installation of the Master of the Lodge and his appointed or elected officers. In some jurisdictions an Installed Master elected, obligated and invested to preside over a Lodge, is valued as a separate rank with its own secrets and distinctive title and attributes; after each full year in the Chair the Master invests his elected successor and becomes a Past Master with privileges in the Lodge and Grand Lodge. In other jurisdictions, the grade is not recognised, and no inner ceremony conveys new secrets during the installation of a new Master of the Lodge.

Most Lodges have some sort of social functions, allowing members, their partners and non-Masonic guests to meet openly. Often coupled with these events is the discharge of every Mason's and Lodge's collective obligation to contribute to charity. This occurs at many levels, including in annual dues, subscriptions, fundraising events, Lodges and Grand Lodges. Masons and their charities contribute for the relief of need in many fields, such as education, health and old age.

Private Lodges form the backbone of Freemasonry, with the sole right to elect their own candidates for initiation as Masons or admission as joining Masons, and sometimes with exclusive rights over residents local to their premises. There are non-local Lodges where Masons meet for wider or narrower purposes, such or in association with some hobby, sport, Masonic research, business, profession, regiment or college. The rank of Master Mason also entitles a Freemason to explore Masonry further through other degrees, administered separately from the basic Craft or "Blue Lodge" degrees described here, but generally having a similar structure and meetings.

There is much diversity and little consistency in Freemasonry, because each Masonic jurisdiction is independent and sets its own rules and procedures while Grand Lodges have limited jurisdiction over their constituent member Lodges, which are ultimately private clubs. The wording of the ritual, the number of officers present, the layout of the meeting room, etc. varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

The earliest masonic texts each contain some sort of a history of the craft of Masonry. The oldest known work of this type, The Halliwell Manuscript, also known as Regius Poem, dates from between 1390 and 1425. This document has a brief history in its introduction, stating that the "craft of Masonry" began with Euclid in Egypt, and came to England in the reign of King Athelstan (born about 894, died 27 October 939). Shortly afterwards, the Cooke Manuscript traces Masonry to Jabal, son of Lamech (Genesis 4: 20–22), and tells how this knowledge came to Euclid, from him to the Children of Israel (while they were in Egypt), and so on through an elaborate path to Athelstan. This myth formed the basis for subsequent manuscript constitutions, all tracing Masonry back to biblical times, and fixing its institutional establishment in England during the reign of Athelstan (927–939).

Shortly after the formation of the Premier Grand Lodge of England, James Anderson was commissioned to digest these "Gothic Constitutions" in a palatable, modern form. The resulting constitutions are prefaced by a history more extensive than any before, again tracing the history of what was now Freemasonry back to biblical roots, again forging Euclid into the chain. True to his material, Anderson fixes the first grand assembly of English Masons at York, under Athelstan's son, Edwin, who is otherwise unknown to history. Expanded, revised, and republished, Anderson's 1738 constitutions listed the Grand Masters since Augustine of Canterbury, listed as Austin the Monk. William Preston's Illustrations of Freemasonry enlarged and expanded on this masonic creation myth.

In France, the 1737 lecture of Chevalier Ramsay added the crusaders to the lineage. He maintained that Crusader Masons had revived the craft with secrets recovered in the Holy Land, under the patronage of the Knights Hospitaller. At this point, the history of the craft in Continental Freemasonry diverged from that in England.

Bangor (About this soundlisten)) is a cathedral city and community in Gwynedd, northwest Wales. It is the oldest city in Wales. Historically part of Caernarfonshire, it has a population of 16,358 as of the 2011 census. The urban area which extends from the community boundaries had a population of around 18,000. The origins of the city date back to the founding of a monastic establishment on the site of Bangor Cathedral by the Celtic saint Deiniol in the early 6th century AD. Bangor itself is an old Welsh word for a wattled enclosure, such as the one that originally surrounded the cathedral site. The present cathedral is a somewhat more recent building and has been extensively modified throughout the centuries. While the building itself is not the oldest, and certainly not the biggest, the bishopric of Bangor is one of the oldest in the UK.

In 973, Iago, ruler of the Kingdom of Gwynedd, was usurped by Hywel, and requested help from Edgar, King of England, to restore his position. Edgar, with an army went to Bangor, and encouraged both Iago and Hywel to share the leadership of the realm. Asserting overall control however, Edgar confirmed liberties and endowments of the Bishop of Bangor, granting land and gifts. From 1284 until the 15th century, Bangor bishops were granted several charters permitting them to hold fairs and govern the settlement, later ones also confirming them as Lord of the Manor.

Bangor remained a small settlement until the start of the 18th century, when a political desire to enhance communications between England and Ireland via the London-Holyhead-Dublin corridor saw it designated as a post town in 1718. Growth was spurred by slate mining at nearby Bethesda, beginning in the 1770s by Richard Pennant, becoming one of the largest slate quarries in the world. The route between London and Holyhead was much improved by Thomas Telford building the A5 road, which runs through the centre of the city and over the Menai Suspension Bridge which was also completed by him in 1826. Bangor railway station opened in 1848.

A parliamentary borough was created in 1832 for Bangor, becoming a contributing Caernarfon out borough as its status grew due to further industry such as shipbuilding as well as travel, not just from Telford's road, but through tourism mainly from Liverpool via steamboat. It was also an ancient borough from earlier privileges granted to Bangor in medieval times, but an 1835 government report investigating municipal corporations concluded that this status was defunct and in name only. The borough was reformed in 1883 into a municipal borough. Bangor has been unique outside of England in using the title of 'city' by ancient prescriptive right, due to its long-standing cathedral and past privileges having been granted making it a borough. In 1927 a government list was drawn up detailing which settlements were cities, with Bangor being included as the only medieval Welsh city with extant rights. However, city status was reaffirmed by the Queen in 1974 to the newly created community council area with new letters patent after local government reorganisation. By means of various measures, it also is one of the smallest cities in the UK. Using 2011 statistics, comparing Bangor to:

Population of city council areas in Wales, is third (16,358 residents) with St Davids (1,841) and St Asaph (3,355)

City council area size within Wales, is the second smallest city (2.79 square miles (7.2 km2)) behind St Asaph (2.49 square miles (6.4 km2))

Urban areas within Wales, is third placed (1.65 square miles (4.3 km2)) behind St Davids (0.23 square miles (0.60 km2)) and St Asaph (0.50 square miles (1.3 km2))

City council area size within the UK, is fourth after the City of London (1.12 square miles (2.9 km2)), Wells and St Asaph

Urban areas within the UK, is fifth placed

Population of city council areas within the UK, is sixth.

Population    16,358 (2011 census)

Demonym     Bangorian

OS grid reference    SH580722

• Cardiff         184 miles (296 km)

• London       258 miles (415 km)

Community  

Bangor

Principal area         

Gwynedd

Ceremonial county

Gwynedd

Becoming a Freemason in Wales

Becoming a Freemason in United Kingdom

Post town      BANGOR

Postcode district      LL57

Dialling code            01248

Police North Wales

Fire     North Wales

Ambulance   Welsh

UK Parliament        

Arfon

Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament      

Arfon