This early mezzotint portrait of Mrs Elizabeth Aldworth (1695-1775) in masonic robes comes up at Fonsie Mealy’s auction in Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny on July 23.

It took 300 years for the second woman to be initiated into an Irish Freemason lodge, but now it appears the floodgates are to open.

For only the second time ever, a woman has been accepted into an Irish freemason lodge — exactly 300 years after the first.

A €10 MILLION plan to turn a stately mansion and its extensive grounds into a major tourist attraction rivalling the Rock of Cashel and Muckross House is to be discussed next month by Fáilte Ireland and the Office of Public Works (OPW).

WITH reference to the article by Pól Ó Conghaile (Irish Examiner, September 26), there is more than one exception to the fact that Elizabeth St Leger was the only lady freemason ever admitted.