July 21, 2025 • 30 mins
This week, we journey to 18th-century Ireland, a time of grand estates and closely guarded secrets, to unravel a truly unique tale: the story of the Lady Freemason. Joining us to shed light on this fascinating historical anomaly is Katheleen Aldworth Foster, author of "Doneraile Court: The Story of the Lady Freemason." Katheleen shares the story of Elizabeth St. Leger, a 17-year woman who was caught eavesdropping in a Lodge, and the enduring mystery surrounding her alleged initiation into Freemasonry.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Commons. Opinions and views shared during this program are
of those individual Freemasons and do not reflect the official
position of a Grand Lodge, concordant Body, a pendant Body,
Masonic authority, or Craftsman Online dot Com.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Welcome back to the Craftsman Online Podcast, the only Masonic
podcast endorsed by the Grand Lodge of New York. I'm
your host Wright Worship of Brother Michael Arsay. Every Mason
knows a good story because our fraternity is just shrouded
in mystery. And if you've heard this one before, stop
me as we get ready to explore the mystery of
(00:49):
donnerrel Court. It's the story of the Irish Lady Freemason
and on this episode we're going to be heading back
to eighteenth century Ireland. Now think of this. It's a
time of grand estates, closely guarded secrets in a really
unique tale that starts with a young girl and somehow
is initiated and becomes a brother Freemason in Ireland. To
(01:14):
share the story is the book's author, Kathleen Aldworth Foster.
Welcome to the Craftsman Online Podcast.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Thanks for having me, Michael, so.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
As we kind of tease, I'm looking forward to getting
into the story of the Lady Freemason, because I know
a lot of our brothers are listening to this podcast,
or just men that have an interest in freemasonry are
going to say, hey, wait a second, I thought freemasonry
was just something that guys were involved with. Before we
get into the Lady Freemason story, I'd like to kind
of share a little bit of your background, what inspired
(01:44):
you or interested you to write this story of this
book and to kind of follow the history of Danielle Cork.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
I first heard about the Lady Freemason at the Pyramids
of Visa in the year two thousand. I was twenty
five years old, and I decided that I needed to
be in Jerusalem for Christmas nineteen ninety nine, and I
wanted to be at the Pyramids of Visa for ytk
New Year's Eve, and I was, and it was there
that I met a man who was there studying freemasonry
(02:13):
and Freemasonry's ties to Egypt. And he told me that
I share my name, the all birth name, with the
first ever female Freemason, and her name was Elizabeth Aliber.
He didn't tell me a whole lot more than that,
and it was the year two thousand, so it's not
like I could just google her at the time, so
(02:33):
I kept this information in my back pocket. He but
I was very interested in Freemasonry, though I knew very little,
and he sent me the book The hierarm Fe So
that was my introduction to freemasonry, and that was my
introduction to the Lady Freemason.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
What's fascinating is I know so many guys that have
fallen TOI. I call it the Masonic rabbit hole of
their own where they hear something in the ritual or
they have an idea of something that comes up, and
so they start reading all these books or watching lives lectures,
are listening to podcasts to get that information. And as
you mentioned, this was back in two thousand, here we
are twenty five years later. Tell us about Elizabeth Saint
(03:09):
Leisure legend.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Has it right that Elizabeth Saint Leger her maiden name,
was seventeen years old when she was caught spying on
Freemasons in the middle of a ritual in her family's home.
Now she was Her father was a viscount, so they
were wealthy English landowners in Ireland. So the story is
(03:30):
that she fell asleep in the library, awoke to hear voices.
She was caught by the tyler, who was actually the
family's butler, who had to make the decision whether to
hander over to her father and say what he had
found and that she may have hearded something, seen something,
or send her off to bed.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Well.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
He decided to tell her father and her brothers, who
were also part of this group. And this story is
that her father and her brothers were amongst them men
who were willing to kill her and discuss interesting ways
in which to do it, until one man stood up
and said, wait a minute, this is crazy. Let's put
her through the paces. Let's make her the first ever
(04:11):
female freemason, and I will be responsible for her for
the rest of my life. And that man was Richard Aldworth,
who she married five months later. This is the true
story that is told if you go to Donnareil, And
that is what intrigued me is here we had a mystery,
a thriller, and a love story all wrapped up in one.
(04:33):
But I didn't plan on writing a nonfiction book. I
planned on writing I'm sorry. I didn't plan on writing
a fiction book. I planned on writing a nonfiction book.
Initially because I'm a journalist and I spent years working
as a television news producer. That's what was in my blood.
Writing a fiction book was a real challenge for me.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Our story kind of starts well before two thousand, just
you know, a few years before, with Elizabeth's story. And
then you're told, hey, you are related to this famous
last name of this seventeen year old girl who became
Ireland's first female freemason. And you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
You're doing all this research, you hear the myth for
the first time. You're like, this is great and for
our listeners, that's going this would actually make a pretty
(05:13):
good like documentary or streaming movie. But wait, there's more.
We'll get to that later in the podcast. Where did
you start to separate the myth from the facts and
the history of what actually happened? Tell us about that
investigation part.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
The book is called Donna Relport The Story of the
Lady Freemason for a reason. The house where this all
took place is still standing, and it was one of
these There was just a string of strange synchronicities that
kept happening to me, and this is one of them.
So I mentioned I was a journalist and I was
working in Israel the summer of two thousand and six
(05:47):
covering a war, yet another conflict in the Middle East.
That one was between Pezbulabrilla's and Israel, and I spent
three weeks dodging tutas and then I told, oh, my
boss is hum you know what, I I have this
pre planned genealogy trip in Ireland.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
So I've got a fly to Ireland tomorrow. So I
flew and there.
Speaker 4 (06:09):
Right before I left Israel, the Internet had now caught
up with the Lady Freemason and the Lady Freemason story,
so I'd read a little bit about her, and that's
when I discovered that she was from County Cork, Ireland.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
I didn't know that prior to this.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
When I arrived at Shannon Airport, said to my dad, Hey,
remember that Oldworth Freemason lady I told you about. Well,
it turns out she's from here in County Cork. And
the man that my dad hired to drive our family
around Ireland overheard me and he said, yeah, not only
is she from here, but her house is still standing.
Do you want to go? So that was the first
(06:42):
time I ever saw the house itself, and it is
in the middle of a beautiful wildlife preserve. It's been
owned by the OPW, so it's owned by the State
of Ireland. But at the time I was there, it
was behind a chain link fence. It was dearyl, it
was in terrible condition, and it was the bus drive
her who told me this story as I just described
(07:03):
it to you in that kind of detail, and showed
me a back bear in town where it says even
her father and her brothers were ready to kill her.
So this is the story that you hear when you
go to Donnail. The house is still standing, which is
an amazing part of the story, and it is one
of the top tourist attractions in Ireland, not because of
(07:25):
the Lady Freemason, but because of the history that it
presents and the beauty that it presents.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
The book is called Donnareil Court, The Story of a
Lady Freemason. If you're interested in getting a copy of it,
we're going to make sure the links to get that
through Amazon or through Kathleen's website are in the notes
for this episode. The story revolves around a seventeen year
old girl as we talked about eavesdropping her family in
the launch, going through some degree some ritual. Uh oh,
what are we going to do with her? I've heard
(07:51):
tale of things like this before. When you and I
were talking about this before and you shared all you know,
you were kind enough to share exert up your book,
some of the other interviews that you've been on, and
I'm reading about this just myself. I found it completely fascinating.
I've heard a lot of the myths. What I'm also
interested in is that you're sitting in the back seat
and the cab drivers like, I know exactly what you're
(08:13):
talking about, Like how prevalent is this story and how
relevant to the people in Ireland to today?
Speaker 3 (08:18):
Widespread in Ireland.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
It's not locally in Donnerhel County, Cork, Ireland and in
Cork City, Ireland is but she is important enough that
she's recognized as the only female member of regular Freemasonry
in Ireland, to the extent that her portrait hangs in
the Grand Logeland.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
That's pretty significant.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Yes, it certainly is.
Speaker 5 (08:41):
So.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
When I first saw this story and saw the house,
I have a great love of old houses, and I
thought maybe if I wrote a book about this story.
It could help raise money to help fix this house. Well,
it took me fifteen years to write this book because
anyone who studies freemasonry notes that there is no end
(09:02):
to it.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
You just keep going and going and going and going.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
So at one point, I being a journalist, I'm not
afraid to reach out to the people who I feel
I need to talk to. So one of the people
I've reached out to is Brother David Butler of Munster Freemasonry,
and he is one of the He's the archivist and
the librarian in charge of some personal effects that Munster
(09:29):
Freemasonry has that belonged to her and her life and
new were donated to the two months to the lodge,
the Provincial Grand Lodge by family members later in life. So,
of course, another strange synchronicity. When I reached out to
him here he was here in New York City at
the Waldorf Hotel. We met up and I planned another
(09:51):
trip to Ireland to do some research. And at that
point is when I reached out to the OPW and
I asked them for permission to get inside. The house
hadn't been open to the public in years and years
and they allowed me to sit inside there, to sit
inside the room where all of this happened, to imagine
what was going on at the time, to imagine where
her room was, to imagine where these men would have been,
(10:14):
and the fear that she would have felt.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
And I'm imagining inside the house is kind of either
set to the period piece of that time. What did
you find when you walked inside?
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Oh, it was falling apart.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
And in the time that it took me to write
this book, Ireland actually renovated the first floor. So just
as I was about to release the book, they were
getting ready to open the doors of donner Real Court
for the first time.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Now, I feel like I skipped over a very obvious
question because as a mason, I'm like, Okay, I don't
ever believe that men would say, oh my gosh, we
heard this young woman overhearing our initiation, we must put
the sword to her. When you heard that, Like, how
much did you know about freemasonry And what was like
the first thought that went through your mind? And did
it change as you started learning more about our ancient
(10:59):
and gentle craft.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
Well, yes, I didn't know much about freemasonry, and my
first thought was what is so important that even her
own father would even consider the possibility of killing his
daughter to protect these secrets. Or was there something else
going on? I think there mention other things going on,
maybe some rivalries in his town and his position. That's
(11:25):
the thing that's what made it so difficult is at
that time, I am told or it is out there
that what she saw that night would have been the
first and two degrees combined. The third degree really didn't
exist at that time seventeen twelve, is what we're talking.
So that's what makes it this story so unique is
(11:45):
that it takes place prior to the creation of the
Grand Lodge of England, that prior to the creation of
the Grand Lodge of Ireland, Scotland, all of them. So
it's proof that Freemasonry was operative in private homes at
the time.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
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(12:32):
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(13:09):
You had mentioned that you had found a bridge that
had a really cool Masonic limerick that points back to
the origins of Freemasonry before we know seventeen seventeen.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
This is actually something that you can buy a replica
of online. It's called the ball Bridge Square and it's
another it's another piece of proof that Freemasonry was operating
in Ireland for decades prior to the Grand Lodgers, which
I mean free Masons know this, but there's not that
much proof of it. This is a square that's found
(13:42):
during the excavation of a bridge. It's Ball's Bridge, which
is in County Limerick in the eighteen hundreds. I will
strive to live with love and care upon the level
by the square and it's dated fifteen oh seven.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Way before.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Yeah, that way before. I love that way before.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Here's the question that keeps going through my mind. And
I'm going to say this with half a joke and
half a smile on my face, because you know, there
is some truth behind it. But a lot of women
that I know have zero interest in freemasonry. And the
women that I know would be my wife who's in
the other room watching Ninety Day Fiance or Kardashians or
real Desperate housewives of something right now. She has no
(14:19):
interest in anything that I do in this room or lodge.
Like the one question she asked when I tell her
I'm going to launch the night is what time will
you be home? I think for the brothers that were
listening to this episode and are going, well, what would
a seventeen year old girl find interesting about freemasonry that
she would want to sit there and continue listening to
this much less follow her dad or brother or other
(14:39):
family members to this lodge to see what this was
all about. I guess we'll never really know because no
one was there to capture that part of the story.
But I would ask you, when you were going through
your research on all of this, you had to have
at least picked up a copy of Duncan's Ritual at
the easiest version of it and read through it. Oh yeah,
(15:01):
was there anything, Kathleen that you found in your research?
And you're like, hmm, I could see how Elizabeth, the
seventeen year old girl would be interested in this, or
you're just like, I actually kind of found this interesting
and I started having questions about what it all meant.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Well, I think this is a chicken and egg situation.
Who knows that freemasonry was her reason for spying? What
if it was this guy she married five months later?
Speaker 3 (15:25):
But what I mean?
Speaker 4 (15:27):
She could have just been a hormonal seventeen year old
girl who wanted to see what was going on and
who the guys were behind there. But what's fascinating is
even when they agreed to put her through the paces
right and make her the first ever female free mason
that night, do you think that they thought she was
going to keep coming back?
Speaker 3 (15:48):
She did, and.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
That is what really sets her apart from the rest.
There are plenty of stories out there over the past
couple of centuries about women who have hidden grandfather clocks
or spied on tavern meetings, and they may have gone
through the ritual up until the point that they saw,
but she kept going and she was an active Freemason
(16:12):
throughout her entire life for the next sixty years. She
died at age eighty. She and her husband are the
longest because he was a Freemason too, are the longest
serving married couple. Well, really, the who can you name
another married couple that's regular? No, that's really I would say.
The answer to that question is that she kept coming back.
(16:33):
So what was it about freemasonry that fascinated her enough
and intrigued her enough? And she was known in her
lifetime for her philanthropy, so it meant a lot to
her to take care of the people and the families
around her throughout her life and into her old age.
So that's where I am now is I'm trying very
hard to find out as much as I can about
(16:55):
what happened with Elizabeth in her life and her life
in Freemason host that night in November.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
We asked that question a lot here on the podcast,
like what about these great men drew them to our fraternity?
Did our fraternity make them great somehow? Or were they
already destined to be great, and they picked up something
from freemasonry that they were ready to apply or carry
forward in their life. I never really thought about that
in the sense of like, what if somebody who quote
unquote shouldn't have been there that night was able to
(17:25):
get a slice of this and go, Wow, this is
the thing I've been looking for in my life, and
I'm going to make this a part of me.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
Now.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
That's how I described her in the book. That's how
I imagined it. I've kind of figured she was probably a
little bit like me. You know, maybe she would have
been a journalist too today. Maybe she would have been
a little bit nosy, curious truth seeker, right, Okay, Yeah,
that's a way better way of putting it, a truth seeker.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Yeah. And I'd be interested to go through the documents
to find out how she served the lodge, if she
went through the officer chairs, if there were any committees
or charitable work that she was a part of of.
And you know how it goes beyond being Hey, you
were the first person that did this, and you shattered
that ceiling, and you broke through the door, so to speak,
and you were accepted and you were taken by these
brothers and now you've become one of them to then
(18:13):
what did you do after that? Like what was your impact?
Speaker 4 (18:16):
Well, you're going to love this because there's very little.
There are some Donnerrail papers that actually have handwritten at
the top of it. If you're looking for information about
the lady Freemason, don't bother's not here. The other thing
there is a letter from the female Grandmistress. It is
called There was printed in a Dublin broad Street a
(18:37):
broadsheet in seventeen thirties or seventeen forties, and it has
been completely dismissed as a parody. That's pretty telling in itself.
If it wasn't a parody, and it really was from
someone that could have possibly been Earth or someone else,
another group of female Freemasons that I've been operating at
this time, that tells you what the men thought of them,
(18:59):
thought of them at the time, that they just dismissed
it as a parody.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
Oh, don't worry about it. Jonathan Swift broke.
Speaker 4 (19:04):
Jonathan Swift wrote that couldn't possibly be from a real
female Freemason, there are none. I can't imagine her going
and knocking on the door in London and being accepted
as she was. But in Dublin and in court she
was known to lead pro sessions in full regalia and
in her in her coat going to a theater in
(19:26):
Dublin full regalia. She was as the lady Freemason bing
her life.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
That it's one of those things where I wish Doc
Brown's time machine was around and relevant for us today.
I've said this on other episodes, but this is one
where I would just like to go back and get
thirty minutes just talking to her and answering all of
these questions. So I'd be like, Wow, this is a
story that yes, there's just that natural fascination of like
it's different, there's a little bit of myth, there's a
(19:52):
little bit of intrigue. But then you kind of wonder.
And we asked this question all the time to the
men who come on the podcast as brothers and say,
you know, how did freemason remake you a better man? Well,
in this case, how did freemasonry make you a better person?
And how did you make better people because of your
connection to this craft? So I want to get back
to that initial question. Though you know you're going through
Duncan's ritual, and I'm imagining you're like, what is this
(20:14):
all about? Were there any parts of our you know,
Masonic lessons or anything that you had read in that
Because we can openly talk about it, it's out in publication,
I'm not going to be violating any secrets. But was
there anything as an outsider that interests you? Because I
never really get the chance to talk to people, men
or women about this, because I find that today people
(20:38):
the allure or the excitement of discovering the Freemasons. It's like, ah,
I could just do a Google search, watch a couple
of YouTube videos, I'm good.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
Well.
Speaker 4 (20:46):
I was more familiar with the way American Freemasons operated
just from watching things on TV. So the biggest eye
opening thing was the way the Irish operate is very different.
For example, they don't wear their aprons over their blazers.
They wear them under. So my one of my first
drafts of my book, before before David Butler from Gork
(21:09):
started a copy editing, he had to change that for me.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Oh no, no, it's this, and I thought.
Speaker 4 (21:14):
Well, that sounds a lot more comfortable than wearing it
on top of them.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
You don't have the loose button problem. As much. Yeah,
you're right.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Good, So there's that.
Speaker 4 (21:24):
And then I'd say the other big eye opener for
me was the point of the compass, and it's it's
the point of a dagger for in io. I actually
addressed this in the book, how do you handle exposing
the left breast for this ritual?
Speaker 3 (21:39):
Really?
Speaker 4 (21:39):
In seventeen twelve did this part of the ritual? Did
it look like this? I don't know. That was the
that was I would say the single most difficult decision.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
I wish I could just get that on repeat, on
like a loop, because it's funny. Kathleen. In twenty twenty five,
that is when we talk about the idea of women
and freemasonry. What you just talked about is one of
the number one things that some men have a problem
with having women in the fraternity. They don't think about
the mind, the intellect, the value of what this person
can bring as far as insight and experiences. They just
(22:11):
think about the physical difference. And I thought we were
way past that.
Speaker 5 (22:15):
Now it'll still be an issue.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
The book is called Donner el Court, The Story of
the Lady Freemason. We're talking with Kathleen Aldworth Foster, the
author of Donner eel Court. You've kind of outlined some
of the issues we have is the facts of the case,
as a lawyer would say, like, we know these bullet points,
but there's because of the time that we're going into,
there was journals or letters or documents for you to
(23:03):
kind of really get into the grist of her story.
So at one point you're writing this is you want
this to be a nonfiction. As you mentioned, it becomes
a fiction book without giving away the story, so that
our listener has an opportunity to enjoy this in the book.
When did we start to get you and your ideas
into the story of young Elizabeth Well.
Speaker 4 (23:23):
I had to create characters. I had to create a
whole secondary storyline that I based on real history in
the area, but had to create the butler.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
For example.
Speaker 4 (23:37):
I couldn't find his name in anything, really, so I
see him as an opportunity to create another little.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
Piece of trauma.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
And the things that happened to him absolutely did not
happen in real life.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
That's one made up and I have a really hard
time with that.
Speaker 4 (23:57):
I knew that I had to do this, but if
you get my book, I included a quote from one
of the best historical fiction authors, and that is that
historical fiction, you have a story that provides the scaffold
to what you're writing, and then you are the eyes
the author have to fill in the rest.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
I immediately started thinking of other historical mini series that
are super popular or streaming series like Peaky Blinders comes
to mind. Little historical accuracy, some narrative storytelling that's involved there.
I think High Lender would be another series of folks
that are familiar with that that would be at least
the timeline would kind of overlap with the story and
(24:38):
when where Elizabeth was at that point in time. Eighteenth
century though, that must have been a really interesting one
because life was a lot different back then when it
came to classes in society and what they looked at
as well, we would call them traditional roles. But what
a women's role is? How did you embrace that or
how did you write about that? How does it become
(25:00):
part of the narrative in your story?
Speaker 4 (25:02):
Well, I mean I think I addressed it. I think
that she was a little bit more lucky than any
other woman because she was in such close proximity to
a situation like this, that she was the daughter of
a viscount. She wasn't a peasant woman or even an
Irish woman living there, so she was exposed to things
that she might not have been exposed to otherwise. But
I think that what we discussed before is the biggest
(25:24):
difference is that she kept going. She was a She
was a trailblazer in seventeen seventeen twelve, and though in
a way that women are still today struggling to fight
their way through to the things that they want to do.
I mean, female freemasonry is accepted in some places, but
there are no regular lodges, and there are a few
(25:46):
named after her, so her legacy continues. The first ever
co Masonry under ludoat whom Humaine in France, was named
after her, and there's a very very active group of
female free Masons in Brazil and their lodge is all
named after her, so even years later, her legacy as
(26:08):
the rail blazing Freemason lives on.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
We've talked about some of the significant history that donnerree
Court is able to kind of tie into improving the
existence of freemasonry before it was officially opened and kind
of revealed. As most Masonic scholars and brothers would say,
seventeen seventeen with the formation of the Grand Lodge of England.
I know that there is a big movement that's happening
now to preserve the history of Doneroe Court and the
(26:34):
story of the Lady Freemason. Can you tell us what
our brothers in Pork County are doing to do this?
In Ireland?
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Oh? Yes, sure.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
So there is a fundraising push right now. They're calling
it the Lady Freemason Appeal. There is a collection of
her personal artifacts that are in the hands of the
provincial Grand Lodge of Munster, so this is the County
Court area and they are raising money to create a
permanent exhibit space for her. Prior to this, her things
(27:05):
have just been in behind glass frames in their dining room.
So in add to this they're also trying to put
in an elevator.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
So this is this.
Speaker 4 (27:16):
She's actually buried not far from Freemason's Hall in Cork,
so you can also go to a Cork Cathedral where
she's buried and there's a plaque there commemorating her. And
then there's also the house down a real court which
is as I mentioned, owned by the State of Ireland
and they have now since completed the first and second floors.
They would call at the ground and the first floors,
(27:38):
and they have just gotten the money to put on
an orangery that used to be there adjoining the house.
They're going to recreate that. So together the State of Ireland,
the OPW and the Freemasons in Cork are working together
to keep her story alive and to use it to
raise money for both for both accounts, to keep her
(28:01):
artifacts in good shape and the story around for generations
to come.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
I can see this being not only just a community
or a local piece of history with the landmark, but
also the tie to our fternity. So we'll make sure
that brothers listening. If you're like, hey, I want to give,
I want to give generously. I want to learn more
about this. The link to be a part of it
will be in the notes for this episode before we
get you out of here. We tease this at the
very beginning, and I know that there's something special that's
(28:28):
in the works here. But I love when a great
story like this becomes a book and it becomes highly
successful and then it's like, okay, this would be perfect
if I could watch it as a movie or a
short limited series on it. What do you have plans
for next to share this story?
Speaker 4 (28:43):
Well, so it does have an option agreement for a
television series. It's right now in the process of morphing
into a film. So what we're thinking is a film
that's more true to the book. And I have plans
to write two more books that are more about Elizabeth
Away the Onion, finding out what's behind freemasonry, what are
the connections to the Knights Templar, What would she want
(29:07):
to find out? I, as a journalist, plan to.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
Act as her.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
Really, you know, I am in a point where I'm
not a Freemason. I don't feel like I could become
a Freemason at this time. I hope to later, but
not until I'm done feeling away that onion with Elizabeth.
So people can tune in to a TV series or
a film where whichever comes a bit. But you know
what the nicest part about this is I donated a
(29:35):
bunch of books to the Lady Freemason Appeal for them
to sell as part of this fundraiser, and a local
actor in Ireland it's also a Freemason Ball and he's
the one who gave it to the producers initially, so
it all ties back to the Lady Freemason and her
acts of goodwill and her acts of pol anthropy.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
That's the reason why I got an option agreement in
the first place.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Thanks again to my guests this week, Kathleen Aldworth Boss.
If's're the author of Donnerill Court, The Story of a
Lady Freemason. If you'd like to get a copy of
the book or learn more about this story and how
you can support some of the restoration efforts, just click
on the show notes for this episode. Bang You'll find
all the links you need right there. If you've enjoyed
this episode of The Craftsman Online Podcast, I'm pretty sure
you'd like it even better commercial free and earlier, for
(30:20):
just five dollars a month, you can become a Patreon
subscriber get access to a lot of our exclusive extra
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up with a free seven day trial right now. In
the notes for this episode,
The Commons. Opinions and views shared during this program are
of those individual Freemasons and do not reflect the official
position of a Grand Lodge, concordant Body, a pendant Body,
Masonic authority, or Craftsman Online dot Com.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Welcome back to the Craftsman Online Podcast, the only Masonic
podcast endorsed by the Grand Lodge of New York. I'm
your host Wright Worship of Brother Michael Arsay. Every Mason
knows a good story because our fraternity is just shrouded
in mystery. And if you've heard this one before, stop
me as we get ready to explore the mystery of
(00:49):
donnerrel Court. It's the story of the Irish Lady Freemason
and on this episode we're going to be heading back
to eighteenth century Ireland. Now think of this. It's a
time of grand estates, closely guarded secrets in a really
unique tale that starts with a young girl and somehow
is initiated and becomes a brother Freemason in Ireland. To
(01:14):
share the story is the book's author, Kathleen Aldworth Foster.
Welcome to the Craftsman Online Podcast.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Thanks for having me, Michael, so.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
As we kind of tease, I'm looking forward to getting
into the story of the Lady Freemason, because I know
a lot of our brothers are listening to this podcast,
or just men that have an interest in freemasonry are
going to say, hey, wait a second, I thought freemasonry
was just something that guys were involved with. Before we
get into the Lady Freemason story, I'd like to kind
of share a little bit of your background, what inspired
(01:44):
you or interested you to write this story of this
book and to kind of follow the history of Danielle Cork.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
I first heard about the Lady Freemason at the Pyramids
of Visa in the year two thousand. I was twenty
five years old, and I decided that I needed to
be in Jerusalem for Christmas nineteen ninety nine, and I
wanted to be at the Pyramids of Visa for ytk
New Year's Eve, and I was, and it was there
that I met a man who was there studying freemasonry
(02:13):
and Freemasonry's ties to Egypt. And he told me that
I share my name, the all birth name, with the
first ever female Freemason, and her name was Elizabeth Aliber.
He didn't tell me a whole lot more than that,
and it was the year two thousand, so it's not
like I could just google her at the time, so
(02:33):
I kept this information in my back pocket. He but
I was very interested in Freemasonry, though I knew very little,
and he sent me the book The hierarm Fe So
that was my introduction to freemasonry, and that was my
introduction to the Lady Freemason.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
What's fascinating is I know so many guys that have
fallen TOI. I call it the Masonic rabbit hole of
their own where they hear something in the ritual or
they have an idea of something that comes up, and
so they start reading all these books or watching lives lectures,
are listening to podcasts to get that information. And as
you mentioned, this was back in two thousand, here we
are twenty five years later. Tell us about Elizabeth Saint
(03:09):
Leisure legend.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Has it right that Elizabeth Saint Leger her maiden name,
was seventeen years old when she was caught spying on
Freemasons in the middle of a ritual in her family's home.
Now she was Her father was a viscount, so they
were wealthy English landowners in Ireland. So the story is
(03:30):
that she fell asleep in the library, awoke to hear voices.
She was caught by the tyler, who was actually the
family's butler, who had to make the decision whether to
hander over to her father and say what he had
found and that she may have hearded something, seen something,
or send her off to bed.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Well.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
He decided to tell her father and her brothers, who
were also part of this group. And this story is
that her father and her brothers were amongst them men
who were willing to kill her and discuss interesting ways
in which to do it, until one man stood up
and said, wait a minute, this is crazy. Let's put
her through the paces. Let's make her the first ever
(04:11):
female freemason, and I will be responsible for her for
the rest of my life. And that man was Richard Aldworth,
who she married five months later. This is the true
story that is told if you go to Donnareil, And
that is what intrigued me is here we had a mystery,
a thriller, and a love story all wrapped up in one.
(04:33):
But I didn't plan on writing a nonfiction book. I
planned on writing I'm sorry. I didn't plan on writing
a fiction book. I planned on writing a nonfiction book.
Initially because I'm a journalist and I spent years working
as a television news producer. That's what was in my blood.
Writing a fiction book was a real challenge for me.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Our story kind of starts well before two thousand, just
you know, a few years before, with Elizabeth's story. And
then you're told, hey, you are related to this famous
last name of this seventeen year old girl who became
Ireland's first female freemason. And you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
You're doing all this research, you hear the myth for
the first time. You're like, this is great and for
our listeners, that's going this would actually make a pretty
(05:13):
good like documentary or streaming movie. But wait, there's more.
We'll get to that later in the podcast. Where did
you start to separate the myth from the facts and
the history of what actually happened? Tell us about that
investigation part.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
The book is called Donna Relport The Story of the
Lady Freemason for a reason. The house where this all
took place is still standing, and it was one of
these There was just a string of strange synchronicities that
kept happening to me, and this is one of them.
So I mentioned I was a journalist and I was
working in Israel the summer of two thousand and six
(05:47):
covering a war, yet another conflict in the Middle East.
That one was between Pezbulabrilla's and Israel, and I spent
three weeks dodging tutas and then I told, oh, my
boss is hum you know what, I I have this
pre planned genealogy trip in Ireland.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
So I've got a fly to Ireland tomorrow. So I
flew and there.
Speaker 4 (06:09):
Right before I left Israel, the Internet had now caught
up with the Lady Freemason and the Lady Freemason story,
so I'd read a little bit about her, and that's
when I discovered that she was from County Cork, Ireland.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
I didn't know that prior to this.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
When I arrived at Shannon Airport, said to my dad, Hey,
remember that Oldworth Freemason lady I told you about. Well,
it turns out she's from here in County Cork. And
the man that my dad hired to drive our family
around Ireland overheard me and he said, yeah, not only
is she from here, but her house is still standing.
Do you want to go? So that was the first
(06:42):
time I ever saw the house itself, and it is
in the middle of a beautiful wildlife preserve. It's been
owned by the OPW, so it's owned by the State
of Ireland. But at the time I was there, it
was behind a chain link fence. It was dearyl, it
was in terrible condition, and it was the bus drive
her who told me this story as I just described
(07:03):
it to you in that kind of detail, and showed
me a back bear in town where it says even
her father and her brothers were ready to kill her.
So this is the story that you hear when you
go to Donnail. The house is still standing, which is
an amazing part of the story, and it is one
of the top tourist attractions in Ireland, not because of
(07:25):
the Lady Freemason, but because of the history that it
presents and the beauty that it presents.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
The book is called Donnareil Court, The Story of a
Lady Freemason. If you're interested in getting a copy of it,
we're going to make sure the links to get that
through Amazon or through Kathleen's website are in the notes
for this episode. The story revolves around a seventeen year
old girl as we talked about eavesdropping her family in
the launch, going through some degree some ritual. Uh oh,
what are we going to do with her? I've heard
(07:51):
tale of things like this before. When you and I
were talking about this before and you shared all you know,
you were kind enough to share exert up your book,
some of the other interviews that you've been on, and
I'm reading about this just myself. I found it completely fascinating.
I've heard a lot of the myths. What I'm also
interested in is that you're sitting in the back seat
and the cab drivers like, I know exactly what you're
(08:13):
talking about, Like how prevalent is this story and how
relevant to the people in Ireland to today?
Speaker 3 (08:18):
Widespread in Ireland.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
It's not locally in Donnerhel County, Cork, Ireland and in
Cork City, Ireland is but she is important enough that
she's recognized as the only female member of regular Freemasonry
in Ireland, to the extent that her portrait hangs in
the Grand Logeland.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
That's pretty significant.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Yes, it certainly is.
Speaker 5 (08:41):
So.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
When I first saw this story and saw the house,
I have a great love of old houses, and I
thought maybe if I wrote a book about this story.
It could help raise money to help fix this house. Well,
it took me fifteen years to write this book because
anyone who studies freemasonry notes that there is no end
(09:02):
to it.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
You just keep going and going and going and going.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
So at one point, I being a journalist, I'm not
afraid to reach out to the people who I feel
I need to talk to. So one of the people
I've reached out to is Brother David Butler of Munster Freemasonry,
and he is one of the He's the archivist and
the librarian in charge of some personal effects that Munster
(09:29):
Freemasonry has that belonged to her and her life and
new were donated to the two months to the lodge,
the Provincial Grand Lodge by family members later in life. So,
of course, another strange synchronicity. When I reached out to
him here he was here in New York City at
the Waldorf Hotel. We met up and I planned another
(09:51):
trip to Ireland to do some research. And at that
point is when I reached out to the OPW and
I asked them for permission to get inside. The house
hadn't been open to the public in years and years
and they allowed me to sit inside there, to sit
inside the room where all of this happened, to imagine
what was going on at the time, to imagine where
her room was, to imagine where these men would have been,
(10:14):
and the fear that she would have felt.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
And I'm imagining inside the house is kind of either
set to the period piece of that time. What did
you find when you walked inside?
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Oh, it was falling apart.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
And in the time that it took me to write
this book, Ireland actually renovated the first floor. So just
as I was about to release the book, they were
getting ready to open the doors of donner Real Court
for the first time.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Now, I feel like I skipped over a very obvious
question because as a mason, I'm like, Okay, I don't
ever believe that men would say, oh my gosh, we
heard this young woman overhearing our initiation, we must put
the sword to her. When you heard that, Like, how
much did you know about freemasonry And what was like
the first thought that went through your mind? And did
it change as you started learning more about our ancient
(10:59):
and gentle craft.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
Well, yes, I didn't know much about freemasonry, and my
first thought was what is so important that even her
own father would even consider the possibility of killing his
daughter to protect these secrets. Or was there something else
going on? I think there mention other things going on,
maybe some rivalries in his town and his position. That's
(11:25):
the thing that's what made it so difficult is at
that time, I am told or it is out there
that what she saw that night would have been the
first and two degrees combined. The third degree really didn't
exist at that time seventeen twelve, is what we're talking.
So that's what makes it this story so unique is
(11:45):
that it takes place prior to the creation of the
Grand Lodge of England, that prior to the creation of
the Grand Lodge of Ireland, Scotland, all of them. So
it's proof that Freemasonry was operative in private homes at
the time.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
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So twenty percent of sunglasses, that's a great deal with
(12:32):
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be a Freemason with your cool sunglasses from bricksmasons dot com.
(13:09):
You had mentioned that you had found a bridge that
had a really cool Masonic limerick that points back to
the origins of Freemasonry before we know seventeen seventeen.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
This is actually something that you can buy a replica
of online. It's called the ball Bridge Square and it's
another it's another piece of proof that Freemasonry was operating
in Ireland for decades prior to the Grand Lodgers, which
I mean free Masons know this, but there's not that
much proof of it. This is a square that's found
(13:42):
during the excavation of a bridge. It's Ball's Bridge, which
is in County Limerick in the eighteen hundreds. I will
strive to live with love and care upon the level
by the square and it's dated fifteen oh seven.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Way before.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Yeah, that way before. I love that way before.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Here's the question that keeps going through my mind. And
I'm going to say this with half a joke and
half a smile on my face, because you know, there
is some truth behind it. But a lot of women
that I know have zero interest in freemasonry. And the
women that I know would be my wife who's in
the other room watching Ninety Day Fiance or Kardashians or
real Desperate housewives of something right now. She has no
(14:19):
interest in anything that I do in this room or lodge.
Like the one question she asked when I tell her
I'm going to launch the night is what time will
you be home? I think for the brothers that were
listening to this episode and are going, well, what would
a seventeen year old girl find interesting about freemasonry that
she would want to sit there and continue listening to
this much less follow her dad or brother or other
(14:39):
family members to this lodge to see what this was
all about. I guess we'll never really know because no
one was there to capture that part of the story.
But I would ask you, when you were going through
your research on all of this, you had to have
at least picked up a copy of Duncan's Ritual at
the easiest version of it and read through it. Oh yeah,
(15:01):
was there anything, Kathleen that you found in your research?
And you're like, hmm, I could see how Elizabeth, the
seventeen year old girl would be interested in this, or
you're just like, I actually kind of found this interesting
and I started having questions about what it all meant.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Well, I think this is a chicken and egg situation.
Who knows that freemasonry was her reason for spying? What
if it was this guy she married five months later?
Speaker 3 (15:25):
But what I mean?
Speaker 4 (15:27):
She could have just been a hormonal seventeen year old
girl who wanted to see what was going on and
who the guys were behind there. But what's fascinating is
even when they agreed to put her through the paces
right and make her the first ever female free mason
that night, do you think that they thought she was
going to keep coming back?
Speaker 3 (15:48):
She did, and.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
That is what really sets her apart from the rest.
There are plenty of stories out there over the past
couple of centuries about women who have hidden grandfather clocks
or spied on tavern meetings, and they may have gone
through the ritual up until the point that they saw,
but she kept going and she was an active Freemason
(16:12):
throughout her entire life for the next sixty years. She
died at age eighty. She and her husband are the
longest because he was a Freemason too, are the longest
serving married couple. Well, really, the who can you name
another married couple that's regular? No, that's really I would say.
The answer to that question is that she kept coming back.
(16:33):
So what was it about freemasonry that fascinated her enough
and intrigued her enough? And she was known in her
lifetime for her philanthropy, so it meant a lot to
her to take care of the people and the families
around her throughout her life and into her old age.
So that's where I am now is I'm trying very
hard to find out as much as I can about
(16:55):
what happened with Elizabeth in her life and her life
in Freemason host that night in November.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
We asked that question a lot here on the podcast,
like what about these great men drew them to our fraternity?
Did our fraternity make them great somehow? Or were they
already destined to be great, and they picked up something
from freemasonry that they were ready to apply or carry
forward in their life. I never really thought about that
in the sense of like, what if somebody who quote
unquote shouldn't have been there that night was able to
(17:25):
get a slice of this and go, Wow, this is
the thing I've been looking for in my life, and
I'm going to make this a part of me.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
Now.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
That's how I described her in the book. That's how
I imagined it. I've kind of figured she was probably a
little bit like me. You know, maybe she would have
been a journalist too today. Maybe she would have been
a little bit nosy, curious truth seeker, right, Okay, Yeah,
that's a way better way of putting it, a truth seeker.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Yeah. And I'd be interested to go through the documents
to find out how she served the lodge, if she
went through the officer chairs, if there were any committees
or charitable work that she was a part of of.
And you know how it goes beyond being Hey, you
were the first person that did this, and you shattered
that ceiling, and you broke through the door, so to speak,
and you were accepted and you were taken by these
brothers and now you've become one of them to then
(18:13):
what did you do after that? Like what was your impact?
Speaker 4 (18:16):
Well, you're going to love this because there's very little.
There are some Donnerrail papers that actually have handwritten at
the top of it. If you're looking for information about
the lady Freemason, don't bother's not here. The other thing
there is a letter from the female Grandmistress. It is
called There was printed in a Dublin broad Street a
(18:37):
broadsheet in seventeen thirties or seventeen forties, and it has
been completely dismissed as a parody. That's pretty telling in itself.
If it wasn't a parody, and it really was from
someone that could have possibly been Earth or someone else,
another group of female Freemasons that I've been operating at
this time, that tells you what the men thought of them,
(18:59):
thought of them at the time, that they just dismissed
it as a parody.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
Oh, don't worry about it. Jonathan Swift broke.
Speaker 4 (19:04):
Jonathan Swift wrote that couldn't possibly be from a real
female Freemason, there are none. I can't imagine her going
and knocking on the door in London and being accepted
as she was. But in Dublin and in court she
was known to lead pro sessions in full regalia and
in her in her coat going to a theater in
(19:26):
Dublin full regalia. She was as the lady Freemason bing
her life.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
That it's one of those things where I wish Doc
Brown's time machine was around and relevant for us today.
I've said this on other episodes, but this is one
where I would just like to go back and get
thirty minutes just talking to her and answering all of
these questions. So I'd be like, Wow, this is a
story that yes, there's just that natural fascination of like
it's different, there's a little bit of myth, there's a
(19:52):
little bit of intrigue. But then you kind of wonder.
And we asked this question all the time to the
men who come on the podcast as brothers and say,
you know, how did freemason remake you a better man? Well,
in this case, how did freemasonry make you a better person?
And how did you make better people because of your
connection to this craft? So I want to get back
to that initial question. Though you know you're going through
Duncan's ritual, and I'm imagining you're like, what is this
(20:14):
all about? Were there any parts of our you know,
Masonic lessons or anything that you had read in that
Because we can openly talk about it, it's out in publication,
I'm not going to be violating any secrets. But was
there anything as an outsider that interests you? Because I
never really get the chance to talk to people, men
or women about this, because I find that today people
(20:38):
the allure or the excitement of discovering the Freemasons. It's like, ah,
I could just do a Google search, watch a couple
of YouTube videos, I'm good.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
Well.
Speaker 4 (20:46):
I was more familiar with the way American Freemasons operated
just from watching things on TV. So the biggest eye
opening thing was the way the Irish operate is very different.
For example, they don't wear their aprons over their blazers.
They wear them under. So my one of my first
drafts of my book, before before David Butler from Gork
(21:09):
started a copy editing, he had to change that for me.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Oh no, no, it's this, and I thought.
Speaker 4 (21:14):
Well, that sounds a lot more comfortable than wearing it
on top of them.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
You don't have the loose button problem. As much. Yeah,
you're right.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Good, So there's that.
Speaker 4 (21:24):
And then I'd say the other big eye opener for
me was the point of the compass, and it's it's
the point of a dagger for in io. I actually
addressed this in the book, how do you handle exposing
the left breast for this ritual?
Speaker 3 (21:39):
Really?
Speaker 4 (21:39):
In seventeen twelve did this part of the ritual? Did
it look like this? I don't know. That was the
that was I would say the single most difficult decision.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
I wish I could just get that on repeat, on
like a loop, because it's funny. Kathleen. In twenty twenty five,
that is when we talk about the idea of women
and freemasonry. What you just talked about is one of
the number one things that some men have a problem
with having women in the fraternity. They don't think about
the mind, the intellect, the value of what this person
can bring as far as insight and experiences. They just
(22:11):
think about the physical difference. And I thought we were
way past that.
Speaker 5 (22:15):
Now it'll still be an issue.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
The book is called Donner el Court, The Story of
the Lady Freemason. We're talking with Kathleen Aldworth Foster, the
author of Donner eel Court. You've kind of outlined some
of the issues we have is the facts of the case,
as a lawyer would say, like, we know these bullet points,
but there's because of the time that we're going into,
there was journals or letters or documents for you to
(23:03):
kind of really get into the grist of her story.
So at one point you're writing this is you want
this to be a nonfiction. As you mentioned, it becomes
a fiction book without giving away the story, so that
our listener has an opportunity to enjoy this in the book.
When did we start to get you and your ideas
into the story of young Elizabeth Well.
Speaker 4 (23:23):
I had to create characters. I had to create a
whole secondary storyline that I based on real history in
the area, but had to create the butler.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
For example.
Speaker 4 (23:37):
I couldn't find his name in anything, really, so I
see him as an opportunity to create another little.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
Piece of trauma.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
And the things that happened to him absolutely did not
happen in real life.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
That's one made up and I have a really hard
time with that.
Speaker 4 (23:57):
I knew that I had to do this, but if
you get my book, I included a quote from one
of the best historical fiction authors, and that is that
historical fiction, you have a story that provides the scaffold
to what you're writing, and then you are the eyes
the author have to fill in the rest.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
I immediately started thinking of other historical mini series that
are super popular or streaming series like Peaky Blinders comes
to mind. Little historical accuracy, some narrative storytelling that's involved there.
I think High Lender would be another series of folks
that are familiar with that that would be at least
the timeline would kind of overlap with the story and
(24:38):
when where Elizabeth was at that point in time. Eighteenth
century though, that must have been a really interesting one
because life was a lot different back then when it
came to classes in society and what they looked at
as well, we would call them traditional roles. But what
a women's role is? How did you embrace that or
how did you write about that? How does it become
(25:00):
part of the narrative in your story?
Speaker 4 (25:02):
Well, I mean I think I addressed it. I think
that she was a little bit more lucky than any
other woman because she was in such close proximity to
a situation like this, that she was the daughter of
a viscount. She wasn't a peasant woman or even an
Irish woman living there, so she was exposed to things
that she might not have been exposed to otherwise. But
I think that what we discussed before is the biggest
(25:24):
difference is that she kept going. She was a She
was a trailblazer in seventeen seventeen twelve, and though in
a way that women are still today struggling to fight
their way through to the things that they want to do.
I mean, female freemasonry is accepted in some places, but
there are no regular lodges, and there are a few
(25:46):
named after her, so her legacy continues. The first ever
co Masonry under ludoat whom Humaine in France, was named
after her, and there's a very very active group of
female free Masons in Brazil and their lodge is all
named after her, so even years later, her legacy as
(26:08):
the rail blazing Freemason lives on.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
We've talked about some of the significant history that donnerree
Court is able to kind of tie into improving the
existence of freemasonry before it was officially opened and kind
of revealed. As most Masonic scholars and brothers would say,
seventeen seventeen with the formation of the Grand Lodge of England.
I know that there is a big movement that's happening
now to preserve the history of Doneroe Court and the
(26:34):
story of the Lady Freemason. Can you tell us what
our brothers in Pork County are doing to do this?
In Ireland?
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Oh? Yes, sure.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
So there is a fundraising push right now. They're calling
it the Lady Freemason Appeal. There is a collection of
her personal artifacts that are in the hands of the
provincial Grand Lodge of Munster, so this is the County
Court area and they are raising money to create a
permanent exhibit space for her. Prior to this, her things
(27:05):
have just been in behind glass frames in their dining room.
So in add to this they're also trying to put
in an elevator.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
So this is this.
Speaker 4 (27:16):
She's actually buried not far from Freemason's Hall in Cork,
so you can also go to a Cork Cathedral where
she's buried and there's a plaque there commemorating her. And
then there's also the house down a real court which
is as I mentioned, owned by the State of Ireland
and they have now since completed the first and second floors.
They would call at the ground and the first floors,
(27:38):
and they have just gotten the money to put on
an orangery that used to be there adjoining the house.
They're going to recreate that. So together the State of Ireland,
the OPW and the Freemasons in Cork are working together
to keep her story alive and to use it to
raise money for both for both accounts, to keep her
(28:01):
artifacts in good shape and the story around for generations
to come.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
I can see this being not only just a community
or a local piece of history with the landmark, but
also the tie to our fternity. So we'll make sure
that brothers listening. If you're like, hey, I want to give,
I want to give generously. I want to learn more
about this. The link to be a part of it
will be in the notes for this episode before we
get you out of here. We tease this at the
very beginning, and I know that there's something special that's
(28:28):
in the works here. But I love when a great
story like this becomes a book and it becomes highly
successful and then it's like, okay, this would be perfect
if I could watch it as a movie or a
short limited series on it. What do you have plans
for next to share this story?
Speaker 4 (28:43):
Well, so it does have an option agreement for a
television series. It's right now in the process of morphing
into a film. So what we're thinking is a film
that's more true to the book. And I have plans
to write two more books that are more about Elizabeth
Away the Onion, finding out what's behind freemasonry, what are
the connections to the Knights Templar, What would she want
(29:07):
to find out? I, as a journalist, plan to.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
Act as her.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
Really, you know, I am in a point where I'm
not a Freemason. I don't feel like I could become
a Freemason at this time. I hope to later, but
not until I'm done feeling away that onion with Elizabeth.
So people can tune in to a TV series or
a film where whichever comes a bit. But you know
what the nicest part about this is I donated a
(29:35):
bunch of books to the Lady Freemason Appeal for them
to sell as part of this fundraiser, and a local
actor in Ireland it's also a Freemason Ball and he's
the one who gave it to the producers initially, so
it all ties back to the Lady Freemason and her
acts of goodwill and her acts of pol anthropy.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
That's the reason why I got an option agreement in
the first place.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Thanks again to my guests this week, Kathleen Aldworth Boss.
If's're the author of Donnerill Court, The Story of a
Lady Freemason. If you'd like to get a copy of
the book or learn more about this story and how
you can support some of the restoration efforts, just click
on the show notes for this episode. Bang You'll find
all the links you need right there. If you've enjoyed
this episode of The Craftsman Online Podcast, I'm pretty sure
you'd like it even better commercial free and earlier, for
(30:20):
just five dollars a month, you can become a Patreon
subscriber get access to a lot of our exclusive extra
episodes where we get some bonus time with some of
our guests and support the show. We really appreciate you
thinking of that in advance, and I'll even hook you
up with a free seven day trial right now. In
the notes for this episode,
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