-
Articles/Ads
Article GUILD OF MASONS AT FAVERSHAM ABBEY. ← Page 2 of 2 Article GUILD OF MASONS AT FAVERSHAM ABBEY. Page 2 of 2 Article MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES. Page 1 of 3 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Guild Of Masons At Faversham Abbey.
the deed I mentioned , and with singular bad taste remarks , " readers are at a loss to know of what value it may be ; " next , he asks me if I will " condescend to give a reference . " NOAV this deed is among the archives of Faversham , and is well known to gentlemen of the town Avho take an
interest iu archaiology ; so that it seems a curious Avay of arriving at information , asking a stranger , residing fifty miles away , about a matter pretty Avell known in the locality of the inquirer . Next , this Avriter says , it strikes him " as extremely improbable that the monks of Faversham should keep
a 'guild of masons , ' unless a mason and his hodman were dignified with that title . " As no reason is given for this supposition , I have nothin g to say about it . After this , I am accused of exaggerating the number of houses belonging to the abbey ; this SIIOAVS me that the person Avho has
criticised my paper is unacquainted with the local histories . Jacob says the abbey possessed the rents of 342 messuages , Avhile the number of houses in the whole town two centuries after the dissolution was 460 ; alloAving for additions during this period , I am curious to learn by Avhat process
it can be demonstrated that my statement is hyperbolical . The concluding portion runs as folloAvs : — " But even if the number of houses wers so great , it should be remembered that they were chiefly of Avood , Avhere a mason would find little to do . " This reminds me of the Avriter Avho
discovered in a hurry that St . Joseph could not have been a carpenter , because in Palestine the houses are made of stone , so that St . Joseph Avas in reality a stonemason ! Now Avhen this Avriter speaks of Avoodeu houses Avhich do not exist , I will reply by pointing out houses existing in
Faversham , IIOAV as reasonable proof that he is in error . The steAvard ' s house stood on the Avest side of the court gate of the abbey - . this has disappeared , but on the opposite side there yet remains a house showing plainly of Avhat description the better sort were . The " Globe " inn
, and a few houses adjoining , also belonged to the monks ; I mi g ht Avith a little trouble mention others , but my list is enough . I will ask any of your readers who are acquainted with the p lace if the houses I have named could be described as Avooden ? The ordinary sort of mediteval houses Avere
pargetted , consequentl y they required a mason as much as if they Avere of stone . The historian I have mentioned , speaking of his own time , says the toAVn does not appear to have had any considerable additions since the suppression of the abbey , so that " a Mason and his hodman " could ,
according to my critic , have kept two-thirds of the houses in repair ; yet I am able to trace firms of builders AV ' IO employed several masons , and , I presume , several hodmen . I cannot see how this can be accounted for , except b y supposing . some little oversi ght has occurred / In conclusion , I beg to thank A . H . for his
Guild Of Masons At Faversham Abbey.
reply . I think the deed is correctly explained by him . I Avas rather cautious in Avhat I said , via ., that the expression workmen and masons " may " mean the guild . GEORGE BEDO ..
Masonic Notes And Queries.
MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .
LITEEAEY CONTEOVEBSY . A Metropolitan Brother thinks that in Literary Controversy ignorance and conceit may sometimes be endured , but that vulgarity is always intolerable . —A PAST PEOVINCIAL GEAND MASTEE . MUNICIPAIITIES AUD GUILDS .
Mr . James Ferguson says : — " Municipalities which are merely an enlargement of the Indian village system , exist wherever the Romans were settled , or Avhere the Aryan races exist in Europe ; and though guilds are fast losing their significance , it was the Teutonic guilds that alone checked and ultimately supplanted the feudal despotisms of the Celts . —W . P . B .
THE STUAKTS AND FEEEITASONEY . There is os yet no answer to my query at page 110 relative to Charles Edward and the Derbyshire Lodge . Is this pretended fact another delusion ? I fear the Derbyshire warrant has gone in search of the authentic (?) records of the French Ordre-du-Temple about
l 70 o , and may neA'er come back . Although before 1738 Catholics may have readily joined Masonic lodges , it became a different matter with them after that date ; so that so far as the Pope ' s bull is concerned there tvas a difference before that time . But to assertwithout the best of evideuce , thatin defiance
, , of this and former bulls , Charles Edward became , in 1745 , a Knight Templar , is a very bold assertion however , prove it to be a fact , and we shall admit it—¦ at present the idea is rather mythical . Then what real authority is there for stating that the Earl of Mar , about 1715 , was Grand Master of the Temple ?
This , and some other remarks on page 6 S , have a good deal of the imaginary about them—anything to fill up the hook and form a story . Those who uphold the existence of Masonic Knights Templar in the first quarter of the last century ought to be able to point to or produce some substantial proof of their
assertions , otherwise they are really worthless . Will Bro . Tarker say when Sir Ii . Steele Avas made "a Freemason of the York Rite ? " As to the quotation from the Taller—which , although not afac simile , ia tvith the exception of the Avant of the hyphen ( - ) in Freemasons , correct—I will see about it again . — "W \ P . BUCHAN .
AVOODEN CHURCHES IN THE TAVEDETH CENTURY . Bro . Buchan states that " in England in the llth century ninny Avooden churches AA'ere erected and magnificently decorated , and I believe they were not altogether superseded by stone in the 12 th . " But Bro . Buchan does not ive me the slihtest authority
g g or evidence in favour of such a statement . Indeed , it is well known to all those who have studied the history of ecclesiastical architecture , that after the Norman Conquest there is not the slightest
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Guild Of Masons At Faversham Abbey.
the deed I mentioned , and with singular bad taste remarks , " readers are at a loss to know of what value it may be ; " next , he asks me if I will " condescend to give a reference . " NOAV this deed is among the archives of Faversham , and is well known to gentlemen of the town Avho take an
interest iu archaiology ; so that it seems a curious Avay of arriving at information , asking a stranger , residing fifty miles away , about a matter pretty Avell known in the locality of the inquirer . Next , this Avriter says , it strikes him " as extremely improbable that the monks of Faversham should keep
a 'guild of masons , ' unless a mason and his hodman were dignified with that title . " As no reason is given for this supposition , I have nothin g to say about it . After this , I am accused of exaggerating the number of houses belonging to the abbey ; this SIIOAVS me that the person Avho has
criticised my paper is unacquainted with the local histories . Jacob says the abbey possessed the rents of 342 messuages , Avhile the number of houses in the whole town two centuries after the dissolution was 460 ; alloAving for additions during this period , I am curious to learn by Avhat process
it can be demonstrated that my statement is hyperbolical . The concluding portion runs as folloAvs : — " But even if the number of houses wers so great , it should be remembered that they were chiefly of Avood , Avhere a mason would find little to do . " This reminds me of the Avriter Avho
discovered in a hurry that St . Joseph could not have been a carpenter , because in Palestine the houses are made of stone , so that St . Joseph Avas in reality a stonemason ! Now Avhen this Avriter speaks of Avoodeu houses Avhich do not exist , I will reply by pointing out houses existing in
Faversham , IIOAV as reasonable proof that he is in error . The steAvard ' s house stood on the Avest side of the court gate of the abbey - . this has disappeared , but on the opposite side there yet remains a house showing plainly of Avhat description the better sort were . The " Globe " inn
, and a few houses adjoining , also belonged to the monks ; I mi g ht Avith a little trouble mention others , but my list is enough . I will ask any of your readers who are acquainted with the p lace if the houses I have named could be described as Avooden ? The ordinary sort of mediteval houses Avere
pargetted , consequentl y they required a mason as much as if they Avere of stone . The historian I have mentioned , speaking of his own time , says the toAVn does not appear to have had any considerable additions since the suppression of the abbey , so that " a Mason and his hodman " could ,
according to my critic , have kept two-thirds of the houses in repair ; yet I am able to trace firms of builders AV ' IO employed several masons , and , I presume , several hodmen . I cannot see how this can be accounted for , except b y supposing . some little oversi ght has occurred / In conclusion , I beg to thank A . H . for his
Guild Of Masons At Faversham Abbey.
reply . I think the deed is correctly explained by him . I Avas rather cautious in Avhat I said , via ., that the expression workmen and masons " may " mean the guild . GEORGE BEDO ..
Masonic Notes And Queries.
MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .
LITEEAEY CONTEOVEBSY . A Metropolitan Brother thinks that in Literary Controversy ignorance and conceit may sometimes be endured , but that vulgarity is always intolerable . —A PAST PEOVINCIAL GEAND MASTEE . MUNICIPAIITIES AUD GUILDS .
Mr . James Ferguson says : — " Municipalities which are merely an enlargement of the Indian village system , exist wherever the Romans were settled , or Avhere the Aryan races exist in Europe ; and though guilds are fast losing their significance , it was the Teutonic guilds that alone checked and ultimately supplanted the feudal despotisms of the Celts . —W . P . B .
THE STUAKTS AND FEEEITASONEY . There is os yet no answer to my query at page 110 relative to Charles Edward and the Derbyshire Lodge . Is this pretended fact another delusion ? I fear the Derbyshire warrant has gone in search of the authentic (?) records of the French Ordre-du-Temple about
l 70 o , and may neA'er come back . Although before 1738 Catholics may have readily joined Masonic lodges , it became a different matter with them after that date ; so that so far as the Pope ' s bull is concerned there tvas a difference before that time . But to assertwithout the best of evideuce , thatin defiance
, , of this and former bulls , Charles Edward became , in 1745 , a Knight Templar , is a very bold assertion however , prove it to be a fact , and we shall admit it—¦ at present the idea is rather mythical . Then what real authority is there for stating that the Earl of Mar , about 1715 , was Grand Master of the Temple ?
This , and some other remarks on page 6 S , have a good deal of the imaginary about them—anything to fill up the hook and form a story . Those who uphold the existence of Masonic Knights Templar in the first quarter of the last century ought to be able to point to or produce some substantial proof of their
assertions , otherwise they are really worthless . Will Bro . Tarker say when Sir Ii . Steele Avas made "a Freemason of the York Rite ? " As to the quotation from the Taller—which , although not afac simile , ia tvith the exception of the Avant of the hyphen ( - ) in Freemasons , correct—I will see about it again . — "W \ P . BUCHAN .
AVOODEN CHURCHES IN THE TAVEDETH CENTURY . Bro . Buchan states that " in England in the llth century ninny Avooden churches AA'ere erected and magnificently decorated , and I believe they were not altogether superseded by stone in the 12 th . " But Bro . Buchan does not ive me the slihtest authority
g g or evidence in favour of such a statement . Indeed , it is well known to all those who have studied the history of ecclesiastical architecture , that after the Norman Conquest there is not the slightest