What is the Lodge of Antiquity?

The Lodge of Antiquity No. 2 is one of the four original lodges that met at the Apple-Tree Tavern and the Goose and Gridiron in 1717 to form the Grand Lodge of England 1. At that time meeting at the Goose and Gridiron in St. Paul's Churchyard, the lodge derived no warrant from the newly established body, operating instead by immemorial constitution 12. Among its historic property is the Antiquity Manuscript, a parchment roll containing the Old Charges written in 1686 by Robert Padgett 1.

In 1777, the lodge became the epicenter of a ten-year schism in English Craft Masonry 21. After several members walked in regalia from divine service at St Dunstan's Church to the Mitre Tavern without first securing a dispensation, the Grand Lodge ruled the procession a breach of general regulations 2. The breach widened when Grand Lodge ordered the reinstatement of three members whom Antiquity had previously expelled 2. Under the Mastership of William Preston, the lodge asserted its immemorial privileges against the Grand Lodge, arguing that a lodge established prior to 1717 was not subordinate to Grand Lodge edicts in the same manner as newly chartered lodges 121.

The Grand Lodge subsequently expelled Preston and his supporters 121. In response, Antiquity severed its allegiance, published a manifesto, and entered into an alliance with the Grand Lodge of All England at York, forming a temporary body called the Grand Lodge of England South of the River Trent 12. The schism ended in 1790 when the Grand Lodge reinstated Preston and the expelled brethren 1. The lodge's historical minutes and records were later published in two volumes by W. Harry Rylands and C. W. Firebrace 1.