‘The House of the Rising Sun’ – a phrase most people are familiar with and will probably associate with a well known song recorded in 1964 by British rock group the Animals.

The song itself has its roots in traditional folk music and thematically has some resemblance to the 16th-century ballad ‘The Unfortunate Rake’.

If the song has certain historical connections then perhaps the phrase itself may also have links with antiquity……

This article attempts to shine some light into Lever Bros and the Dark Shadows of Port Sunlight.

Lever Bros – a company founded in 1885 by the enigmatic William Hesketh Lever and headquartered in Port Sunlight, Cheshire, UK.

The company would go on to conquer the world with ‘Sunlight Soap’.

Lever Bros Distribution Network in 1898

Lever Bros transformed into Unilever – an Anglo-Dutch transnational consumer goods. It is the world’s largest consumer goods company measured by 2012 revenue and is Europe’s seventh most valuable corporation. Unilever is one of the oldest multinational companies in the world and its products are available in around 190 countries.

Is there a darker side to this story?

Read on to discover the true meaning of the ‘House of the Rising Sun’.

Chapter 1 – The Enigma of Port Sunlight

 

Port Sunlight – a model village and suburb in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, UK.

Fig 2: Plan View of Port Sunlght

 

Port Sunlight was built by Lever Brothers to accommodate workers in its soap factory (now part of Unilever); work commenced in 1888. The official narrative is that the name was derived from Lever Brothers’ most popular brand of cleaning agent, Sunlight.

 

Fig 3: Sunlight Soap, Lever Bros, Port Sunlight of Mersey

Fig 4: Lux Soap, Lever Bros, Port Sunlight. ‘Lux’ the Latin word for Light

 

The driving force behind Lever Brothers was a gentleman named William Hesketh Lever (1851-1925) later 1st Viscount Leverhulme.

Fig 5: Lord Leverhulme – Mayor of Bolton, Lancashire

 

William Lever was born on 19 September 1851 at 16 Wood Street, Bolton, Lancashire, England. He was the seventh child born to James Lever (1809–1897), a grocer, and Eliza Hesketh, daughter of a cotton mill manager.

From William Lever’s humble beginnings, he would go on to become one of the most powerful industrialists in British history.

Honours and titles included:

Mr William Lever 1851–1911

Sir William Lever, Bt 1911–1917

The Rt. Hon. The Lord Leverhulme 1917–1922

The Rt. Hon. The Viscount Leverhulme 1922–1925

Lever Baronetcy, of Thornton Manor (1911)

Baron Leverhulme, of Bolton-le-Moors in the County Palatine of Lancaster (1917)

Viscount Leverhulme, of The Western Isles in the Counties of Inverness and Ross and Cromarty (1922)

High Sheriff of Lancashire, 1917

He also served as Member of Parliament (MP) for the Wirral constituency between 1906 and 1909.

 

William Lever laid the foundations for what is now one of the biggest companies in the world – Unilever.

Fig 6: Unilever – an Anglo-Dutch transnational consumer goods company

 

Unilever an Anglo-Dutch transnational consumer goods company co-headquartered in London, United Kingdom and Rotterdam, Netherlands. Its products include food and beverages (about 40 percent of its revenue), cleaning agents and personal care products. It is the world’s largest consumer goods company measured by 2012 revenue. It is Europe’s seventh most valuable company. Unilever is one of the oldest multinational companies; its products are available in around 190 countries.^[1]

 

William Hesketh Lever – the Freemason

Fig 7: W.Bro.William Lever

Fig 8: Masonic Chair, Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight

Fig 9: Progress Lodge no 4584, Port Sunlight (c1923). William Lever front row 2nd from right

 

William Lever was a very active and dedicated Freemason. However, it is unclear from public records as to when Lever was first initiated into Freemasonry and to which lodge.

Fig 10: Document Sourced from Grace’s Guide to British Industrial History^[8] (Lanacshire Biographies published 1917)

From historical records^[8]  it can be seen that Lever was a member of the following Masonic Lodges:

Albert Coveney                                                            3519    (Birkenhead, Cheshire)

Egerton Lodge of Mark Masons                                   165      (Location Unknown)

Lilley Ellis                                                                     3236    (Birkenhead, Cheshire)

Bohemian Lodge                                                          3294    (Birkenhead, Cheshire)

Royal Colonial Institute                                     3556    (Great Queen Street, London)

Lodge Puerorum                                                           3377    (Great Queen Street, London)

King George V                                                 3514    (Wallasey, Cheshire)

United Temperance                                                      3107    (Wallasey, Cheshire)

Oxton                                                                           3462    (Birkenhead, Cheshire)

St Hilary                                                                       3591    (Wallasey, Cheshire)

Deva                                                                            3447    (Hunter Street, Chester)

Birkenhead Rose Croix Chapter                                   150      (Birkenhead, Cheshire)

Zion R.A. Chapter                                                        537      (Birkenhead, Cheshire)

De Tabley Chapter                                                       605      (Birkenhead, Cheshire)

Broadsmith Chapter                                                      3261    (Ellesmere Port, Cheshire)

Preceptory of St Hilary                                     184      (Birkenhead, Cheshire)

Commercial Lodge                                                       3628    (Birkenhead, Cheshire)

Royal Solomon Council                                                24        (Location Unknown)

Lodge of King Solomon’s Temple                                 3464    (Hunter Street, Chester)

William Hesketh Lever Lodge                           2916    (Port Sunlight, Cheshire)

Randle Holme                                                               3261    (Port Sunlight, Cheshire)

York Lodge                                                                 236      (York)

Lancastrian                                                                   2528    (Oxford Street, London)

 

In 1907, while sitting as an MP, he was a founder of the Phoenix Lodge 3236 (Birkenhead, Cheshire) listed above as Lilley Ellis.

Further research shows that Lever was initiated into the following lodges between 1917 and his death in 1925. However, this list is not necessarily exhaustive.

Leverhulme Lodge                                4438    (Port Sunlight, Cheshire)           1922

Progress Lodge                                    4584    (Port Sunlight, Cheshire)           1923

Lodge Fortrose ^[11]                               108      (Stornoway)                             1923

William Lever was a co-founder of no fewer than 17 lodges.^[12]

In 1902, at the age of 50, William Lever had his very own Masonic Lodge named after him – the William Hesketh Lever Lodge No. 2916 in Port Sunlight. In 1907 he became Worshipful Master, going on to found many Lodges and hold various offices at national level. In May 1912 he founded St. Hilary Lodge No. 3591. He then became Past Pro-Grand Warden (P.P.G.W) and Immediate Past Master (I.P.M). In 1919, he was appointed Senior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons of England. He was Provincial Senior Grand Warden of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Cheshire, and founded many other Lodges. ^[2]

Leverhulme saw Freemasonry as a useful tool to promote social cohesion and high standards of personal conduct and actively encouraged membership amongst his workforce. He established a Masonic control network to facilitate the smooth running of Lever Brothers at Port Sunlight. Separate Lodges were created for managers, supervisors and workers. Freemasonry was an important instrument in his paternalistic policy for the welfare of his workers.^[3]

Lever designed and oversaw (along with more than 30 architects) the building of what was in effect a large-scale social experiment. Between 1899 and 1914, 800 houses were built for a permanent population of 3,500-4,000 workers, managers and administrators. Once completed, Port Sunlight housed not only the vast new factory and offices, but also a hospital, church, technical institute, museum and library, auditorium, gymnasium, heated outdoor pool and refectories for workers.

Although most of the architects working at Port Sunlight were local, some were of national importance, notably Sir Ernest George, Ernest Newton, and Sir Edwin Lutyens – nearly all the buildings are Grade II listed.^[4]

Sir Ernest George RA (1839–1922) served as President of the Royal Institute of British Architects (1908 – 1910).^[5]

Ernest Newton RA FRIBA (1856 – 1922) served as President of the Royal Institute of British Architects (1914-1917).^[5]

Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens OM, KCIE, PRA, FRIBA (1869 – 1944) career would include the Presidency of the Royal Academy (1938-1944) and in 1925 chaired a jury panel for an international architectural competition for the design of Freemason’s Hall, United Grand Lodge of England, Great Queen Street, London.

(Sir Edwin Lutyens was one of Sir Ernest George’s pupils).

In his biography, the writer Christopher Hussey wrote, “In his lifetime (Lutyens) was widely held to be our greatest architect since Wren if not, as many maintained, his superior”. The architectural historian Gavin Stamp described Lutyens as “surely the greatest British architect of the twentieth (or of any other) century”.^[6]

 

Given the gravitas, calibre and architectural brilliance of the architects available to William Lever in the design and planning for Port Sunlight, the following observations cannot be passed off as mere coincidence or whimsy.

 

Fig 11: The Masonic Duality of Port Sunlight – Symbolism of the Sun rising in the East and setting in the West?

 

The layout of Port Sunlight highlighted in figure 11 can no doubt be explained in any number of ways.

 

The author’s interpretation is perhaps that the church (Christ Church) is symbolism for the ‘House of the Rising Sun’.

 

This interpretation is re-inforced by the North – South orientation of the model village with the sunrise facing eastwards. The INVERTED CROSS with the World War I memorial (completed in 1921) can perhaps also be interpreted as symbolism for the sun setting in the West.

Fig 12: Unilever Offices – another ‘House of the Rising Sun’?

 

We are told that William Lever was anxious to have a memorial to commemorate those of his workers who had been lost in the First World War. As early as 1916 he commissioned Sir William Goscombe John RA to design a war memorial, which was completed and unveiled in 1921 by two of his employees. It consists of a granite runic cross with bronze statues and reliefs and has the theme “Defence of the Realm”. On the memorial are the names of all of the company’s employees who died as a result of both World Wars. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building.

 

There also appears to be a certain duality with respect to the administration and running of Lever Bros in the UK and abroad in the Belgian Congo whilst primarily under the control of William Lever.

 

Lord Leverhulme certainly appears to have been a popular boss – his funeral was attended by 30,000 people^[7] – clearly a well respected man amongst his workforce and the community at large in the UK. (He is buried in the churchyard of Christ Church in Port Sunlight, Cheshire).

 

However, Jules Marchal (1924-2004), a former diplomat in the Belgian Congo spent twenty years researching forced labour.

 

In Marchal’s book, ‘Lord Leverhulme’s Ghosts – Colonial Exploitation in the Congo’, the back cover summary is as follows:

 

“In the early twentieth century, the worldwide rubber boom led British enterpreneur Lord Leverhulme to the Belgian Congo. Warmly welcomed by the murderous regime of King Leopold II, Leverhulme set up a private kingdom reliant on the horrific Belgian system of forced labor, a program that reduced the population of Congo by half and accounted for more deaths than the Nazi Holocaust. In this definitive, meticulously researched history, Jules Marchal exposes the nature of forced labor under Lord Leverhulme’s rule and the appalling conditions imposed upon the people of Congo. With an extensive introduction by Adam Hochschild, Lord Leverhulme’s Ghosts is an important and urgently needed account of a laboratory of colonial exploitation”.

Fig 13: ‘Lord Leverhulme’s Ghosts – Colonial Exploitation in the Congo’ – Author Jules Marchal (first published 2008).

Fig 14: Lever Bros. Factory, Leverville, Belgian Congo

 

Chapter 2 – The Masonic Lodge

Fig 15: Ilkley Masonic Hall, West Yorkshire – ‘House of the Rising Sun’?

 

In 1882, Robert Hewitt Brown, a highly respected Freemason of the 32^nd Degree published a book called ‘Stellar Theology and Masonic Astronomy’. Well researched and elegantly written, the book revealed hidden meanings of Masonic and other symbols, linking them to both pagan religion and to modern faiths such as Judaism and Christianity. The book also revealed astonishing astronomical explanations for a host of religious allegories and motifs allowing the reader to reconcile numerous otherwise incomprehensible enigmas.

 

The book can be downloaded in PDF format from a range of internet websites including:

 

https://pubastrology.com/stellar-theology-and-masonic-astronomy-1882-by-robert-hewitt-brown-pdf-ebook/

Fig 16: ‘Stellar Theology and Masonic Astronomy’, first published in 1882

Fig 17: Andaz Masonic Lodge displaying the typical checkered floor, Liverpool Street, London

Fig 18: Holmes Masonic Lodge Room, Leicester

In Hewitt Brown’s book, the real purpose of the checkered floor in Masonic lodges is revealed to be used for ascertaining the exact dates of the Summer and Winter solstices and the Vernal and Autumnal equinoxes (the ‘Four Seasons’ as it were).

Fig 19: Extract from ‘Stellar Theology and Masonic Astronomy’ by Robert Hewitt Brown

 

Quoting directly from Hewitt Brown’s book we have the following explanation for the checkered floor:

 

“The Checkered Floor

 

Whenever it was considered necessary to have the solstitial

lines or the length of the shadow actually marked on the floor,

then a certain carefully placed line or row of “mosaic squares”

(see illustration) would answer the purpose, and also perfectly

conceal the design of the whole arrangement; and this is probably

the reason why the priests in their temple architecture

adopted that kind of pavement. Of course, the details of

the arrangement were modified to suit different places and

circumstances.

The observations might be made from the roof, or standing

in front of the temple, where instruments, simple in construction,

for determining the line of direction toward the rising

sun, with reference to the front of the temple, might be, and

probably were, used, without relying wholly on the shadows

cast by the columns. The mean daily rate at which the point of

sunrise moved along the horizon, and the length of the shadows

increased or diminished, would also soon be determined,

and thus an observation could be taken at sunrise, noon, and

sunset, any day. The month and day of the month could thus

be determined at any time with tolerable accuracy. The same

arrangement would serve to ascertain the true solar time. Of

course, it is now impossible, in the absence of any direct information,

to arrive at all the details of the peculiar arrangement

by which these ancient solar observations were made, but

the main outline is without doubt correct. It was but a more

extended application of the principle of the sundial, by means

of which not only the hours of the day but

the arrival of the sun at the solstitial

and equinoctial points,

was determined,

together with the length of the year and other important particulars.

These methods seem clumsy to us, being familiar with

the wonderful “instruments of precision” which modern science

possesses; but, in those ancient days, such primitive

methods were the only ones known, and the accuracy of the

results arrived at is a matter of wonder and surprise.”

 

In Freemasonry the ‘Four Seasons’ are represented by the Lion (Summer), the Bull (Spring), the Eagle (Autumn) and the Man (Winter).

In all ancient astrological projections of the heavens, the four great angles of the zodiac, where these celestial gods were seated, were marked by the figures of the lion, the eagle, the ox, and the man – the constellation Leo being anciently at the summer solstice; Aquarius, depicted as a man pouring water from a jar, at the winter solstice; and Taurus, the Ox, or Bull, at the vernal equinox; while the other angle, or autumnal equinox, was marked by a flying eagle. The quadrants of the celestial sphere were also anciently occupied by the four bright stars Aldebaran, Regulus, Antares, and Fomalhaut. These were called “Royal Stars,”

Fig 20: The ‘Four Seasons’ in Freemasonry are represented by the Lion (Summer), the Bull (Spring), the Eagle (Autumn) and the Man (Winter).

Fig 21: The Four Seasons in relation to the Signs of the Zodiac. Summer – Leo, Spring -Taurus, Autumn – Scorpio and Winter – Aquarius

Fig 22: The Coat of Arms for the United Grand Lodge of England clearly depicting the ‘Four Seasons’

Fig 23: The ‘Four Seasons’ aligned with the ‘Royal Stars’

 

Chapter 3 – Brading Roman Villa (Isle of Wight)

Brading Roman Villa on the Isle of Wight was re-discovered in 1879 by a chance discovery.

Fig 24: Brading Roman Villa, Isle of Wight off the coast of Southern England

The Roman 2nd Augusta Legion under Vespasian conquered the Isle of Wight in 44CE. The first simple villa at Brading dates from the mid-1st century but, over the next hundred years, it developed into a large and impressive stone-built villa around three sides of a central courtyard. Its luxurious rooms contained many fine Roman mosaics.

Around AD340, Brading Villa, like many estates in southern Britain, was suffering frequent pirate raids. However, Roman coins excavated at the site indicate that Brading was still occupied until AD395, when Emperor Honorius began his reign. It is believed that the Villa fell into disuse around the 5th century. Undergrowth covered the site, and when the land was cleared to be used for agriculture in 1879, the location of Brading Roman Villa was re-discovered.^[9]

The Roman Villa at Brading includes some very high quality mosaics featuring subject matter including:

1. Orpheus
2. Medusa
3. Bacchus the Roman God of Wine
4. Ceres and Triptolemus
5. Achilles or Apollo (panel damaged)
6. Lycurgus
7. The Four Winds (Aquilo the West Wind, Zephyrus the South Wind, Euros the East Wind and Boreus the North Wind)
8. Attis and Sagaritis
9. Cadmus and Draco
10. Orion
11. Perseus and Andromeda
12. The Four Seasons
13. Hipparchus the Astrologer
14. A large expanse of checkered floor with an Easterly aspect

Fig 25: Hipparchus the Astrologer, Brading Roman Villa, IoW

Fig 26: “Spring” with flower buds in her hair

Fig 27: “Summer” with scarlet poppies in her hair

Fig 28:  “Winter” in hood and cloak, carrying a dead bird suspended on a leafless bough

The alignment of the villa and the checkered floor is also reminiscent of a ‘House of the Rising Sun’.

Fig 29: Brading Roman Villa aligned with the Rising Sun in the East

Another strangely enigmatic mosaic features what is charmingly referred to as a ‘Cock-Headed’ Man who is standing by a ladder leading up to a house.

Fig 30: The Unexplained Allegory of the Cock-Headed Man, the House and the Ladder

In the official literature from the visitor’s centre, it is suggested that this mosaic may refer to a man called Gallus (Latin for cockerel) who worked for the Emperor in Rome and that the bones of an enormous chicken were found near to the front door of the Villa.

(From the author’s perspective I think the enormous chicken may have been a wild goose).

An alternative and perhaps more plausible explanation is that the ‘Cockerel Man’ is symbolic of the sunrise (the cockerel is often portrayed as crowing at the break of dawn).

By putting the Cockerel, the Ladder and the House together, is this allegory better explained as symbolism for a ‘House of the Rising Sun’?

Take your choice…..

Further analysis of the Masonic nature of Brading Roman Villa was undertaken by W.Bro.Col J.F.Crease in 1890, approximately 11 years after the villa’s re-discovery.

The book is titled ‘The Masonic character of the Roman villa at Morton, I.W. / by J.F. Crease. (Ars Quatuar Coronatorum. March 7, 1890)’ and a copy is held in the Royal Collection Trust.^[10]

A digitized PDF copy of  J.F.Crease’s book can be downloaded from:

https://pubastrology.files.wordpress.com/2018/08/ars_quatuor_coronatorum_brading_roman_villa_iow.pdf

The reader is encouraged to view this document and assess the evidence from a Freemason’s perspective.

Fig 31a: The Cock-Headed Man, the House and the Ladder, Brading Roman Villa Floor Mosaic, Isle of Wight – Symbolism for the ‘House of the Rising Sun’?

 

Additional Roman information un-related to Brading Roman Villa.

The Roman Temple of Mithras, London c 3^rd Century AD.

The London Temple of Mithras, is a Roman Mithraeum that was discovered in Walbrook in the City of London during construction work in 1954. This temple of the mystery god Mithras became perhaps the most famous 20th-century Roman discovery in London.

The following stone relief depicting Mithras slaying the Bull surrounded by the twelve signs of the Zodiac was recovered from the site.

Fig 31b: Relief recovered from the Roman Temple of Mithras c 3^rd Century AD.

The twelve signs of the Zodiac surround the depiction of Mithras slaying the Bull.

The marble relief  of Mithras in the act of killing the astral bull, the Tauroctony that was as central to Mithraism as the Crucifixion is to Christianity. On it Mithras is accompanied by the two small figures of the torch-bearing celestial twins of Light and Darkness, Cautes and Cautopates, within the cosmic annual wheel of the Zodiac. At the top left, outside the wheel, Sol–Helios (Sun) ascends the heavens in his biga; at top right Luna (Moon) descends in her chariot. The heads of two wind-gods, Boreas and Zephyros, are in the bottom corners.

 

Chapter 4 – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John

    (The Four Seasons)

 

Were the ‘Four Seasons’ from the Pagan religions transposed into Christianity by the Romans?

To answer this question it is necessary to look at some of the religious pictorial evidence available to modern day historians and church-goers.

Fig 32: St Swithuns Parish Church, Compton Beauchamp. Matthew (Angel), Mark (Winged Lion), Luke (Winged Bull), John (Eagle)

Fig 33: St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh. Matthew (Angel), Mark (Winged Lion), Luke (Winged Bull), John (Eagle)

Fig 34: St Huberts Roman Catholic Church, Dunsop Bridge, Lancashire. Matthew (Angel), Mark (Winged Lion), Luke (Winged Bull), John (Eagle)

Fig 35: Antique Bell in St Mary Magdalene Church, Woodstock, Oxfordshire. Matthew (Angel), Mark (Winged Lion), Luke (Winged Bull), John (Eagle)

Fig 36: Detail of Portal of St. Trophime in Arles, France

The Portal of St. Trophime – Christ in the centre is surrounded by the symbols of the Four Evangelists: Matthew (Angel, upper left), Mark (Lion, lower left), Luke (Bull, lower right) and John (Eagle, upper right). Below we see the row of the twelve Apostles.

The Church of St. Trophime is a Roman Catholic Church and former cathedral located in the city of Arles, in the Bouches-du-Rhône Department of southern France. It was built between the 12th century and the 15th century, and is in the Romanesque architectural tradition. The sculptures over the church’s portal, particularly the Last Judgement, and the columns in the adjacent cloister, are considered some of the finest examples of Romanesque sculpture.

Fig 37: The Four Evangelists – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John

Fig 38: The Four Evangelists – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John

Fig 39: The Four Evangelists – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John

Fig 40: The Four Evangelists – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John

Fig 41: Worcester Cathedral Locking Mechanism. The Four Evangelists – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John

Fig 42: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – the Evangelists. Miniatures from the Grandes Heures of Anne of Brittany, Queen Consort of France (1477-1514)

Les Grandes Heures d’Anne de Bretagne is a book of hours, commissioned by Anne of Brittany, Queen of France to two kings in succession, and illuminated in Tours or perhaps Paris by Jean Bourdichon between 1503 and 1508. It has been described by John Harthan as “one of the most magnificent Books of Hours ever made” and is now in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.

Fig 43: Book of Kells (9th Century Ireland) – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John

The Book of Kells (sometimes known as the Book of Columba) is an illuminated manuscript Gospel book in Latin, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament together with various prefatory texts and tables. It was created in a Columban monastery in Ireland or may have had contributions from various Columban institutions from both Britain and Ireland. It is believed to have been created c. 800 AD. The text of the Gospels is largely drawn from the Vulgate, although it also includes several passages drawn from the earlier versions of the Bible known as the Vetus Latina. It is a masterwork of Western calligraphy and represents the pinnacle of Insular illumination. It is also widely regarded as Ireland’s finest national treasure.

Fig 44: The ‘Four Seasons’ in Freemasonry – the Lion (Summer), the Bull (Spring), the Eagle (Autumn) and the Man (Winter).

The ‘Four Seasons’ in Freemasonry are represented by the Lion (Summer), the Bull (Spring), the Eagle (Autumn) and the Man (Winter).

From the pictorial evidence presented, it would appear that Christianity is a transposition of the old Pagan religions.

In Western Europe one should also remember that the absolute authority of the Roman Catholic Church only came into question as late as the 16^th Century.

The Protestant Reformation was a schism in Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther and continued by Huldrych Zwingli, John Calvin and other Protestant Reformers in 16th-century Europe.

It is usually considered to have started with the publication of the Ninety-five Theses by Martin Luther in 1517 and lasted until the end of the Thirty Years’ War in 1648. It led to the division of Western Christianity into different confessions (Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican, Anabaptist, Unitarian, etc.). By the time of its arrival, Western Christianity was only compromised in the Lands of the Bohemian Crown, where Utraquist Hussitism was officially acknowledged by both the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor; in addition, various movements (including Lollards in England and Waldensians in Italy and France) were still being actively suppressed.

 

Chapter 5 – House of the Rising Sun / Risen Son

At Port Sunlight, William Lever and the Masonic architects carefully placed the Church of Christ at the centre of the ‘Rising Sun’.

Christ Church in Port Sunlight was constructed 1902-1904 and was the final resting place of Lord Leverhulme in 1925.

Fig 45: Christ Church, Port Sunlight representing the ‘House of the Rising Sun’? The final resting place of William Hesketh Lever

Fig 46: The Checkered Floor of Christ Church, Port Sunlight

It should also be noted that a significant number of prominent churches and cathedrals are furnished with the ‘Checkered Floor’ and / or a Cockerel as a weather vane.

Fig 47: St Paul’s Cathedral, London – designed by Freemason Sir Christopher Wren

Fig 48: All Hallows Church, London

All Hallows, built in 1765, was the work of George Dance the Younger (1741-1825), son of the designer of Mansion House, London. The younger Dance was only 24 when he designed the church, located beside the old Roman Wall of the City of London. In the churchyard are traces of the Roman wall, indicating the great antiquity of the site.

Dance was heavily influenced by Italian classical design, and later went on to become a founding member of the Royal Academy, and Clerk of the City Works for London.

Fig 49: Catholic Church, Venice

Fig 50: Orleans Cathedral, France

Fig 51:  Assortment of Church Cockerel Weather Vanes – an acknowledgment to the Rising Sun?

Conclusions

From the evidence presented in this article, it would appear that ancient Roman Paganism is the foundation for our modern Christian based religions as well as the more secretive Masonic networks of the world of which there are approximately 6 Million fraternal members.

What we choose to do with this knowledge is perhaps the next question.

It is down to you as the reader to make your own mind up and perhaps do some critical research and analysis of your own.

If the information presented does resonate with the truth then perhaps we may want to share this knowledge and begin to question other areas of our lives where we are perhaps being manipulated and controlled completely unawares of the ‘Hidden Hand’.

References

[1]        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unilever

[2]        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Lever,_1st_Viscount_Leverhulme

[3]        http://merseylodge5434.org/info/?page_id=226

[4]        http://www.victorianweb.org/art/architecture/portsunlight/2.html

[5]        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Institute_of_British_Architects

[6]        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Lutyens

[7]        http://www.britishpathe.com/video/30-000-mourners

[8]        https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/File:Im1917Roll-Lever.jpg

[9]        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brading_Roman_Villa

[10]      https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/1078748/the-masonic-character-of-the-roman-villa-at-morton-i-w-by-j-f-crease-ars-quatuar

[11]      http://www.fortrose108.co.uk/page2.html

[12]      https://www.freemasonrytoday.com/features/tag/Leverhulme%20Lodge%20No%204438

Other Titles in this Series

5. New World Order of the Knights of the Garter

5. The Emperor’s New Clothes

5. The Eagle Has Landed

5. The Spirit World – Pub Astrology

These titles are available as PDF downloads from

https://pubastrology.com/