Our History

  The Lodge was founded by a group of masons from the Silurian Lodge No.471, who petitioned the Howe Lodge No.587 from the Masonic Province of Warwickshire to sponsor the Lodges Formation.

The Lodge Warrant was sanctioned on the 23rd August 1856 and the inaugural meeting was held on the 30th December 1856 at 

Newport Masonic Hall, Lower Dock Street.

 Isca Lodge is the 3rd oldest Lodge in the Masonic Province of Monmouthshire and the second oldest Lodge meeting in Newport.  The Senior Lodges in the Province are the Loyal Monmouth Lodge No.457 (Constituted 16th January 1839) and the Silurian Lodge No.471 (who held their first meeting on 1st December 1841).

  The Lodge name derives from the 3rd Principal Fortress built by the Romans in 75 AD, named ISCA (Water) due to the fortress being close to mouth of the River Usk, which could be used to receive reinforcements or supplies by sea. The fortress of Isca was originally home to the 5,500 heavily armed infantry troops that made up the Second Augustan Legion (Legio Secunda Augusta) and outside its walls was erected a stone amphitheatre to hold gladiatorial combats. Its stone foundations remain today, clearly showing the classic layout of a Roman legionary fort. Isca remained the headquarters of Legio II Augusta for more than 200 years. In the late third-century Rome, around 287 -296 AD, and following the political turmoil of that time, it was the end to the history of Isca, and the beginning of the history of Caerleon as we know today!