“Sounds like it should be a dinosaur?”
It’s actually a screen which is placed behind a high alter, and the example at Gloucester Cathedral is claimed to be one of the best in the country. It will be just one of the many artefacts which we probably see each time we attend our Family Service and never know the masonic connection. On 7th June, 150 years after it was consecrated, members of Gloucestershire Masonic Society will be viewing this reredos and a score of other fascinating items during a tour of the cathedral. So what’s the connection with this breath-taking structure? It was part of the Victorian restoration, consequent to a fund set up by Sir Michael Hicks-Beach of Cotteswold Lodge. The mammoth undertaking was paid for by Gloucestershire Freemasons and consecrated in the presence of the Provincial Grand Master, Lord Sherborne on 5th June 1873. The figures were carved by James Redfern, a member of Royal Gloucestershire Lodge.
A new booklet is being published to accompany the masonic tour. If you want to know more, and indeed if you want to go on the tour in June, click on the link at www.glosmasons.org.uk/gms.
The next Provincial Family Day at the cathedral is on Sunday 8th October.
