Sparkenhoe Lodge No. 8063
Warranted 10 November 1965
Consecrated 22 February 1966
Lodge Motto: Per Fons et Origo “Through the Source and Origin”
Precis of the Lodge’s History
The only Lodge meeting in Hinckley up until 1966 had been the Knights of Malta No. 50, the second oldest in the Province, one of the “Atholl Lodges”, established by a handful of artisans in a small Leicestershire market-town of a few thousand inhabitants. Receiving it’s Warrant under the “Antients” Grand Lodge in 1803, local tradition has it that Freemasonry had been practiced in the town long before then.
With the progressive growth and prosperity of Hinckley, the opportunity for an additional ‘Daughter’ Lodge to be formed in the town presented itself, and a Foundation Committee formed from six senior Brethren from the ‘Mother’ Lodge No. 50 was established during late1965, resulting in twenty three Brethren agreeing to become Founders comprising fourteen senior Brethren from No. 50 plus nine others then working or residing in the Hinckley area.
A Petition was submitted to Grand Lodge and a Warrant for the formation of a new Lodge at Hinckley i n the Province of Leicestershire & Rutland to be known as Sparkenhoe Lodge numbered 8063 was received dated 10th November 1965, with W.Bro. Alan Pickering named as the Master Designate. The Lodge would meet at the Masonic Hall in Hinckley.
The Consecration and Installation Ceremonies took place in Hinckley on 22nd February 1966, with R.W.Bro. C. B. S. Morley the Provincial Grand Master officiating, and Officers from Provincial Grand Lodge.
Since then Sparkenhoe has been able to maintain a stable membership of around fifty, sustained by a steady stream of candidates for Initiation.
The Lodge Banner
The “Hill with the Brushwood” illustrates the source and origin through which the name of the Lodge is derived. The Maltese Cross, taken from the badge of the Knights of Malta Lodge No. 50, which is the Mother Lodge, illustrates the source by which the Sparkenhoe Lodge originates.
The red and white Coat of Arms is of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester (1208-65), in right of his honour of Hinckley, and indicates that the Lodge originates and meets at Hinckley, which is within the Sparkenhoe Hundred. Documentary evidence for the name dates back to 1300. At that date it was the name given to a new “Hundred”, an administrative area, established in the County of Leicester.
There is also a further allusion to the fact that the Sparkenhoe Lodge will use the same Temple as it’s Mother Lodge, and therefore meets by, or “through the source and origin”.