Pymmes Park Preceptory - 0309
This Preceptory was constituted in 1947
The Preceptory meets at;
Loughton Masonic Centre,
16 High Beech Road,
Loughton, Essex.
IG10 4BL.
Meeting on;
2nd Monday in March (Installation)
3rd Monday in September
Registrar
E.Kt Rod Bradley
Reg309@essexkt.org
History
The Preceptory was Consecrated on the 14th July 1947, by the then Provincial Prior the
V.E.Kt. Rev. Felix E. Crate, MA, KCT and a full team of Provincial Officers at the
Masonic Hall, Chingford. It thus brought the number of Preceptories to six in Essex.
The Preceptory is named after an area located in Edmonton, London (close by) and dates
back to 1327 when William Pymme built Pymmes House. In 1582 the estate was purchased
by William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, the then Lord High Treasurer of England. Thus the
area and site is of historical and archaeological importance as well as being of local
importance of nature conservation and is a Metropolitan open space.
The Primus 2nd Constable and one of the founding Petitioners was Leonard James Rivett, who
was to become the Provincial Prior from 1961 to 1963. The first working meeting was held on
21st October 1947 when Comp. George Johnson became the first knight to be installed in
the Preceptory. As at December 2019 the Preceptory had installed a total of 147 new
knights and had then a current membership of 24 swords.
Amongst the most celebrated of its recent members is Steven Warwick, who became a joining
member in 1991, Eminent Preceptor in 1999, and is the current Great Sub-Prior of Malta.
Originally, the Preceptory met three times per annum but this was reduced to twice a
year in July 1978.
The Preceptory has had a somewhat nomadic existence as in July 1986 it moved from
Chingford to the Old Sessions Court House at Clerkenwell (then a new Masonic Centre)
which was its home until September 2006, before moving back into Essex when re-locating
to its current venue in Loughton.