\nRecently reviewed (Feb 2013) in Saltburn magazine Coastal View and Moors News p 33<\/span><\/b>
\nby Holly Bush<\/span> – http:\/\/www.coastalviewandmoornews.co.uk\/the-latest-issue\/<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
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An obelisk dedicated to Captain Cook<\/b> sits atop of Easby Moor on the North Yorkshire Moors. The monument, which can be seen for miles around, is a local tourist attraction. The village of Great Ayton (Cook\u2019s childhood home) and Airey Holm Farm lie below. Few suspect that there\u2019s anything more to know about it!<\/span> Fast-forward to the significant date of 1827 \u2013 the monarchy had been re-instated but this time around the Kings were also Freemasons and to quote \u2013<\/span> <\/p>\n I wondered about obelisks and in what way are they relevant as a memorial? How does it relate to Cook? I discovered there are two types of obelisk – tall solid ones such as the Egyptian one transported to France and hollow ones. The obelisk on Easby moor is clearly a hollow one as illustrated by this press cutting below showing it after it was hit by lightening in 1906 \u2013 it was built without a lightening conductor! It also appears to have a \u2018benben stone<\/i>\u2019 on top (a pyramid-shaped stone or the capstone of a pyramid or the tip of an obelisk<\/i>) \u2013 although missing in the picture here). The pyramidion shape apparently distinguishes obelisks from other monumental columns.<\/span> “…symbolized the sun god Amon Re, and during the brief religious reformation of Akhenaten was said to be a petrified ray of the Aten, the sundisk. It was also thought that the god existed within the structure.” and “The pyramid and obelisk would have been inspired by previously overlooked astronomical phenomena connected with sunrise and sunset: the zodiacal light and sun pillars respectively<\/i>.”<\/span> “Because of the Enlightenment-era association of Egypt with mortuary arts, (and generally with great antiquity), obelisks became associated with timelessness and memorialization<\/i>.”<\/span> There is a further suggestion that obelisks act as talismans. In History Under the Hammer<\/i> by Joyce Dixon<\/b>, published by the North Yorkshire Moors Park<\/i> in 1996 (about the selling of the Gt. Ayton Cook Cottage to the Australians) Joyce Dixon<\/b> gives an evocative description of the effect of the monument as they travel through the nearby countryside.<\/span> \n\u201cIt was quite late on a winter\u2019s afternoon and the sun was a great sphere of the most vivid shade of orange \/ red low down in the sky\u2026The colours were intense, different shades of heliotrope, gold, scarlet and lurid pink in an immense sweep of colour all round us. The countryside was getting darker and on the top of Easby, the Monument stood seemingly impossibly large and drawing our attention in a way we had not experienced before \u2013or since.<\/i><\/span> <\/p>\n The above shows that there are plenty of possible reasons for choosing an obelisk to locally memorialise Captain James Cook<\/b> but is this all there is to it? Still not taking it too seriously I decided to check if Cook himself might have been a Freemason. That might give a more concrete justification for an obelisk rather than a statue perhaps but I really wasn’t expecting to find any results.<\/span>![](\"https:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-zwOXRImTOmA\/ULka06IkxUI\/AAAAAAAAAf4\/dWmC19Q0-B8\/s400\/6a0133f4258be0970b0133f4258cea970b.jpg\")
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\nIt sounds like something out of the Da Vinci Code<\/i> with its mysterious early proposals of pyramids and obelisks but these occurrences happened long before that book was written. That these events happened on the edge of the North Yorkshire moors and not the exotic locations of the Dan Brown<\/b> novel, make it all the more unbelievable!<\/span>
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\nI never set out to explore this mystery, it was an offshoot of other work, but one thing led to another and I became intrigued. I can\u2019t claim, however, to have got all the answers and proofs, but I think there\u2019s enough to state a case and provide a reason for further research. It is not my intention to engage with current conspiracy theories, but follows on from local history research connected to the Stokesley born radical Printer, Publisher, Poet, Author, People’s historian and Freemason – George Markham Tweddell.<\/b><\/span>
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\nMany times I’ve walked up to Easby Moor but always felt the monument doesn’t really engage with Cook somehow. Obelisks are fairly common of course and there are two dedicated to Cook in the area. Perhaps if it had a statue of Cook at the top like the one in London or Whitby, I might have thought it made more sense but no \u2013 the only thing that relates to Cook is a plaque. Everybody knows it\u2019s dedicated to Cook but there is nothing much up there that is relevant to him (or is there?). That\u2019s not to say, of course, that the monument or the views aren’t impressive in themselves!<\/span>
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\nWhile researching the poetry of George Markham Tweddell <\/b> in 2008, I discovered some of his poems contained Masonic emblems or symbolism. (Tweddell was a prominent and open member of the Loyal Cleveland Lodge<\/i>). During the research I consulted a range of websites and books including Talisman (Sacred Cities, Secret Faith)<\/i> by Graham Hancock<\/b> and Robert Bauval<\/b>. Chapter 1 \u2013 Behind the Veils<\/i> – which was a fascinating read in itself. The authors describe events in Paris during and after the French Revolution, from the storming of the Bastille in 1789 to the dismantling of the prison and its replacement with distinctly Egyptian structures dedicated to Isis. There is not room to go into details here (you will have to read the book!) but as a result of the involvement of the French Masonic Lodges (eg The Lodge of Nine Sisters) and the prominent ideas of the Enlightenment \u2013 those of Rousseau, Voltaire<\/b> and Thomas Paine<\/b>, the landscape of Paris took on an increasingly Egyptian look and Catholicism was replaced by the Cult of Reason<\/i> or The Supreme Being<\/i>. Benjamin Franklin<\/b> (being a Freemason) was involved in this too while living in France and there was also a connection with America. Obelisks and pyramids formed a significant part of this.<\/span>
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<\/span><\/a>\u201cLouis XVIII ruled for 10 years. He was a Freemason. On his death in 1824 he was succeeded by his brother, The Count D\u2019 Artois \u2013 also a Freemason. Both monarchs showed a marked preference for ancient Egyptian symbolism in their public works..<\/i>\u201d<\/span>
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\n\u201cIn 1827, Jean-Fran\u00e7ois-Champollion (the Father of modern Egyptology who made a breakthrough in deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs) was commissioned by Charles X to arrange for the importation to Paris of a 35,000 year old Obelisk \u2013 one of a pair that stood at Alexandria in Egypt. The obelisk was destined for the Place de la Concorde, which had personal significance to Charles X. It had originally been named after his father Louis XV and an equestrian statue had once graced it. Here also the guillotine had been erected\u2026\u201d <\/i>The authors speculate <\/i>that<\/span>
\n“the installation of the obelisk was to commemorate the idea of the reborn and restored monarchy, with the ancient solar symbol of the divine kings of Egypt rising in the heart of the Parisian skyline like a Phoenix<\/i>“<\/span>
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\nAll very interesting \u2013 but how does this relate to Captain Cook\u2019s monument on Easby Moor?<\/span>
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<\/span>(This is NEW ADDITIONAL LINK <\/b>not part of the main narrative)<\/b> 2019 – a recently discovered pdf called THE ENLIGHTENMENT AND FREEMASONRY <\/b>is useful here discusses how –<\/span>
\n“eminent intellectual historians excluded Freemasonry from their analyses of The enlightenment! <\/i><\/span>I will show explain that Freemasonry was a primary instrument not just in the growth
\nof scientific knowledge, but also in opening the public mind to the \u201cenlightened\u201d view of man and
\nnature.<\/span><\/i>” <\/i><\/span>
\nThe PDF is on this link <\/span>https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0261\/8105\/files\/110512_2_Enlightenment_and_Freemasonry.pd<\/b>f<\/a>
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\nI put the book down and looked out of my bedroom window in Gt. Ayton. I have a panoramic view of Roseberry Topping<\/i> and Easby Moor<\/i>. I glanced over at the Captain Cook<\/b> obelisk and thought \u2013 \u2018No! \u2013 There couldn’t be a connection with the events that were going on in France and America during the Enlightenment surely\u2019<\/i>. The only French Connection I knew about was that Easby Moor may have been a look out post during the Napoleonic war.<\/span>
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\nNonetheless, I recalled that Tweddell had a series of 3 sonnets (to be found in his collected poems – http:\/\/www.tweddellpoetry.co.uk\/<\/a> ) to Cook and he was also a Freemason. Often I had found answers to my queries to Tweddell related questions embedded in Tweddell\u2019s own work. (Note – I wasn’t taking the Masonic connection seriously at this stage \u2013 it was just idle curiosity!). So it was with some surprise that I found Tweddell\u2019s first poem about Cook engaging with both Obelisks and Pyramids! True it doesn’t go much further, but how odd that both pyramids and obelisks were mentioned in relation to Cook!<\/span>
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\n[Three Sonnets to] Captain James Cook (No1)<\/span><\/b>
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\nWhilst obelisks are raised to men of wealth,<\/span>
\nAnd pyramids are tow\u2019ring to the sky<\/span>
\nTo tell mankind where bygone tyrants lie<\/span>
\nMen who in life, flush\u2019d with the joy of health,<\/span>
\nAnd render\u2019d vain by crouching helots\u2019 praise, 5<\/span>
\nImagined they, by slave-piled stones, could raise<\/span>
\nA Babel high to reach the Heaven of Fame\u2014<\/span>
\nAnd lo! E\u2019en hoary Time\u2019s forgot their name!<\/span>
\nWhilst monuments are raised to men who slew<\/span>
\nTheir fellow-mortals on the field of strife, 10<\/span>
\nEngland! Shall it be said thou never knew<\/span>
\nThy debt of gratitude to one whose life<\/span>
\nDevoted was to arts that dignify<\/span>
\nNot COOK alone, but all humanity?<\/span>
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\nGeorge Markham Tweddell<\/span><\/b>
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\nAt this stage I had no idea when the Easby Moor Cook obelisk was erected or if Tweddell was actually involved in its initiation and so I did a search on the internet and got a second surprise when I found out that the monument was built by Robert Campion<\/b> (a Whitby banker<\/i>) and erected in 1827, the same year as the French one! Apparently the money came from subscriptions raised in Whitby. As Tweddell was only 3 in 1827, it\u2019s clear he wasn’t involved with it\u2019s planning but may have been privy to its origins through his familiarisation with the historical work of John Graves<\/b> and or Masonic connections and so embedded a clue in the poem. With two \u2018coincidences<\/i>\u2019 under my belt, I was intrigued. Could there be more or was that it? <\/span>
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\n“Ancient obelisks were made of a single piece of stone, a monolith; however, most modern obelisks are made of individual stones, and can even have interior spaces.<\/i>“<\/span>
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\nIan Pearce<\/b> of The Great Ayton Community Archaeology Project <\/i>suggested that<\/span>
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\n\u201cThe site for the monument was probably chosen because Easby Moor is the highest ground for miles around and consists of very stable sandstone, suitable for the foundations of an obelisk. In contrast Roseberry Topping wouldn’t have provided a very good base, and is lower. The site is also visible from miles around.<\/i>\u201d<\/span>
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\nSome of this begins to make sense \u2013 Easby moor is a wide open space where sunrise and sunset are clearly visible and the ideas of memorialisation and timelessness are relevant. The monument acts like a sundial and as Ian says, it is visible for miles around. Whether a deity lives within its hollow structure is another matter! A great myth could be constructed around this \u2013 especially as the monument was dramatically split open by lightening (but we\u2019ll leave that notion for the Creative Writing class!).<\/span>
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\nWe drove in silence with our eyes and whole attention fixed on the Monument, stark and black against the vivid skies for mile after mile and we were aware of the huge distances from which it would be visible. It would have been impossible to have given him a more magnificent memorial than this with a feeling of almost reverence at the thought of the man who had inspired the erection of such a simple edifice in his honour<\/i>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-g9CTYj7KYOE\/ULkdGROYxVI\/AAAAAAAAAgg\/WWHq2qBTpNY\/s200\/6a0133f4258be0970b0133f4258cfd970b.jpg\")
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\nOnce again my search was full of surprises!<\/span>
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\nApparently it is often claimed Cook was a Freemason \u2013 On this site<\/span>
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\nhttp:\/\/freemasonry.bcy.ca\/biography\/cook_j\/cook_j.html<\/span><\/a>
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\nThe Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon \u2013 A Short History of Freemasonry in Yukon<\/i> \u2013 there are several entries –<\/span>
\n“As a matter of interest it is believed that in 1778, Captain James Cook became the first Freemason to set foot in what is now the province of British Columbia<\/i>.”<\/span>
\nAnd on the Biography \u2013 Cook page (url above) it says –<\/span>
\n\u201cAlthough no proof of his membership is available, he is often referred to as a freemason. Claims that he was initiated into Lodge of Industry No 186 do not take into account that this lodge was warranted on 15 January 1788, nine years after Cook died.<\/i>\u201d<\/span>
\nhttp:\/\/www.phoenixmasonry.org\/10,000_famous_freemasons\/Volume_1_A_to_D.htm<\/span><\/a><\/i>
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\nThe biographical entry on Cook ends with this sentence \u2013<\/span>
\n\u201cAlthough no proof of his membership is available, he is constantly referred to as a member of the Craft.<\/i>\u201d<\/span>
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\nInterestingly, the idea that James Cook may have been a Freemason has already been explored in the book Captain James Cook \u2013 Freemason?<\/i> Roy H. Clemens<\/b> published by Masonic Public Library<\/i>, Honolulu in 1980, and is also a source on the above biographical entry on Cook from the 10,000 famous Freemasons. In ten pages he sets out the evidence for and against and comes out firmly against Cook having been a member.<\/span>
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