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?