WELCOME to the Provincial Priory of Dorset and Wiltshire
As Provincial Prior, I’m very pleased to welcome you to our website, and hope you
find it helpful and informative. The full title of the Order is The United Religious,
Military and Masonic Orders of the Temple and of St John of Jerusalem, Palestine,
Rhodes and Malta in England and Wales and Provinces Overseas, but most Masons know
it simply as ‘KT’. Candidates for membership must already be Craft and Royal Arch
Masons, and also profess the Christian Faith.
The Order is administered from Mark Masons’ Hall in London by the Great Priory, and
there are thirty Provinces in England and Wales. The Province of Dorset and Wiltshire
is the oldest in the Order, having been established by the Duke of Sussex, then Grand
Master, in 1836. We’re rightly proud of our history and our traditions, but we’re
quite clear that the Masonic Order of Knights Templar has no direct links with the
medieval Order – although our regalia is based on the clothing worn by them, and
our ceremonies recall the history and activities of that Order. Nor does it have
any direct links with the various other modern Orders which keep alive the traditions
and practices of the medieval Knights.
As in all Masonic Orders, the ceremonial in the Orders of the Temple and of Malta
is not only beautiful, but has profound symbolic meaning. Any qualified Mason would
find it a most enjoyable and rewarding further dimension of his Masonic life.
Richard Francis Micklefield, Provincial Prior
