Front of Mother Kilwinning Lodge in Kilwinning, Scotland after whom Kilwinning Crosse is named.
The beginnings of Kilwinning Crosse begin early than their 1755 charter. In fact, the lodge in Port Royal met several times in the year prior to begin labor and establish cause for pursuing a charter. Brother John Gray traveled to Scotland where he met with Brother John Cross after whom the lodge is name. Brother Cross, in his generosity and love of fraternity, furnished the lodge with officer’s jewels and aprons (the jewels can be viewed by selecting the page in the menu above titled “Jewels: Theft and Brotherly Love”.
On April 12, 1754, a group of brethren met to formally discuss the formation of a new lodge. It is important to note that this is the first recorded meeting but that the brethren are thought to have met for “months, maybe years, and because of a need for rules and regulations to govern their deliberations, decided to assemble and give themselves a ‘habitation and a name’.” (Hillman, Kilwinning Crosse Lodge). The lodge met 9 times in 1754 before receiving a charter under direction of Patrick Coutts, the lodge’s first worshipful master. During this time, the lodge was known as Port Royal Crosse Lodge. The first portion of the name obviously referred to the town in which they met while the name “Crosse” was a translation of Brother John Cross’ name whom retained the lodge’s original jewels and aprons. Before the year closed, the lodge initiated it’s first brother, Brother John Corbin on December 28, 1754.
In 1755, Port Royal Crosse was given a charter, but they would continue to operate in it’s absence due to the delays typical of inter-continental travel in the 18th century. Brother Robert Gilchrist was elected worshipful master for the 1755 and 1756 masonic years and was pleased to receive a copy of the charter on June 12, 1756. The charter was retrieved by Brother John Gray who just two years prior had secured the lodge’s original jewels. The Grand Lodge of Scotland named the new lodge “Kilwinning Port Royal Crosse” after the ancient lodge in Scotland known as “Mother Kilwinning”. Mother Kilwinning is thought to be the first formal lodge in Scotland practicing masonry as early as 1140A.D. The intent was that the Grand Lodge of Scotland would establish a foothold for Scottish masonry in the new world through this newly chartered lodge.