Gihon Sancta Maria Lodge

Our New Visitor, Vinny Cochrane, accompanied by Deputy Editor Richard Cavanagh, visit Clapton Royal Arch 1365 at Southgate Masonic Centre

Greetings, reader, as the ‘New’ Visitor for Arena. I am taking over from W Bro Edward Compton who has been entertaining you with his visitations across London’s Masonic Centres for the last two years. Much like when they replace Doctor Who or 007, our esteemed editors have chosen someone a bit different to our predecessor. Let us begin! 

Southgate is a curious part of London. Almost at the end of the Piccadilly Line, it is undeniably suburban – a refreshing remove from the throng and bustle of the metropolis. It is not far from central London but still feels like a tranquil enclave. On the High Street is a Masonic Centre, which is where we are bound for a meeting. 

My lodge is Islington 1471, and we meet in Grand Lodge on Great Queen Street. So, absenting oneself from the big town was refreshing. Battlestar Suburbia, if you like. Central London has little time for subtle charm, but Southgate does. 

And then, I felt a manly slap on my back. It was Ed. “Oh, you found your way?” So, we proceeded.

The building is outwardly modest as is often the case with our fraternity – it could be a rustic village hall, nestling in the bosom of a Betjeman-esque idyll. Inside, the atrium is one of oak-panelled decorum and quiet grandeur; and its adjoining corridors are full of cabinets displaying Masonic relics and curios. Medals, jewels, regalia are all here, and of such colour and eccentricity that it makes one think: if only these days our ritual accoutrements were as wantonly madcap. The weight of heritage is palpable, and there is a numinous air to the place, as if one has stumbled upon a forgotten secret. 

How appropriate! This evening is Clapton Chapter, and the Exaltation of a new Companion.  We were also in the presence of the esteemed Royal Arch Demonstration Team, who were working alongside the Clapton Companions to deliver this evening’s ceremony. 

Members of Royal Arch will know that it dramatises the discovery of hidden and forgotten artefacts. The means by which Clapton and the Demonstration Team made this ceremony so moving and colourful are easy to identify: there was a rich sense of theatricality to the proceedings. The relative informality of Arch working is ironic, because it is so theatrically solemn and powerful in its explanation of the Supreme Degree. As a dramatist and actor, I could see every element of the story. 

The key analogy of Royal Arch is the rediscovery of forgotten things. Things which are buried in memory, covered in sand and stone, obfuscated by our imperfect memories, and hidden by the dusts of time. Clapton Chapter reactivated my interest in these old mysteries, not only as an habitual historian, but also as a man who looks at a desert and thinks – what can we find beneath? 

The Principals, Sojourners, and Scribes imbued the work with an arresting sense of drama. It was easy to forget that we were in a modest room which might otherwise be suited to an office party. Rather, the symbolism and majesty of the “4th” was, literally and figuratively, given “character” – well suited to Royal Arch working, which has multiple personae and a more defined narrative than its craft cousin. 

The theme of discovery was further enhanced by something nobody had realised until very recently: Islington Lodge No 1471 and Clapton Lodge No 1365 are very close relatives. E Comp Grahame Lovett, in his researches, discovered that the originators of Clapton’s current incarnation were mostly from Islington Chapter and Lodge. By coincidence, our current WM in Islington Lodge is Edward Compton, who invited us here oblivious to the serendipitous relationship between our two Chapters. It was like poetry! Chapter and verse, if you like. 

Clapton was consecrated twice: first in 1875, and after an abeyance of less than a year, in 1925. Thus, this year could be considered both a Centenary and a 150th. Amusingly, an attempt was made to find out what was consumed at the Festive Board one hundred years ago. May it suffice to say that sourcing the victuals would have been a truly Herculean task – palates and produce (not to say evident appetites) were different in 1925. Royal Oysters, stuffed capons, champagnes manifold, and so on. Extravagance beyond modern ken. However, 16th October 2025, the exact Centenary, will doubtless see a celebration to rival the efforts of Clapton’s illustrious forebears. 

This April Festive Board was most entertaining. The food was comforting and boyish: bangers and mash, strawberries and clotted cream. Heavenly! We learned in the toasts that several participants in the ceremony had come from other Chapters. This attests to the esteem in which Clapton Chapter is held. I commend the Companions for their kindness and hospitality – they were seemingly flattered that they had an unexpected Arena reporter in their midst. How unusual – to be a welcome journalist! 

Plaudits are due to all Companions, particularly John Buckingham SLGCR (now AGSoj), Richard Hime SLGCR, and Jeremy Reese PGStB of the Demonstration Team; as well as John McCabe of Clapton Chapter, all of whom manifested the themes of discovery and forgotten knowledge with entertaining theatricality. They were well supported by E Comps Edward Compton and Barry Bates, who also helped with the ceremony.  For those readers who haven’t entered Royal Arch, I can assure you, its work is a panacea to the more sombre and grave affairs of the first three degrees. 

This does not detract from the grandeur of the occasion – although Royal Arch is objectively less formal, it remains an occasion of serious import; in this case the Exaltation of William Morris, a fellow Scot (albeit from the other side of my curious nation). I wonder if others find it as fun as I do, hearing august ritual performed in a Scots accent? The flavour of informality was made even more amusing by the Scribe N’s self-effacing inability to pronounce the office of Sojourner  when reporting his request for readmittance to the room. After two attempts, both pronounced somewhat differently (followed amusingly by “I need to put my teeth back in”),the MEZ riposted to laughter, “Admit them both!” Such is the witty badinage of Royal Arch; a melange of the sacred and the profane.

Nonetheless, we exalted a new Companion, with due decorum, and an abiding sense of conviviality. To my mind, that is the ultimate demonstration of the Masonic ideal – a sense of brotherhood amidst the more serene or weighty concerns of ceremony. 

It was brief respite from the breakneck pace and riotous noise of central London. Clapton Chapter 1365 was a revelation – theatre, disarming informality, a sense of history in the present, bangers and mash, and the strange rhyme with the history of Islington Lodge No 1471. 

As I mentioned earlier, Southgate has a large collection of regalia in cabinets around its meandering hallways. The panoply of history is almost phantasmagorical: ancient badges, medals, props, and other accoutrements are here from times lost to memory. It made me think about the sublime symbolism of discovering hidden objects. So here is what happened before dinner. 

After the Exaltation, Edward, Richard, and I happened upon a strange little door on one of the labyrinthine staircases of Southgate Centre. We went in and fumbled for a light switch. There was illuminated a huge – really huge – Lodge room. It was full of arcane furniture and strange symbols. I saw a lectern emblazoned “Lodge of Faith 141”. By happenstance, I was sat next to the Master of Lodge No 141 at the ensuing dinner, Jeremy Reese. 

The stories of Lodge of Faith are extraordinary. I was excited to visit, and I did. 

Lodge of Faith was founded in 1774, and this should keep you in suspense for my next investigation…