Masonic Province of Hertfordshire
Chronicle and Banners
Banners of Craft Lodges in Hertfordshire (Continued)
Knebworth Lodge No: 6941
There are no records of the initial steps which resulted in the formation of the Knebworth Masonic Club, which first met in Knebworth in February 1941. There were meetings in the village hall annex, the Station Hotel, and the Scout Hut on a variety of days of the week according to the availability of venues. The Club was eventually closed on 23rd March 1944. It was reopened in July 1949, and a petition was prepared and submiited to Grand Lodge, subsequently the Knebworth Lodge No. 6941 was consecrated on 29th March, 1950 by RW Canon Frederick Halsey
The banner was arranged, and the design suggested, by W.Bro Len Parkin and was made by Grand Lodge embroidery department at a cost of £800. It depicts a brick arch with a keystone on which is a square and compass. The arch is the Railway Bridge at Deards End Lane, Knebworth with a squared pavement under.
It has been claimed that this bridge is the largest brick span in the country but Brunel’s Maidenhead Bridge makes the same claim.The central part of the banner design depicts a brick arch with a keystone on which is a square and compass. To each side on the brick wall is a plumb rule and level. The bridge surmounts a mosaic pavement laid on a green, presumably grass, background. Over all a radiant sun is depicted.Two additional items are worthy of note: within a circle at the bottom left there is a waterfall and some corn, together with the letters GRLAGMA which represent the liberal arts and sciences to be studied by masons namely: Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, Arithmetic, Geometry, Music and Astronomy; and in the lower right is a further circle which contains a tree and Hebrew or Masonic cipher characters. The banner was dedicated 22nd May1982.