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the foundations of a church;" the mystery is termed "arcanum 

 magisterium," which appears to indicate that it was a secret known 

 only to the master of the lodge. Now, one cannot well imagine 

 that there could be any secret of a constructional nature about the 

 foundations of a church that it would be possible to keep from the 

 eye of the uninitiated, and I think we may fairly infer that the 

 revealed mystery was the art of determining the true eastern 

 orientation ; if so, it was a miserable bit of knowledge to cost the 

 life of a bishop. While, however, large and important churches 

 are generally found to be set as near as may be due east, ordinary 

 parish churches are found to have a great variety of orientations. 

 A group of eighty-seven churches in Cumberland and Westmorland, 

 the bearings of which I have ascertained with sufficient accuracy 

 for the purpose from the Ordnance maps, range from 12° south 

 to 40° north of the true or equinoctial east. The group comprises 

 only ancient fabrics, or churches, known or believed to be re-built 

 upon the Unes of an original church, St. Andrew's, Penrith, is a 

 case in point ; for though, unhappily, no vestige of stone or record 

 of pen or pencil is left to tell what old St. Andrew's was like, its 

 noble old tower remains to certify that in the present fabric the 

 original orientation has been preserved. 



The accompanying table shows the great variety of orientations 

 in the group of churches ; and to account for the diversity, I 

 venture to suggest that, as before mentioned, while the superior 

 churches were set out by the more skilled lodges of freemasons to 

 point due east, other church-builders preferred the traditional 

 method of setting the church to the rising sun at the time they 

 commenced to work ; and as in our bleak north country, and in 

 the absence of made roads, they would naturally commence 

 building in spring or early summer, that circumstance would 

 account for the great variety of orientation.* 



* Some months after reading this paper, a singular confirmation of the theory 

 suggested appeared on the walls of the Royal Academy's exhibition, in a picture 

 by John Pettie, R.A., entitled, "Site of an Early Christian Altar." The 

 artist's explanation of the subject is given in the catalogue as follows : — "The 

 method adopted in fixing the orientation of churches has been preserved in some 

 of the Scotch lodges. • ■ The site of the altar was decided upon and marked 

 by a pole fixed in the ground. • • The sun's rays appearing above the horizon 

 fixed the line of orientation." — Laurie's History of Freemasonry. 



