The Degree of Mark Master Mason is open to all Master Masons.  The ceremony, in which a Brother is 'advanced', can be said to comprise two degrees; the first part in which he is acknowledged as a Mark Man and then the second where he becomes a Mark Master Mason.

The Mark referred to in its title takes its name from the mark or symbol with which the stonemason identified his work and can still be found in many Cathedrals and important buildings.  This mark not only acted as a trademark but probably also as a form of advertising.

Much use is made of Holy Writ to instruct the Candidate and Brethren in the story which serves to teach that the real message is one of contemplation of human strengths and weaknesses.  In chronological terms the degree follows that of the Second Degree in Craft Masonry.

There is good evidence to show that Mark Masonry was being practised in England by the middle of the 18th Century and may well have existed even earlier.  In those days the degree was worked in Craft Lodges or within Royal Arch Chapters.

There is reputedly some evidence that the Degree is 400 years old but the earliest English records stem from 1769 when it was first worked in Friendship Royal Arch Chapter No.257 in Plymouth.  However, a minute book dated 1599 of the Lodge of Edinburgh states that several speculative brethren had appended their marks after their names.

In 1813, within days of the United Grand Lodge of England being formed, an independent Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons came into being.

By the following year, some fifteen Lodges were operating under its jurisdiction, while others preferred to work under the Scottish Constitution.  Grand Lodge had constituted eight Provinces, including two overseas in China and South Australia.

Today, the Mark Degree enjoys considerable popularity among Freemasons and there are over 1,200 Lodges under the English Constitution.  In 1868, the Mark Benevolent Fund was established which holds annual Festivals under the direction of the various provincial Grand Masters.  The money raised by these and other efforts is used for both Masonic and non-Masonic charities.

It is now over one hundred and forty years after the formation of the first surviving Mark Lodge and one hundred and twenty nine years after the formation of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Cumberland and Westmorland and Mark Masonry in the Province is in excellent shape.  There are Twenty five Lodges and a membership of around 1400, some twenty five per cent of the Craft membership of the Province.

The ordinary Members' regalia comprises an apron and breast jewel.  The Apron is of white kid with a triangular flap bordered with a two inch ribbon of light blue with crimson edges.  It has rosettes of a similar colouring whilst Masters and Past Masters have the rosettes replaced with silver levels.  The jewel of the order is a Key Stone appended to a ribbon which matches the Apron and bears a Mallet & Chisel which are the tools of the Order. The Key Stone, which bears certain characters, forms an integral part of the ceremony.

The order, of which HRH Prince Michael of Kent is Grand Master, is administered from Mark Masons' Hall in St James's, London.

The Mark Masons of this Province of Cumberland and Westmorland are proud of their rich heritage bestowed upon them by their predecessors and endeavour to be worthy caretakers.

The qualification of becoming a Mark Master Mason is that one must be a Craft Master Mason.

REGALIA:  Apron - Jewel.