St. Lawrence Preceptory and Priory No. 669
Warrant dated 15th November 2007. Meets at Warminster Masonic Hall, Market Place,
Warminister, Wiltshire, BA12 9AW on the fourth Tuesday in January, March, May (Installation)
and October (Malta).
Parking: Off Station road
Map
Consecrated at Warminster by the Provincial Prior, Revd Dr John Robert Henry Railton
on 15th December 2007.
The Preceptory is named after the small 13th century chapel of St. Lawrence, purchased
by the people of Warminster in 1575 and still maintained in trust for them by 'Feoffees'
- principled, honest and discreet men of the Parish.
St Lawrence was a Deacon who refused to reveal the location of the treasures of the
church to the Prefect of Rome during the 'Persecution of Valerian' in 256 AD. The
banner bears the gridiron on which he was believed subsequently to have been martyred
and the Chi Rho symbol familiar to us all.
Of the eighteen Founders, mostly resident in Wiltshire, ten were members of Selwood
Preceptory of St John, meeting at Frome in Somerset and four of Antiquity Encampment
No 1, meeting at Bath.
Members of both Selwood and Antiquity have historically been Founders of Preceptories
in this Provinc
