How and where did Freemasonry start?
It is not known. The earliest recorded ‘making’ of a Freemason in England is that of Elias Ashmole in 1646. Organised Freemasonry began with the founding of the Grand Lodge of England on 24th June 1717, the first Grand Lodge in the world. Ireland followed in 1725 and Scotland in 1736. All the regular Grand Lodges in the world trace themselves back to one or more of the Grand Lodges in the British Isles. There are two main theories of origin. According to one, the operative stonemasons who built the great cathedrals and castles had Lodges in which they discussed trade affairs. They had simple initiation ceremonies and, as there were no City and Guild certificates, dues cards or trade union membership cards, they adopted secret signs and words to demonstrate that they were trained Masons when they moved from site to site. In the 1600’s, these operative Lodges began to accept non-operatives as “gentlemen Masons”. Gradually these non-operatives took over the Lodges and turned them from ope
