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St. Brendan’s Masonic Lodge
No. 163 - Birr

 

 

Meeting Venue:  Rosse Row, Birr, Co. Offaly

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Meeting Dates:  Second Monday of each month, except June, July and August

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Meeting Times:  8 p.m., except May and September meetings, which are at 8.30pm

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Contact Details: Secretary - Eric T. Sheppard, 12 River Oaks, Riverstown, Birr, Co. Offaly

 

 

Lodge History

 

One of the oldest Lodges in Ireland,

St Brendan’s Lodge No 163 received its warrant on the 17th July 1747.

Warrant No 163 was issued to Bros William Macoun, Thomas Nethercott and James Armstrong,
to hold a Lodge in the town of Birr, in the Kings County of Ireland.

They became respectively the first Worshipful Master, Senior and Junior Wardens.

The original warrant has been in continuous use since then, with the exception

of the period of unrest and subsequent rebellion in the country in 1797,

with meetings resuming in 1801, and between 1822 and 1823,

when Grand Lodge instructed all Lodges to suspend their meetings

following legislation which had been enacted to deal with secret and subversive societies. 

 

Records show that the venue for St Brendan’s Lodge meetings moved quite frequently

in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Amongst its meeting places were William Irwin’s of Church Lane,

Bro James Cummings House, 

Mrs Dooley’s House, Bro. Fallon’s Lodge Room, 

Bro. Ridler’s House and George Dooley’s House.

The present Masonic Hall was formerly a Quaker Meeting House

which had been built in 1858 on the corner of Green Street and Rosse Row,

but following a decline in congregation numbers it was put up for sale in 1911.

St Brendan’s Lodge were looking for new premises in which to hold their meetings,

 and following discussions a sale price of £50 was agreed,

with the sale being completed in late 1913.
 

The members of St Brendan’s Lodge estimated a budget of £600

or building and renovation work,

raising £200 themselves, with the balance provided following an appeal

for financial support throughout the Irish Constitution.

 

Birr has some important links to the early Freemasons in Ireland.

Across the road from the Lodge is Birr Castle,

which was and still is the seat of the Earls of Rosse.
 

The 1st Earl of Rosse Sir Richard Parsons was the first

Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Ireland ,

and was installed on the 24th of June 1725.

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The headquarters of Freemasonry in Ireland in Molesworth Street

was built on the site of the 1st Earl’s townhouse in Dublin.


As part of the bi-centennial celebrations in 1925,

the Most Worshipful Grand Master Richard 6th Earl of Donoughmore

commissioned a portrait of Sir Richard Parsons 1st Earl of Rosse,

and presented it to Grand Lodge.

 

A black and white copy of this portrait of the Earl as a young man was presented to

Lodge 163 Birr by the Irish Lodge of Research.

 

It is still on display in the Lodge and may be found there alongside another

very fine oil painting -

the first prize in the Masonic Female Orphans School centenary bazaar,

held in the RDS Dublin in 1892. 

 

The portrait, showing a number of girls in full size Masonic aprons

playing in a woodland scene,

was painted by Sir Thomas A Jones P.R.H.A.

as first prize in the centenary draw,

and Birr Lodge had the winning ticket.

 

and Birr Lodge had the winning ticket.

Interior of Lodge
                    Lodge Warrant
                 Exterior of Lodge
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