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Home Non-Operative Grand Lodge of England Growth Beyond England The Landmarks

On St. John the Baptist's Day, 24th June 1717, four old Lodges in London and Westminster met, and organized a governing body, called a Grand Lodge. This Grand Lodge gradually took control of all the Lodges meeting in England. The word speculative now became linked with the word accepted; speculative meaning masonry in a symbolic sense. The two original grades of masonry were organized into three degrees:
  1. the Entered Apprentice;
  2. the Fellow Craft; and
  3. the Master Mason.
In 1723, the Grand Lodge approved a Constitution, and was soon chartering Lodges, not only in England, but in the expanding colonies, and other overseas countries.