THE CITY OF LONDON. A MASONIC GUIDE. Yasha Beresiner, Lewis Masonic, Hersham, 2006. Paperback, 96 pages, £9.99. ISBN 0-85318-254-X

The City of London is a city within a city, the hub and coalface of a greater, modern-day urban sprawl. Established by the Romans two thousand years ago, this ancient metropolis has witnessed many events: invasions, migrations, riots, rebellions, plagues, fires and the devastating bombings of a World War. Today the City is stronger and more vibrant than ever, a financial powerhouse whose vertical canyons still unconsciously honour a mass of medieval lanes. It has been both the incubator and wet nurse to a series of firsts, from the founding of the Royal Society, to the setting up of the Bank of England, but for Freemasons it is also the crucible out of which emerged the modern craft of Freemasonry. And it is with this latter subject in mind, that the author has managed to produce another first (as far as I am aware) – a guide book focusing on the masonic life of the City.
    The book commences with a foreword by David Brewer, a City Alderman and the current Lord Mayor, who is himself a keen Freemason. The author then introduces the City traversing its rich history before readers are invited to begin their walk, one which starts at Freemasons’ Hall in Great Queen Street, the home and headquarters of the United Grand Lodge of England. Readers are then encouraged to wend their way via key places of masonic interest down through Lincoln’s Inn Fields to the Temple with its twelfth-century church and enigmatic knightly effigies before passing along Fleet Street to the place where the Grand Lodge first met in midsummer assembly in the shadow of London’s landmark cathedral, St. Paul’s.
    This is a welcome and useful guide, as it flags up numerous sites of masonic interest including former lodge meeting places such as Fleet Street’s ancient Cheshire Cheese Tavern where pints have been pulled from at least the time of the great fire of 1666. Other sites include the City churches, Guildhall, Mansion House, the Bank of England, and the monument to the Duke of Wellington. But if you want to find out why Wellington is relevant to this masonic tour, you’ll just have to buy the book.

Matthew Scanlan