Historic masonic manuscripts preserved after extensive efforts

A REMARKABLE discovery echoing a real-life historical adventure has led to the rediscovery and meticulous conservation of a collection of invaluable 18th-century Masonic documents penned by the Rev Thomas Crane, a prominent Cheshire Freemason and vicar of St Olave’s Church in Chester.

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The quest to locate these long-lost papers began in January 2024 with an inquiry to senior Cheshire freemason Simon Medland from Susan Snell, the librarian at Freemasons’ Hall in Chester.

Susan was researching the whereabouts of The Crane Manuscripts which were known about through references in scholarly articles and a 1935 pamphlet, Early Freemasonry in Chester, but their physical whereabouts remained a mystery for many years.

Simon's imagination was fired and he undertook a determined search, meticulously examining the nooks and crannies of Freemasons’ Hall in Chester.

After an extensive search through lodge rooms, safes and storage areas, the precious manuscripts were finally unearthed in an old wooden chest in a locked attic storeroom.