Old Photograph Masonic Hall Mid Calder Scotland

Old photograph of the Masonic Hall in Mid Calder in West Lothian, Scotland. Free Masonry started in Mid Calder between the years 1700 and 1710, under the patronage of Lord Torphichen. Mid Calder town is located on a steep hill overlooking the River Almond and Calder Wood, around 15 miles west of Edinburgh. The town has been on a major crossroads since its origin some time in the eleventh century. John Spottiswoode, was born in 1565 in Mid Calder, he was an Archbishop of St Andrews, Fife, Primate of All Scotland and historian of Scotland. He was the eldest son of John Spottiswood, minister of Calder and " superintendent " of Lothian. He was educated at the University of Glasgow, and succeeded his father in the parish of Calder in 1583. In 1601 he attended Ludowick, Duke of Lennox, as his chaplain, in an embassy to the court of France, returning in 1603. He followed James to England on his accession, but was the same year nominated to the see of Glasgow, his consecration in London, England, however, not taking place until October 1610. In 1633 he crowned Charles I at Holyrood. In 1635 he was appointed Lord Chancellor of Scotland, an office which he retained till 1638. He was opposed to the new liturgy as inexpedient, but when he could not prevent its introduction he took part in enforcing it. He was a spectator of the riot of St Giles, Edinburgh, on 23 July 1637, endeavoured in vain to avoid disaster by concessions, and on the taking of the Covenant perceived that " now all that we have been doing these thirty years past is thrown down at once. " He escaped to Newcastle, was deposed by the assembly on 4 December on a variety of ridiculous charges, and died in London on 26 November 1639, receiving burial in Westminster Abbey on 2 December 1639.





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