Where did your church "come from" - a spiritual ancestry of Radcliffe Road Baptist Church in Bury

Today, at our church coffee morning, I gave a brief presentation about two cousins from the late 1600s, and early 1700s born in a small town called Heptonstall, and who were instrumental in the spread of Baptist Christianity in our "neck of the woods": William Mitchell (b.1663) and David Crossley (b. 1669).

The first ever Baptist churches on English soil were started in 1611 and 1638 respectively, and spread out from London with offshoots in places such as Coventry, Kent and Wales.

The earliest Baptist churches in the North West (historic Lancashire and Cheshire) began around 1650: one in Manchester and one in Warrington.

However, William Mitchell and David Crossley started out as itinerant preachers from about 1685, and were not initially Baptists by conviction. Before becoming Baptist, they bravely preached and set up "preaching stations" throughout the area bordering Yorkshire and Lancashire in places such as Barnoldswick, Bacup and Rawdon. Eventually these became Baptist churches united in a local association of six churches, the most far-flung of which was in Tottlebank (Lake District).

This cluster of Baptist churches, many of which were concentrated in the Rossendale valley, led to the planting of churches in other places locally such as the town of Rochdale in 1776.

It was an offshoot from the Rochdale church, Hope Street Chapel, which planted our church in 1835, sending about a dozen members to form what became Providence Strict and Particular Baptist Chapel in Bury - now known as Radcliffe Road Baptist Church.

So all of this goes back to two cousins who bravely preached during the reign of Charles II, and who spent time in prison for their efforts.

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