There is no historical evidence to prove the claim made by the “Antients” that they were York Masons, a rite that had existed in York for many centuries. The only Grand Lodge in York (the Grand Lodge of All England) lasted from 1725 to 1792. It came out of a York lodge that had existed for at least twenty years, but it influence was only local. It disappeared to all effect in 1740 but was revived in 1761. The original Ahiman Rezon of 1756 claimed that the new Grand Lodge was part of the York rite. There is no evidence to link Royal Arch with operative Masonry.
Gilles Nullens