Lodge History

The Vale of Brislington Lodge No. 1296 was formed as a vacation lodge in 1870 and met on the third Friday in May, June, July and August at 17.00 at the White Hart Inn, Brislington.

The lodge furniture that equipped the lodge room at the White Hart Inn, Brislington Village, was purchased from the Loyal Vacation Lodge when they returned their Warrant in May 1862. The ritual was the one used in Bristol in 1870 as the first Worshipful Master, Senior Warden and three brethren were from Beaufort Lodge, No. 103 in Bristol and were in the habit of using the Bristol ritual.

As our petition was regularly supported and recommended by the Provincial Grand Master of Somerset, there was obviously no objection raised to the use of the Bristol ritual in a Somerset Lodge.

The proposal of the Petition to found the Vale of Brislington Lodge was made in the Royal Albert Edward Lodge No. 906. This Lodge then met at the Crown and Anchor Inn, Upper Weston, Bath, and before that, was Consecrated at the Lamb & Lark Hotel in Keynsham, on the 29" May, 1862. The Lodge now meets in the Masonic Hall, Bath.

The relevant extract from the minutes of that Lodge for November 3rd, 1869, reads as follows:
Brother P. M. Scott read "a communication from some brethren desirous of forming a Lodge at Brislington and asking the recommendation of this Lodge. Brother P. M. Morton proposed and Brother Hill seconded that it be signed by the Worshipful Master and Officers of Royal Albert Edward Lodge. Motion carried. The Petitioners' Warrant was granted on November 12th, 1869.

Those who wrote the letter of request were, in the main, Bristol Masons, and as such could not Petition for a new lodge in a neighbouring Province.