Lodge The Carse of Gowrie - Errol & Inchture - No 871

This long extinct lodge was the first chartered in the Carse of Gowrie. It is extremely unlikely that any member of this lodge was alive when The Carse of Gowrie 871 was formed.

It was chartered on 6^th February 1758 ( the same day as Lodge St Andrew at Perth No 74, which recently celebrated its 250^th anniversary) at Longforgan  then numbered 85.

There were several enumerations by Grand Lodge during the life of Lodge Moncur and it was finally numbered 71 in the 1826 numeration. Shortly afterwards it was erased.

Little is known of this Lodge. Bro Robert Cooper is unaware of any material at Grand Lodge and suggests that as it was erased shortly after Perthshire split into two new provinces ( East and West ),  the new provincial body deemed it dormant and beyond revival.

A point of considerable interest is that the first Provincial Grand Master of Perthshire East was Bro George William Fox, 9^th Baron Kinnaird from 1828  d1878 .  Moncur Castle had been home to the Kinnairds  until 1807 when it was abounded favour of their present home at Rossie Priory. The ruin remains within Rossie Estate.

Masonic folklore has it that Lord Kinnaird declined to pay  a modest sum in arrears due to Grand Lodge to save Moncur from erasure. Given his proven commitment to Masonry this seems unlikely, albeit unproven.

The ruin of Moncur Castle is visible from the A90 to the north just east of Inchture. Moncur Farm, now no longer owned by the Kinnaird family, a large processing and packing depot for potatoes operated by Taypack, is opposite on the other side of the A90.

There is no known reference to this Lodge in the Kinnaird family archives, which are now held in Perth at the A K Bell Library.