Ancient History of Arbroath Lodge (1796) of Ancient Order Free Gardeners

The Arbroath Lodge (1796) was one of three new lodges created for the Order of Free Gardeners in Scotland that year. The order was a fraternal society, and the new lodges were established in Arbroath, Bothwell, and Cumbnathan

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Arbroath in the late 18th century

In 1796, when the lodge was founded, Arbroath was a growing industrial town on Scotland's North Sea coast.

ts economy was expanding, with new housing being built for workers in the flax, jute, and engineering industries. The town's ancient harbor was also a key part of its economy.
The town had a diverse and active religious scene. The Arbroath Parish Church, built in 1791, was a prominent feature, and other denominations were present.
The town's first public library was formed just one year later, in 1797

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Arbroath Lodge details

Very little is known about the specifics of the Arbroath Lodge, such as its membership or activities. This is typical for the majority of Free Gardener lodges, whose records were often not preserved in the same way as those of more prominent societies. Information is usually only available for the oldest and largest lodges, like those in Dunfermline and Haddington

The Arbroath lodge likely followed the patterns of other Free Gardener lodges of the period:

providing members with financial benefits in times of sickness, unemployment, or death. Held formal initiation ceremonies for new members, passing on its secret words and signs.
Recruited locally from the town's inhabitants, who would have represented a range of social classes and occupations.

The Arbroath lodge was a recipient of a charter, rather than a creator of new ones. Its existence symbolized the revival of the Order's expansion. The composition of the Arbroath lodge is unknown, but by 1796, most Free Gardener lodges had shifted from being predominantly "operative" (working gardeners) to including more "speculative" (non-gardener) members. The lodge would have included local tradesmen and gentlemen from the industrializing town. Established 120 years later, it inherited a more developed, formal fraternal tradition and was part of a wider, though still Scottish-centric, network of lodges.