Skip to main content

Pre-history: Baptists in Bury before 1835

The first Baptist church in Bury was Providence Baptist Strict and Particular Baptist church which started in March 1835 (with a building from 1836). In 1845, Ebenezer Baptist church started (with a building on Knowsley Street from 1853). Later, there were Baptist churches on Rochdale Road (from 1860), and on Chesham Avenue (from 1881). 

Anyway, until 1835, there were no Baptist churches in Bury. 

The first Baptist churches began in the early 1600s (between 1609 and 1638). Starting among English speaking Christians in the Netherlands, churches then spread from London outwards. During the time of the Civil War, there were Baptists in the Model Army of Oliver Cromwell. A certain John Wigan was pastor of a Baptist church at Birch from about 1649/50. In 1669, the vicar of Bury parish complained of various conventicles "constantly kept at private houses of Independents, Presbyterians, Dippers and other such like jointly, of the bset rank of the yeomanry and other inferiors." "Dippers" would refer to Baptists. The Yorkshire and Lancashire Association of Baptist Churches was already formed and meeting by 1695, and represented six churches. There were also churches at Manchester and Warrington, which were possibly too far to be included. However, details are sparing.

Later, in the 1700s, we hear of Baptist churches across Lancashire in places such as Manchester, Liverpool, Newchurch, Goodshaw, Bacup, Lumb, Rossendale, and Rochdale (1775). In 1806, a meeting of the Yorkshire and Lancashire Association of Baptist churches held at Accrington.  

By the start of the 1800s, there were definitely individual Baptist Christians at Bury. There was a small group of Baptist Christians already meeting in 1804 - and the group that later became Bethel Congregational Church met in the same premises with them for some time. Later, it would seem that John Warburton and William Gadsby would travel from Manchester to preach at this meeting. On at least one occasion, William Gadsby performed baptisms at Bury: "I had been baptising some people near what is called Burybridge in Bury, Lancs; and it made no little bustle in the neighbourhood to see what they called 'dipping'".  

In terms of specific individuals, we read of a certain Henry Howarth of Bury (trustee of a Baptist church in Manchester in 1772), and of a pastor Agate of Bury who was asked to lead a small church elsewhere. Another Baptist at Bury was called Richard Lord. He used to travel to Liverpool, Bacup or Manchester to hear preaching. When he died, his funeral in February 1821 was held at Bethel Congregational Church on Henry Street in Bury, and William Gadsby preached at the Bethel church on that occasion. Another Baptist at Bury was a young woman called Eleanor who was present at the services that weekend, and, having come to faith, saved up to finance the future Baptist chapel at Bury which was completed in 1836. She was one of twelve founder members of the Bury church released from membership at Hope Chapel in Rochdale in 1835. 



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bury, Greater Manchester - Timeline of churches

979?      First Church on the site of the present Parish Church (the picture below is an artist's impression of Bury parish church in 1485). This was the only church in the town of Bury until 1719 (see below).  1585      Parish church (re)built in the gothic style . 1650     During the Commonwealth, Henry Pendlebury was ordained for  Holcombe Chapelry.  1662     Having been ejected from the Church of England,  Henry Pendlebury of Holcombe   (1626-1695) held services at a Chapel on Bass Lane by Richard Kay, and others ejected from the C of E (replaced in 1712 by Dundee Chapel, Holcombe) 1669      The vicar of Bury parish reported to the Bishop of Chester that he heard several conventicles were "constantly kept at private houses of Independents, Presbyterians, Dippers and other such like jointly, of the bset rank of the yeomanry and other inferiors." 1689      ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The history of the Christian Church in twenty places

α. Jerusalem (30 or 33 AD) The place where Christ, the Son-of-God-become-man, died on the Cross, was raised from the dead on the third day, and from where he ascended back to heaven. This is also where the Holy Spirit was poured out on the first disciples. Sometime after AD 44 (Acts 12), Peter, John and other Apostles dispersed across the world to bear testimony to the risen Christ. 1. Ephesus (approx. 100 AD) The place where the Apostles, Paul and John, handed over to the next generation of Christian leaders, which included the “Apostolic Fathers”. One such “Apostolic Father”, Ignatius of Antioch, passed through Ephesus on his way to martyrdom at Rome, and addressed a letter to the church at Ephesus. 2. Athens (second century) The centre of Greek thought, which Justin Martyr and other Second Century Apologists addressed in their presentations of the Christian faith, proclaiming Christ as the Logos (the Word or principle underlying the universe). 3. Lyon (from 177) The church in ...
Post a Comment
Read more

History of Christianity in Latvia - great "saints" and heroes of the faith in Latvia

The Baltic region, including what is now Latvia , was one of the last outposts of European paganism, and was only evangelised and converted from the 1100s.  Bishop Meinhard (1134-1196) was one of the first to successfully plant the gospel in Latvian soil. An Augustinian canon (similar to a monk), he served as the first bishop of the see of Üxküll (now  Ikšķile ,  Latvia ). However, the murder of his successor led to a more violent imposition of Christianity.  This was in the context of the Northern Crusades  (Livonian Crusade) whereby peoples/tribes inhabiting this region, including the Latgalians, Selonians, Semigallians and Curonians, came to embrace the Christian faith. Andreas Knoepken  (1490-1539), a disciple of Luther, was the one who "brought" the Protestant Reformation to Latvia in its Lutheran form. 1521 is considered the date of the Protestant Reformation in Latvia; by the mid 1500s the majority of people had become Protestant. The Bible was ...
Post a Comment
Read more