The Second Grand Lodge:

The Grand Lodge of Ireland, the London Irish & Antients Freemasonry

The 2024 Prestonian Lecture

The impact of the Grand Lodge of Ireland and of Irish freemasonry extended beyond, indeed, far beyond the island of its birth. This is seen most especially in the development of Antients freemasonry, which was established by London’s expatriate Irish community in the mid-eighteenth century.

More inclusive and mutually supportive, Antients freemasonry was not only shipped back to Ireland but transported across Britain’s burgeoning Empire, particularly North America, where it was carried by migration, trade and the regiments of the British Army. 

Antients freemasonry was also absorbed into mainstream English freemasonry following the Union in 1813 of the original Grand Lodge of England (the Moderns) and the Antients Grand Lodge to form the United Grand Lodge of England.

Ric Berman’s 2024 Prestonian Lecture recognises the seminal roles that the Grand Lodge of Ireland, the London Irish and Antients freemasonry have played in the transmission of Masonic and Enlightenment ideas across the globe.

​The Lecture also marks the tercentenary in 2025 of the Grand Lodge of Ireland.