My surname is a simple one. It is a description of the place where my ancestors originated, namely by a ford on a river marked by ash trees. It is the same as “Ashford”, but is an earlier form in which Old English “aesca” has become “Ax” – but not yet “Ash”.
    The early form is quite rare: indeed there seem to be only two original families, one from Cornwa11/Devon and the other from Wiltshire. It is a simple matter to investigate these families by searching through the International Genealogical Index of the Church of Latter Day Saints for early births and marriages, say before 1700. On the basis of forenames, I have concluded that my ancestors came from Wiltshire, particularly as there are numerous examples of the forename “Isaac” both in the Wiltshire family and in my family, but not in the Cornwall/Devon family.
    An interesting feature of the Wiltshire Axfords is that the early members were concentrated in a small region centred on the village of Erlestoke, and including the neighbouring villages of Bratton and Great and Little Cheverell. These villages are situated on the border between Wiltshire's chalk and cheese countries at the northern edge of Salisbury Plain. There happens also to be a village called Axford near Ramsbury, but there is no record of any Axfords having lived there.
    This is reasonable since the earliest recorded members of the family called themselves “de Axeforde” – indicating that Axford was where they came from, rather than where they were living.
    I have studied the Erlestoke Axfords in considerable detail, and have found that they were very prominent in the village in the period 1650 to 1750. The most important personality of the time was Isaac Axford (1647-1729), known as Isaac the Elder in view of the extensive use of his forename in later generations. I have found about 40 Isaacs, at least one of whom is still alive. A grandson of Isaac the Elder, also Isaac, gained some notoriety as the husband of Hannah Lightfoot, who was allegedly the mistress of George III when he was a youth.
    I visited the church in Erlestoke to search for additional information concerning the family and found a memorial to Isaac the Elder and his wife Eleanor. It takes the form of a small bronze plaque attached to a wall inside the Church where it has been protected from weathering. The plaque carries a very simple inscription:

Here Lyeth the Body
of Eleanor, the Wife of
Isaac Axford, Gent.
Who departed this Life
The 16th Day of October 1726
In the 83rd Year of her Age.
Here also Lyeth the Body
Of Isaac Axford, Gent. Who
Departed this life the 17th of
November, 1729, in the 83rd year
of his Age.

It is striking that not a single word of this inscription is in any way religious. Even more remarkably, the plaque is decorated with the following symbols and words:
    An eye – the “All-Seeing Eye” – at the top of the frame; the words “Memento Mori”, immediately below this; a skull with crossed bones behind it, below these words; an hour glass, to the left of the skull; a pickaxe crossed with a shovel, to the right of the skull.
    The lower jaw of the skull is missing and there is a heavy line engraved on the left temple. There is a decorative edging, but it does not appear to have any significance.
    The present Erlestoke church was built around 1800, replacing an older church, which was situated a couple of hundred metres away. The vicar of the time had the good sense to record the memorials contained within the old church; a number of which involved members of the Axford family, and he saved five memorials, which could be detached.
    These included the bronze plaque described above and a painted board carrying a memorial to John Axford (probably Isaac's brother) in the form of an acrostic based on his name. The plaque, which is now simply screwed to the wall, might originally have been contained in a carved stone surround, taking the form of an arch with pillars at either side.
    I am sure that the symbols on the plaque are Masonic. The A1l-Seeing Eye, the hourglass and the words “Memento Mori” are typically Masonic, the skull and bones indicating that Isaac was a Master Mason, and the pickaxe and shovel indicate his membership of the Royal Arch and that he had, presumably, been Master of his Lodge.
    However, the date, 1729, is earlier than the earliest known mention of the Royal Arch (1743) according to the numerous histories of Freemasonry I have on my bookshelves (e.g. The “Freemasons' Guide and Compendium” by B.E. Jones, Harrap & Co., 1956). Furthermore, one might ask why a woman should be included on such a memorial.
    There is another puzzling feature in that the parish burial records state:
    1727 19/10 Elinor, wife of Isaac Sen.
    1729 20/11 Mr. Isaac Sen. was committed to the ground without Xtian burial.
    In view of the Masonic symbolism on the plaque, one might reasonably conclude that Isaac, who was probably the most influential person in the village at the time, was given a Masonic funeral. However, about 25 such “non-Xtian” burials were performed during the period 1700 to 1750, and half of them involved women! According to Jones, Masonic funerals “had a distinctly Masonic character” and were accompanied by “esoteric observances”. They were largely discontinued after 1754 when Grand Lodge prohibited brothers from attending a funeral clothed as a Mason, except by dispensation of the Grand Master. On the other hand, it is possible that those concerned were simply Baptists or Quakers who had not been christened in the church.
    There appears to be only one way to account for these facts: it requires that Isaac was a member of the Royal Arch. He was a “gentleman”, a property owner with farming connections and certainly not an operative mason. The pickaxe and shovel are symbols that can be found on Royal Arch tracing boards, and appear prominently (together with a crow bar) on a famous depiction of the Royal Arch legend ( Figure 4).
    The pickaxe, shovel and a crowbar are also brought together in a symbol associated with the Royal Arch, the Royal Arch of Enoch and the Knights of the Ninth Arch (Figure 3). The fact that the dates on the plaque are too early according to the standard histories, simply indicates that these histories (which rely on limited documentary evidence) are wrong on this point.
    The use of a Masonic funeral service for women might be accounted for, if necessary, by the fact that, in certain Rites, there are adoptive degrees, such as the Heroine of Jericho and the Order of the Eastern Star.
    These can be given to the wife or widow of a Royal Arch Mason by a Royal Arch Mason other than her husband. However, for any of this to be true, it must be assumed that the Royal Arch existed well before 1727.
    In support of these arguments there is a curious piece of Erlestoke history. On an oldmap dated 1796 there is a building shown, called “The Temple”, that is no longer in existence. It has been suggested that a number of stone images, now decorating the fronts of several houses in the village which were upgraded in the 19th century, originally came from this “Temple”. Was this a Masonic temple? Some further investigation is clearly warranted.
    However, there is a better way to deal with these problems, namely to look for similar symbols on memorials in other churches. During the past 250 years at least, many Freemasons have arranged that their membership of the Craft be recorded on their tombstones. Fashions change with time and place but the symbols are unmistakable.
    For example, in St. Petersburg, I have found examples of 18th century graves comprised of a simple rectangular sarcophagus with a carved marble (acacia) branch emerging from the top, depicting the Legend of Hiram Abiff.
    In the United States it is common to find the simple square and compass of the Master Mason, and usually the Masonic “G” on gravestones from the period 1900-1950. During the 19th century the broken pillar, obelisks and other Egyptian symbols were popular although perhaps not exclusively Masonic.
    The skull and bones of the Master Mason are commonly found in Scottish graveyards of the 18th century (Curry, Temple, Arbroath Abbey), but they are often well weathered and it is not always easy to discern the details.
    I have found it best to look for memorials that have been sheltered from the weather, usually inside a church or cathedral.
    I have made a brief search of a number of Scottish churches and English cathedrals and have been surprised to find that Masonic symbols, including those associated with the Royal Arch, are quite common, especially in the period 1600-1700. There are examples in the churchyard of Greyfriars in Edinburgh with the skull, bones, pickaxe, shovel and hourglass found on Isaac Axford's memorial (Figure 1).
    The cathedrals in York, Lincoln, Hereford and Gloucester have several very fine examples, beautifully carved in marble (Figure 2). For Londoners who wish to look for themselves, Westminster Abbey has a splendid example dating from the early part of the 17th century. None of these seem to have been noticed by anyone in charge, although in one case, the guidebook remarks innocently on the bizarre collection of “gravedigger implements”.
    What does all this mean? First, it is clear that the Royal Arch degree must be much older than is usually assumed, by perhaps 150 years. It was clearly of importance for a number of distinguished citizens of the realm, who could afford to be commemorate in grand style in our better-known churches and cathedrals, to let it be known that they were members of the Royal Arch.
    Secondly, since the Royal Arch belongs to the Antients rather than the Moderns, the Antients must indeed have been ancient and have existed, fully developed as speculative Masons, long before the Grand Lodge of England was formed in 1717. Finally, since I have found some interesting things in churches elsewhere in Europe, not described here, so there are more surprises in store.
    It is a salutary lesson to discover that the history of Freemasonry is not only to be read in fragile and usually inaccessible old documents, but is also appropriately carved in stone for all to see.

Professor Sir Ian Axford FRS is director of the Max Planck Institut für Aeronomie in Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany.