First Freemasons

The First Freemasons (Scotland's early Lodges and their members) by Professor David Stevenson, Emeritus Professor of Scottish History and the University of St Andrews. Like its companion volume, The Origins of Freemasonry, this is an analysis of early Freemasonry.

The records of all the earliest Masonic Lodges in Scotland are are examined and discussed in detail. Scotland has the earliest records of Lodges which would become 'Masonic' in the modern sense. Those of Aitcheson's Haven and The Lodge of Edinburgh date from 1599 and although the Minute Books of Lodge Kilwinning do not commence until 1642 Professor Stevenson reveals how it was known that that Lodge was also known to be in existence in 1599.