The Royal Arch is a special Order in Freemasonry, and one which we hope all Freemasons will wish to join.

In Craft masonry we are given a sound and moral framework which encourages us to improve our responsibilities and relationships with others and to practice our principles of Integrity, Friendship, Respect, and Service.

The Royal Arch develops this further and seeks to make us think about our relationship with our individual Supreme Being. The Exaltation ceremony, (the admission of a new Royal Arch mason), is profound, colourful and spiritual and considerably enriches all that has gone before in the craft. Those who have been through it, often remark how impressive it was for them.

The Royal Arch is very closely aligned with the Craft and is the "next step" for Master Masons and is considered the completion of Pure and Antient Masonry. It also opens the doors to becoming a member of additional Orders such as Knights Templar.

Master Masons are, therefore, actively encouraged to become members of the Royal Arch in order to further develop and enrich their understanding of Freemasonry.

The Royal Arch is more commonly known as 'Chapter' and the members are known as "Companions." Members are distinguished by the Jewel that they wear on the left breast. The Chapter breast Jewel is the only Jewel which is permitted to be worn together with Craft Jewels in a Craft Lodge, further indicating the close association between the two Orders.

You are eligible to join the Royal Arch four weeks after you have been made a 'Master Mason'.

No doubt, you will have many questions. Every Lodge has a Royal Arch Ambassador who is appointed by the Provincial Grand Master and will be identified in your lodge summons. The Provincial Membership Officer will also answer your questions and point you in the right direction.

If you would prefer to simply make a quick online enquiry, then click on the link 'Interested in Joining?' below and we will be in touch.

We look forward to welcoming you as a Companion into the Royal Arch in Staffordshire

Michele Santopietro
Grand Superintendent

Joining the Royal Arch

History of the Royal Arch in Staffordshire

It is quite possible that in the early days of freemasonry the Royal Arch ceremony was worked in the Craft Lodges of Staffordshire without a separate Royal Arch Chapter being constituted. In the rough draft Minute Book of St Martin's Lodge from 1807 to 1810, it was found that brethren were proposed in the Lodge for exaltation to the Royal Arch and that the Lodge originally 'worked the Royal Arch as an integral and essential portion of the 3rd Degree'.

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries there may have been many other Royal Arch Masons exalted into other Craft Lodges.

The first Wolverhampton Lodge was constituted on the 28th March 1732 and by 1768 there were four lodges in the town. A century later, in 1842, there were 13 Craft Lodges in Staffordshire; the oldest of which, still surviving today, was the Etruscan Lodge No 285 Stoke on Trent, founded in 1803, and the next St Martin's Lodge No 115 (now No 98) Burslem, founded in 1805 on a Warrant originally granted in 1764 for a lodge in Wolverhampton.

It was only after "The Act of Union" in 1817 that separate Royal Arch Chapters were established to undertake the exaltation ceremonies; although it is true to say that this directive was very slow at being implemented.

In 1833 there were only two duly constituted Royal Arch Chapters in Staffordshire; St Martin's Chapter No 115, Burslem and possibly, the Charity and Concord Chapter No 182, Longton, which was founded in 1813. The Chapter of Fortitude No 427, Stafford, was added to these two in 1834. Thereafter there was a steady increase in the number of official Royal Arch Chapters added to the list. These are indicated below :-

Over the next 120 years new Chapters continued to be formed throughout the Province of Staffordshire so much so that as we enter the 2020's the list has grown to 37 Chapters with over 1000 memberships.