This collection forms the archive of the first masonic lodge in the Vale of Clwyd, Royal Denbigh Lodge No. 1143. Consecrated in 1867 it was the second lodge of this name to be created in Denbigh, the first being formed in 1787, but being erased by the Grand Lodge of England in 1811. This was the same for all but one lodges in North Wales, with the second Royal Denbigh Lodge being part of the revival of Freemasonry in North Wales, under the direction of Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, 6th Bt. of Wynnstay, as Provincial Grand Master.
The collection comprises a variety of original material; minute books, members books, accounts and other individual items, which provide the basic raw material of the Lodge's activity from 1867. The nature of the Lodge from the start was very much based around the upper echelons of Denbighshire society, and so important local figures feature prominently in the accounts of Lodge proceedings. The Lodge is also key in terms of Freemasonry in Denbighshire, as the 'Mother Lodge' of other lodges in Ruthin, Denbigh, Wrexham and St. Asaph. In order to assist any potential research a history of the Lodge, drawn from these sources and the Denbighshire Archives, was written in 2014, in time for the Lodge to celebrate it's 150th anniversary in 2017.