The Cloths you are about. to see are amongst the. rarest in English Craft. Freemasonry

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1 Floor Cloths Presented on 17th February 2015 by The Right Worshipful Provincial Grand Master for the Province of West Lancashire James Anthony Harrison

2 The Cloths you are about to see are amongst the rarest in English Craft Freemasonry

3 Tracing Boards & Tracing Cloths Why do we have Tracing Boards in the Lodge and what are they for? Our modern day Tracing Boards are descendants of old practices carried out in our early lodges of drawing on the floor, the lodge symbols used in the ceremonies. But there was an earlier use of tracing boards, that of the master mason or architect who set out his plans for the building examples of which can still be found in York Minster. In the early speculative lodges it was usually the Tyler s duty to draw a design on the floor with chalk and the latest apprentice s task to erase with mop and pail after the meeting finished. Later along came floor cloths with elaborate designs and symbols usual representative of all three degrees and many still exist and locally they can be found in Macclesfield, Congleton and Kendal and more recently those discovered in Swinton, belonging to Architect Lodge. These are now highly prized items in a lodge s artefacts Our modern day Tracing Boards (TB) came along in the early 1800 s and the designs vary from one artist to another but probably one of the first was Josiah Bowring who introduced three female figures into the 1 st Degree TB, those of Faith, Hope and Charity standing on a ladder leading to the Heavens. Some later boards had these omitted, but the current 1 st Degree TB in Emulation working by John Harris, has the three female figures depicted standing on what appears to be a staircase. Also, we have the three great pillars of Wisdom, Strength and Beauty. Those of the 2 nd and 3 rd degrees are also by John Harris. Over the years there have been many different designs with varying symbols and it is interesting to see those variations when visiting different lodges and also their location in the lodge room.

4 In many lodges they are located in front of the three pedestals, some lodges have them on the chequered carpet, one on top of the other and some have them on the wall of the lodge room covered by curtains or doors which are opened and closed at the appropriate point during the work of the lodge. You will have noticed it is the Deacons responsibility to attend to the tracing boards as the lodge opens up in the three degrees. In most lodges the Junior Deacon does the 1st and 2nd degree tracing Boards and the Senior Deacon the 3rd Degree. Their use today is purely symbolic and from time to time you will hear the lectures on all three tracing boards given in open lodge. Abroad their use varies. Some constitutions have them whilst others don t for instance, they are invariably not used in the USA and neither are they used in Ireland. Some Scottish lodges use them in a similar way to England, but this is by no means universal. Copies of all three tracing boards are reproduced in the Emulation Ritual Book. Julian Rees in his book; The Tracing Boards of the Three Degrees in Craft Freemasonry Explained says; Why tracing boards? Well we can find rich justification for them within Masonic ritual itself. Historically, too, we find accounts of our forebears tracing symbols on the floor of the lodge room, a practice that became codified and then embellished later to produce some examples of outstanding artistic achievement..

5 Rare Floorcloths Revealed When the members of Architect Lodge No of Swinton decided to have an Open Day on 22nd May 2010, little did they know that it would start a chain of events which will lead to a major fund raising project to restore three large floorcloths bought by the Lodge in the late 1800s.The floorcloths of the 1 st, 2 nd and 3 rd Degrees each measure approximately 7ft x 4ft but the Lodge was not aware of their rarity and only used them occasionally. They were purchased in 1872, 1873 and The 1 st Degree was presented by Bro Studd in 1872 and the following year the Lodge purchased 3 rd Degree cloth for 6.10s, it would have cost 300 in today s money. Strangely the 2 nd Degree cloth was not purchased until 1889 and one can only presume that the Lodge had something else available in the meantime. By this time Tracing Boards were in regular use and it can only be assumed that the Lodge decided to purchase cloths rather than boards probably for storage purposes. They were meeting in a hotel in Didsbury at the time and probably had to pack away all the Lodge furnishings after every meeting as each cloth was rolled up and placed in a padded tube for convenience. When Assistant Provincial Grand Master John Clipsham, visited the Open Day he noticed that the 2 nd Degree cloth was different in design to that in use today on modern tracing boards. Intrigued by the design he suggested to Bernard Dootson, the Secretary of the Lodge that it would be worth contacting Fred Lomax, a PM of the Manchester Lodge for Masonic Research to see if he could help with the name of the artist. Bro Lomax was contacted and researched potential designers and ascertained that the 1 st and 2 nd Degree cloths were designed by John Harris who was a well known painter of miniatures, and architectural draughtsman, facsimilist and Tracing Board designer

6 between 1820 and The design of these two floorcloths is Virtually identical to the 1 st & 2 nd Degree Tracing Boards in current use in lodges which work Emulation ritual. The 2nd Degree cloth although not used in Emulation working today is also a similar design to boards designed by Harris and produced in 1820 and However, there were some differences which on close examination showed that the artist was unlikely to have been Harris, although the design was based upon one of his Tracing Boards of The Lodge has a record of the purchase of them in its cash book and the purchases are recorded in the Lodge minutes, but there is no indication from whom they purchased the cloths or who the artist was. There are numerous floorcloths in existence but it is unusual to find them with relatively modern tracing board designs and because of their rarity the cloths need to be preserved for the future and are in serious need of repair which is estimated at approximately 15,000. These tracing cloths are not only unique in their size but are possibly the only ones apart from those belonging to the Emulation Lodge of Improvement for Master Masons, of London of such a size with modern designs, which makes them extremely rare indeed. Terence Haunch who is a leading authority on Tracing Boards has put forward the tempting suggestion that the 1st and 3rd could possibly have been painted by Harris; the paintwork is so well carried out. Although he points out that Harris was totally blind by The funds raised by the sale of this booklet will be used towards the cost of conserving these unique items.

7 1st Degree Floorcloth 86 x x 1092mm

8 2nd Degree Floorcloth 893/4 x x 1120mm

9 3rd Degree Floorcloth 87 x 42 1/ x 1080mm

10 Designs by John Harris In 1845 the Emulation Lodge of Improvement launched a competition for an improvement in tracing boards. The competition was won by John Harris and whose boards painted in the same year, are those which have been used by the Lodge from that day to the present. The tracing boards below are reproduced by the kind permission of Terence Haunch and Julian Rees from the book: Tracing Boards of the Three Degrees in Craft Freemasonry Explained. You will notice that the 1st and 3rd Degree Swinton floorcloths follow quite accurately the Harris design, but the 2nd Degree floorcloth is a Harris design from 1825 modified by the unknown artist and which is not in use today. The boards above are the most widely used ones in England and they are replicated in the little blue book.

11 The Restoration Process Current Condition: All three cloths have a layer of varnish and surface dirt. Rolling has created horizontal cracks, ridges and paint loss. On the 1st Degree cloth there are major tears to the edges, canvas loss and considerable flaking. The paint losses reveal bare canvas and this has resulted in further breakdown of the rabbit skin glue binder, thus loosening more paint particles. This is obviously an ongoing condition and the paintings will progressively deteriorate unless at least consolidated. Consolidation: Each Canvas requires consolidation via wax resin impregnation on a vacuum lining table. This process will force adhesive through the old canvas onto the back of the paint surface holding it in place securely. First the canvas will be relaxed by humidifying to remove the worst of the ridges. Then during the lining process the canvas will again be humidified and heated under a strong vacuum. This will remove all surface undulations, level the canvas and permanently consolidate the paint surface. Each will then be re-stretched onto a substantial handmade cross barred stretcher. This part of the process must be done by a specialist company who has a sufficiently large vacuum lining table. Cleaning: Surface dirt will be removed with a suitable liquid soap/ ammonia paste and if necessary, varnish removed with an appropriate mix of ispropyl alcohol and white spirit. Filling: Prior to retouch every paint loss must be filled with a glue/ chalk/wax mix and levelled then sealed. Retouching: Every loss will be retouched with artist s pigment and a resin-based medium, carefully matching existing colours. Varnishing: A thin protective coat of non-yellowing Ketone Resin N synthetic resin will be applied by spray gun and compressor. After Restoration:The restored cloths will be kept on frames and never rolled up again. The names of the gold, silver and bronze patrons will be displayed on the frames as a permanent acknowledgement of their generous contribution.

12 The cloths will be hung in Swinton Masonic Hall Lodge Room during the Masonic season. However, they will be available for special events and exhibitions, particularly during the close season. In addition any lodge which is a Gold Patron will have the opportunity to use the cloths at their Installation meetings, subject to availability.

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14 Acknowledgements The members of Architect Lodge No 1375 would like to thank the following for their assistance in bringing this project to fruition: The late Bernard Dootson, but for whom the idea of restoring the floorcloths would probably never have started. Sadly Bernard passed away before he could see his wish come true. Jon Clipsham. For his advice and guidance throughout this project, especially in the early days. Fred Lomax. For his expertise in identify the designer of the floorcloths and editing and designing this booklet. Jeremy Dootson. Who took over as secretary to the project committee at a very difficult time. He has continued where his father left off. Brian Pearson. For arranging the printing of the booklets and for dealing with so many other matters too numerous to mention. Rob McMillan. For his hard work in producing the text of the description of the floorcloths and for his general support for the project. Mel Lomax. Who has given his unstinting supported for the project throughout in many ways. Bob Hyde and his wife Ann for their unfailing hospitality and for allowing us to use their home for meetings and Bob for setting up the bank account, etc for the project. Les Denman For the photographs of the floorcloths

15 Terence Haunch MA, former Director of the Library and Museum of Freemasonry, London. An acknowledged authority on Tracing Boards and the author of Tracing Boards Their Development and Designers which is regarded as the seminal work on the subject par excellence, for his advice, guidance and comments on the Swinton Tracing Cloths. Julian Rees, author of Tracing Boards of the Three Degrees in Craft Freemasonry Explained. For allowing us to use photographs of John Harris Tracing Boards and extracts from his book. Finally, thank you to anyone who has helped in any way to get this project off the ground. All that we have to do now is raise the money to restore these very rare floorcloths to their former glory. Please help if you can, we need your support.

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