ANTIQUITY, LODGE OF

The oldest Lodge in England, and one of the four which concurred in February, 1717, in the meeting at the Apple-Tree Tavern, London, in the formation of the Grand Lodge of England. At that time the Lodge of Antiquity met at the Goose and Gridiron, in Saint Paul's Churchyard. This Lodge and three others met on Saint John the Baptist's Day, June 24, 1717, at the Goose and Gridiron Tavern, and by a majority of hands elected Mr. Anthony Sayer Grand Master, he being the oldest Master present. Capt. Joseph Elliot, and Mr. Jacob Lamball, carpenter, were chosen as Grand Wardens.

This and the other three Lodges did not derive their Warrants from the Grand Lodge, but “acted by immemorial Constitution or by an acknowledged authority reaching back beyond memory.”