Possible Templar symbols can be found on panels 3, 5, but also 2. The most notable candidates are.
“In Hoc Signo” (‘in this sign’) is still motto of Templar Masonry. The cross is either a Templar or a Maltese cross, which would both suggest Templar Masonry.
Then we have perhaps a less obvious one, but I have to point to the fact that both triangles of this hourglass, have 12 candles, just like the popular image in contemporary Templar Masonry. The candles (nowadays) refer to the 12 apostles.
Even though Day sees Templar symbols on panel 5, I see better candidates here.
The three arches can be either Ark Mariner or Red Cross, but Jeremy Cross also has a similar bridge in his The Templar’s Chart of Hieroglyphic Monitor (1821).
More curious I find this symbol (from the same book):
Also the Paschal Lamb is still a symbol in Templar Masonry today. Of course the examples are from much, much later than the creation of the Kirkwall Scroll, but I have to work with what I have.
The Kirkwall lodge is called “Kirkwall Kilwinning Lodge”. It was founded in 1736 just before the founding of the Grand Lodge of Scotland. So did the lodge start without a charter, or was it chartered by another organisation?
The website of the lodge simply says: “Our Lodge Charter of 1740”. (1) Craven (see literature) gives a quote saying that: “John Berrihill, free Meason from the antient Ludge of Stirline, and Wm. Meldrum, from the Lodge of Dumfermline” and continues in his own words: “founded [the lodge] on the 1st day of October, 1736.” He says nothing about a possible earlier charter than 1740.
The website of Lodge Mother Kilwinning says (2):
Before the formation of Grand Lodge Mother Kilwinning was a Grand Lodge in her own right, issuing warrants and charters to Lodges wishing to enjoy the privileges of Freemasonry. Many Lodges still carry the name of Kilwinning to this day, but Scotland being a small country it was undesirable to have two Grand Lodges.
Thus suggesting that the Kirkwall lodge was founded from Kilwinning. The quoted text comes right after the paragraph title “Kilwinning Chapter 1771”, which seems to suggest that Kilwinning granted charges until 1771. Belton and Dachez, on the other hand, say (3):
In Scotland Mother Kilwinning left the GL of Scotland in 1744 and did not return until 1807, and in the intervening years warranted lodges across Scotland and probably also for other degrees (although they seem to deny that).
But we are talking 1736. There wasn’t even a Grand Lodge to leave at the time. Lodge Mother Kilwinning says to go back to the 1600’s, so at the moment I can do no better than suggest the strong possibility that the Kirkwall lodge was initially chartered from Kilwinning, hence the name that they still share with 30+ other lodges (of 600+ Grand Lodge of Scotland lodges). Not with the lodges in Stirling and Dunfermline though! There is something interesting about both of them though. According to Wikipedia (4):
The Lodge of Dunfermline, no. 26 on the Roll of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, and formally Lodge St John claims that it is one of the most ancient masonic lodges in Scotland.
It connects directly with “the Ludge of Masons of Dunfermling” which held St. Clair Charters in 1598 and 1628.
Both are old and both are claimed to be on the St. Clair lists of lodges.
As we have seen, the Stirling lodge has brasses with ‘higher degrees’ on them), some of which can supposedly be found on the Kirkwall Scroll as well. It is too bad that these brasses can’t be dated using carbon dating (because they are made of metal).
There is something interesting regarding these ‘high degrees’. In High Knights Templar Rituals (5) Snoek writes (my emphasis):
The ‘Early Grand Encampment [of Ireland]’ (under its ‘Early Grand Master’) was older than its rival, the ‘Kilwinning High Knights Templar Encampment’ (under its ‘Grand Master’), both in Dublin. Both developed out of the ‘Kilwinning High Knight Templars Lodge’ (IC), warrented 8/10/1779 by ‘Mother Kilwinning’ (SC), and both worked the degrees ‘Excellent, Super-excellent, Royal Arch, and Knight Templar’.
So what if the name of the Kirkwall lodge came along the route of ‘high degrees’? Not directly from the Kilwinning lodge, but from an organisation naming itself after Kilwinning based on an old warrant? Judging the list of degrees of Snoek this is somewhat less likely, as we would miss the “super excellent” master from the degrees that were worked under these organisations and the scroll has a few more.
Interesting is that Belton and Dachez speak of a “Stirling Kilwinning Lodge” (6). They seem to say that this was a Royal Arch lodge/chapter, active since 1743 or 1745. They don’t say until when. Did Stirling have a “craft” and a Royal Arch lodge? Did Kilwinning?
What is certain is that the Kirkwall lodge was founded before the Grand Lodge of Scotland and (if Craven is correct) by members of two very old lodges. The name suggests that Lodge Mother Kilwinning has something to do with it, whether directly or indirectly.
(1) https://lodgekirkwallkilwinning.blogspot.com/p/early-history-of-lodge-kirkwall.html (accessed 7/8/2024)
(2) https://www.mk0.com/history/ (accessed 7/8/2024)
(3) See literature Belton, Dachez, p. 375
(4) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemasonry_in_Scotland (accessed 7/8/2024)
(5) High Knights Templar Rituals, Dublin (1795 and 1804) in the third volume of British Freemasonry, 1717-1813 (2016)
(6) See literature Belton, Dachez, p. 318
The Kirkwall Scroll is a 5,5 meter long scroll that currently hangs against the wall of the Kirkwall lodge. One theory is that the different panels can be used for different degrees, only roling out one particular panel.
Even when the thought makes sense, there is an obvious reason to question this: I know of no comparable item!
The history of the tracing board
A story that can be found at other places. In the early days, Freemasons met in taverns. The “lodge” was drawn on the floor and after the work it was wiped out again. When the lodges grew, dedicated rooms came in use, fixed furniture was introduced (according to some, items that used to be painted were taken into the room itself), which led to “floor cloths” on the one hand and “tracing boards” on the other. Things are not that simple, but this is enough for my current inquiry.
On the left you can see a fairly typical Dutch “tableau” (actually it is a “tapis”, a carpet), a woven carpet. Such a “tableau” lays in the middle of the lodge room on the floor. Around the “tableau” there are three candles (“Lesser Lights”).
On the right is a “tracing board” as in common in England. It is a painted board that stands against the pedestal of the Worshipful master (or Warden). These are the two forms of “tracing boards” that I know, both in the past and in the present. Of course there are variations in design, execution and placement. I know tracing boards that can be rolled up. Often tracing boards combine degrees. On the one on the left you can see symbols for each of the “craft”/ “symbolic” degrees. Often, there is a tracing board for the first and second degree combined and another for the third. In any case, I have never seen anything like the Kirkwall scroll, a massive ‘floor cloth’ which is only partially used for one sitting.
Symbol charts
There is also the Masonic symbol chart:
This is a famous example. It is usually said to be from the 19th century. As you can see, there are many symbols from different degrees, also symbols that are no longer used nowadays. Such a chart was supposedly for educational purposes. These charts come in different shapes and sizes, but never have I seen a 15 foot scroll or an example which is only displayed partially. Also these charts seem to be quite a bit younger than the Kirkwall Scoll. I did run into an interesting item though.
A Masonic handkerchief, supposedly from the “early 1800’s”. The period of creation is not only more interesting, but several of the symbols are too. Look at the two pillars, the rainbow, there is a cock, a lamb, a coffin, a snake on a cross, a 47th problem of Euclid, a triangle with candles, an ark, a hand from a cloud holding a sword, two hands joining, even an odd looking cross. Like the scroll, this is made on cloth.
The Kirkwall Scroll seems to hold the middle between a ‘tracing board’ and a symbol chart, or at least, a fancy object with Masonic symbolism.
William Graeme is mentioned in the lodge minutes that he presented a “floor cloth” which would mean that it was more like the Dutch “tableau” than like the English “tracing board” or the Masonic chart. Does that mean that the “Antient” lodges did not, like contemporary English lodges, use a “tracing board” or was the Kirkwall Scroll never meant to be used as a “tracing board” in the first place? Smith (see “literature“) calls it a “teaching scroll”. Actually, this is a funny aspect of the story.
Some investigators say that the lodge room of lodge Kirkwall Kilwinning is too small for the Kirkwall Scroll to be used. Yet, there are members who remember it being rolled out (even though this isn’t possible). Cooper found out that before the lodge moved to the current building, it met in a spacious hall. Even if it is possible to unroll the entire scroll, would that have any function? Imagine sitting on one end of the 15 foot scroll and there is a text about something on the other end. Or imagine an explanation of the tracing board!
I doubt that the Kirkwall Scroll was used the way we would nowadays use a “tableau” or “tracing board”, even when only partially visible. Perhaps -indeed- more for educational purposes, not during a ritual. Either way, I know of no item more comparable to the scroll than the examples above. Do you?
When taking the suggestions for some of the symbols of different authors together, the Royal Arch can be found on several panels. This contradicts the idea that every panel was used for specific degrees. Or does it?
Panel 6 makes more sense with the “Antient” order of degrees in mind. Are the possible references on panel 2 out of place or would that panel have another function?
This degree is supposedly displayed on panel 3.
In the monumental five volume work British Freemasonry, 1717-1813 of the Masonic scholar Jan Snoek, there is a 1806 “Knight of the Red Cross Ritual Ireland (1806)”. He writes:
There can be little doubt where this ritual of ‘Knight of the Red Cross’ came from. Pierre Lambert de Lintot worked his Rite of Seven Degrees in London from the 1760s to the end of the 1780s.
Thus a “Red Cross” degree was known in the London area (where Graeme was a Mason) since the 1760’ies. He even has an earlier “Red Cross Mason” ritual that was: “obviously a translation of a French ritual for the degree of Chevalier de l’épée et de l’Orient (Knight of the Sword and/or of the East”.
Also in Scotland there was a “Redd Cros” degree, in Stirling, the lodge from where the Kirkwall lodge was founded. The “Red Cross” symbols on the scroll can thus be from either London or Kirkwall until I find a better clue. Certainly the “Red Cross” references are not incompatible with the dating of the scroll.
The earliest mention of the Royal Ark Mariner that I found is 1790 (Bath). There is a suggestion that a “Royal Arch Mariner” degree was part of early Royal Arch in the 1740’ies, but then follows a 50 year gap. This degree is supposedly displayed on panel 3 (the rainbows / arches at the bottom and the ark in the top right corner).
Can we find out when Graeme was initiated and where he possibly received the degrees that he (had) painted on the scroll?
On panel 8 there are two pillars with human figures on them. Day refers to a book History Of Freemasonry And Concordant Orders which has a “Dermott arch” in it with the same two men on the pillars. I haven’t been able to find the reference. Does anybody have the book?
Day has no Masonic explanations for panels 1 and 4 and the maps on the sides. Panel 1 is suggested either the Genesis scene in which Adams gives names to the animal, but also suggested to be Judgement Day. Panel 4 has more to do with Jewish tribes and the maps with the Jewish wanderings before (left) and after the Exodus. Lost Masonic symbology?
A thought that occurred to me is that these paintings are from other painters. Perhaps they were even part of an original painting to which the Masonic panels have been added. Because the maps already had a fixed length, the painter had to fit the new panels within that length, but when painting from top to bottom, he had to progressively cut off length in order to make things fit.
Would these panels and maps indeed not be part of the complete scroll?
