A MERSEYSIDE man has written a book unearthing the roots of what remains one of the world’s most mysterious and secretive of brotherhoods, the Freemasons.

Dr David Harrison’s The Genesis of Freemasonry reconstructs the history of the movement through its formative years in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, beginning with its connections to the medieval trade guild societies.

It also delves into the study of alchemy and necromancy which many of the early Masons indulged in, and which Dr Harrison accepts is one of the reasons why the fraternal organisation, with its estimated five million worldwide membership, is still treated with some suspicion today.

“But back then alchemy, the search to turn base metal into gold, was seen as a science not magic,” said Dr Harrison, 39, who lectures in history at the University of Liverpool as well as for the Adult Education Service.

“In fact, some of the founding members of the Royal Society in the 17th century, which became the bedrock for the development of modern-day science, were both alchemists and freemasons.”

One of them was Elias Ashmole, a Royalist soldier on the run who sought refuge in Warrington in 1646 where he was accepted to the Lodge there.