Orange lodges varied in size and robustness. Some had more than 100 members and asserted their sense of vibrancy and power; others staggered along hampered by gnawing financial constraints as their rolls registered single figures. The size of the lodges was not entirely arbitrary: a large lodge would often result in a smaller, internal band peeling off to apply for another warrant to form a further lodge. This is the way most lodge systems grew. The logic of the movement also suggested that an ideal of between 15 and 30 was preferred. This is because the essential functions of the lodge demanded as much. Lodges were required to have five officeholders and a similar number of committeemen. Consequently, a lodge of less than ten members struggled to maintain the efficient despatch of lodge business. If lodges became much larger than 30 they ran the risk of division; factionalism was a prime concern. Behind the closed doors of the lodges, membership issues and group dynamics were complex, and enrolments could fluctuate quite markedly. The business cycle, personal chemistry and the presence (or absence) of dynamic, hard-working members could all make a crucial difference to the good health of lodges and districts.

Beyond the human exigencies of running lodges we can see that Orangeism (as an ideology and a series of procedures) strove to maintain unchanging characteristics. Once the lodge was planted, and notwithstanding pressures from without, it was governed thereafter by members who demonstrated a remarkable consistency of organisation and approach. They followed centrally produced rules and procedures and spent a considerable proportion of their membership dues maintaining a holding of official publications and proper regalia. While there could be changes, rituals and procedures remained, for the most part, fundamental across time and place. The same rites of entry and ceremonies of progression were upheld. The same secret words were uttered across the decades and continents as generation upon generation of new men and women were welcomed into the fold. Changing masters or officers did not mean alternative ways of executing core business.

We can begin to piece together just what Orangemen did in their meetings from the records they left.