The Lodge Badge

The late W.Bro L A H Chappell, PPSGD, designed the Lodge Badge in 1956 and provided the following explanation:

The object of any emblem or coat of arms is to convey in symbolic form certain characteristics relative to the owner. In this instance, the design for Chingford Meridian Lodge No.7465 truthfully adhered to that purpose and is best seen on the coloured enamelled Past Master’s Breast Jewel.

Chingford was established as a settlement in the 13th century. The Bourne Brook, which ran through it, became known as the River Ching in the 16th century. A ford, was which was situated there, derived it’s name from the description “Chingleford” which indicated the shingle or stoney base that allowed crossing the Bourne Brook at that point. Wavy lines are invariably used in heraldry to indicate water and are used to depict the River Ching on the Lodge Badge.

The astronomers at the Greenwich Observatory perfected a method to assist navigators throughout the world to enable them to chart their position at any time of the day or night. This was based upon degrees of longitude East and West of an imaginary line drawn from the North Pole to the South Pole passing through the site of the Greenwich Observatory. This datum line, called the Meridian, also passes through Chingford and is commemorated by an Obelisk erected on Pole Hill on the borders of Epping Forest. The Obelisk in the design of the Badge, complete with it’s commemorative plaque, flanked by two trees, with a background of water, all serve to identify Chingford in a symbolical manner.

The sun which, according to it’s position on a sextant, assists in the navigators’ calculation, is shown in the Badge at it’s meridian emblematically to show it at it’s zenith with respect to Freemasonry in general and to Chingford Meridian Lodge in particular. It forms the central feature, in conjunction with the Obelisk, on the Lodge Badge.

The pale blue is shown to represent the Craft as a whole and the dark blue surround to indicate those representatives of Grand Lodge and Provincial Grand Lodge associated with its Consecration. The two circles indicate the Prime Meridian as would be designated “nought degrees” or as shown on a chart as 00

The number 7465 appears on the Warrant of the Lodge which was handed to the First Master and in turn is passed on “pure and unsullied” to each successor. It indicates the position of the Lodge on the Register of the United Grand Lodge of England when in 1956 Chingford Meridian Lodge came into being.