The famous floating staircase and the compact auditorium of The Magic Circle's headquarters
An Evening With the Magic Circle
Tuesday 29 March 2022
Bring your family and friends
Events for 2025
Join us for a visit to the Magna Carta 1225 Exhibition
at Burlington House - Tuesday 16 September
MagnaMasters and Consorts are invited to join MagnaMaster Parish Clerk Michael Cooper for a unique opportunity to explore the legacy of Magna Carta (1225) and the Charter of the Forest, marking 800 years since its reissue by Henry III – the version enshrined in English law on Tuesday 16 September at 3.30pm.
This exhibition at the Society of Antiquaries brings together rare and significant manuscripts, offering fresh insights into their impact on law, governance, land, and society. As Magna Masters and Carta Consorts know well, Magna Carta is one of the most important documents in history and has influenced legal and human rights systems worldwide, from the French Revolution to the United States Constitution and the United Nations’ Declaration of Human Rights. We will also explore 300 years of collecting history at the Society of Antiquaries, Burlington House.
Grand entrance to Burlington House. Picture:
Society of Antiquaries
We will meet at the Society of Antiquaries’ premises at Burlington House for tea and biscuits at 3.30pm. Dr Michelle Johansen will then give us an introduction to the Society’s Magna Carta 1225-2025 exhibition (on a day when it is closed to the general public). This will be followed by a tour of the Society’s premises with the Society's Dominic Wallis lasting approximately 45 minutes. Numbers are limited at 30 so please book early to avoid disappointment.
Founded in 1707, the Society of Antiquaries is the oldest learned society concerned with the study of the past. The Society obtained its Royal Charter from George II in 1751 and its mission is ‘the encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries’. The range of the Society’s interests covers a wide field, from the archaeology of all periods and all countries, to heraldry, art history, architectural history and other subjects based on the study of the material remains of the past. The Society has important series of royal and other portraits from the 15th and 16th centuries, most notably, the portrait of Mary I by Hans Eworth, painted from life, and the two portraits of Richard III. The library contains more than 130,000 volumes, ranging in date from the 15th century to the most recent publications. It includes 8,000 early printed books as well as 50 incunables (books printed before 1501), 2,000 royal proclamations dating from 1464 to the mid-nineteenth century, around 1,000 broadsides and some 1,400 pamphlets from the Civil War.
Venue: The entrance to Burlington House, also home to the Royal Academy of Arts, is on the north side of Piccadilly, half-way between Green Park and Piccadilly Circus underground stations. The Society of Antiquaries of London is at the north-west corner of the Burlington House courtyard. Buses 9, 14, 19, 22 and 38 stop outside Burlington House.
Cost: £25 per person, to include a donation a donation towards the Society’s Burlington House lease appeal. After a long negotiation with the Government, the Society now has the opportunity to buy a 999-year lease for Burlington House on favourable terms, which will secure the Society’s long-term future in the home that was purpose built for it 150 years ago.
Join us to visit Royal Hospital, Chelsea plus lunch - Thursday 1 May
Dear MagnaMaster,
Following our very popular wine trips to the Loire in June 2022 and Porto & Douro in 2024, we are very pleased to announce that our next wine trip will be to Burgundy, known as 'the King of Wines’, in June 2026.
Attached is the draft programme from our specialist wine tour operator, Grape Escapes, which we used successfully on our two previous trips, but we may fine tune some of the vineyard visits and restaurant details and dates slightly, but we don't expect the overall price or dates to change much, if at all.
However, the hotel in Beaune we have chosen is very popular, so we need to confirm our reservation there with a deposit in the next week, so if you want to join us and all your committee are keen to come, please send me an email nbirtles@yahoo.com to state this with the names AND transfer £350 per person as a deposit to the MMA Bank Account (details below) with the reference of your surname & Beaune 26. We expect this trip to be very popular and sell out for the up to 30 places we have available very quickly.
Note: If driving from Calais attractive places to stay include the medieval City of Troyes "offering a unique blend of history and modern life making a great choice for a stopover" or Val Moret in the Aube countryside, offering a budget friendly and convenient option.
Waiting list only
Currently (May 2025) this event in June 2026 is fully subscribed with deposits paid for all 30 places: to put your name(s) on the waiting list in the event of cancellations please email nbirtles@yahoo.com.
When booking
please pay to
Lloyds Bank Plc
SORT CODE: 30 64 57
ACCOUNT NUMBER 67105568
Account Name: Magna Masters Association
REF: Your surname Beaune 26
Best Regards,
Nic
Nicholas Birtles
Mobile 07900 226668
MMA Burgundy Wine Trip June 2026
- waiting list only
Upcoming events
2025
-
Monday 1 September Open Committee Meeting (Provisional)
-
Monday 1 September Visit to Tokefield Centre at Stationers' Hall
-
Tuesday 16 September Visit to the Magna Carta (1225) Exhibition and Burlington House
-
Monday 20 October AGM, WineTasting and Supper
2026
-
Tuesday 27 January
Eleventh annual dinner at Tallow Chandlers’ Hall
Visit to Stationers' Hall Tokefield Centre EC4M 7DD
1 September 2025
We are combining with our predecessor group, One4All, at their kind invitation for this event.
Stationers’ is the second oldest Livery Hall in the City, dating from 1673. The Grade 1 listed building, close to St Paul’s Cathedral, has recently undergone a major refurbishment including the installation of a lift so is accessible to all.
The current building was completed in 1673 after the Great Fire and, although suffering serious damage remained substantially intact during the Blitz of 1940. Fortunately many original features including the Victorian stained glass windows showing links to the printing trade were undamaged.
An earlier Hall was in place from 1606. When the Great Fire approached the Hall Clerk George Tokefield saved the records and archives, ancient even at that time, by taking as much as he could carry, away in a wheelbarrow to his house in Clerkenwell beyond the reach of the fire.
Stationers’ is the birthplace of copyright as we know it. The registers held in the archives record copyright ownership of major authors and works, including Shakespeare’s First Folio. We will have an opportunity to examine early records and newspapers in the new Reading Room. The archivist will arrange a special insight to certain historical documents for our group to enjoy.
Following the visit, we will move to Ye Olde Watling just beyond St. Paul’s Cathedral for lunch.
Sited on Watling Street, one of London’s most famous old roads, used by ancient Britons and paved by the Romans, it linked Dover, London and St Albans. The pub itself was rebuilt after the Great Fire by Sir Christopher Wren himself to house his workers. It still features the ship’s timbers used in 1668 which were sold cheaply to builders.
