A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



seem almost certain that under Gabriel Camelford (who was ejected from 

 Staveley in 1662), Tottlebank was a Congregational church, and it is possible 

 that it only tended to become Baptist when in May, 1695, David Crosley 

 was ordained as its minister. It was not actually a Baptist church till 1725, 

 and has always remained an open-membership body. 



But whatever may be said as to Tottlebank, it is certain that the remaining 

 historic Baptist churches of east and central Lancashire have all sprung from 

 the church in Rossendale. Some time after 1700 (probably in 1717) some 

 members of this ' church in Rossendale ' (as it was still styled, but probably 

 meaning only the Clough Fold church) who lived about Todmorden and Hep- 

 tonstall were formed into a distinct church. They erected two small chapels, 

 one at Rodhill End near Todmorden in Lancashire, and one at Stone-slack near 

 Heptonstall in Yorkshire. The chapels were only three miles apart, and 

 service was held in them alternately. Under the pastorates of Thomas Green- 

 wood, Richard Thomas, and John Dracup this church continued its separate 

 existence, but a few years after the coming of John Dracup (1772) the church 

 was dissolved ; the remaining members going to Hebden Bridge and other 



places. 



The church at Cowling Hill is to be regarded as an ofF-shoot from the 

 Bacup side of the old Rossendale church. It originated either soon after 1732 

 or else in a division in the Bacup church which followed on the death of 

 David Crosley in 1744. The Bacup church remained under Henry Lord 

 from 1744 to 1759, while the scattered members in the outskirts of the town 

 and at Cowley Hill chose Joseph Piccop as their minister in 1745. In the 

 following year this Cowling Hill church moved into Bacup, where there ac- 

 cordingly existed for the time being two churches which were not merely 

 at enmity as to their ministers, but also divided as to their faith, the older 

 church under Lord being Supralapsarian, and the younger under Piccop being 

 Sublapsarian. In 1754 a reconciliation was effected, and from the date of Lord's 

 departure in 1759 Piccop succeeded as pastor of the joint church. When this 

 union had been accomplished Cowling Hill desired to become again separate, and 

 from 1756 it accordingly enjoyed its own separate succession of ministers. 

 Meanwhile Goodshaw church had started from the Piccop half of the Bacup 

 church. In 1747 Mr. John Nuttall was baptized by Mr. Piccop. He 

 subsequently preached at Lumb in the Forest of Rossendale, and there a 

 meeting-house was built in 1750 and a church formed (1752). In 1760 this 

 church was moved to Goodshaw, two miles away, and there it still exists. 



The Baptist cause in Blackburn originated from the same source. David 

 Crosley, while pastor of Bacup, had preached at Blackburn in 1726. A 

 generation later Adam Holden, a native of Bacup, settled at Feniscliffe, where 

 his house was used as a Baptist meeting-place. A church was formed in 1760, 

 and in 1765 a chapel was built for it in Islington Croft, Blackburn. The 

 church at Accrington sprang even more directly from Bacup. Prior to 1759 

 (probably from 1744) the Baptists at Accrington had been supplied from 

 Bacup. But in 1 76 1 Charles Bamford (who had been baptized at Bacup by 

 Henry Lord) moved to Oakenshaw, and in September of that year he was 

 ordained minister over the church at Oakenshaw. In a few years (1765) this 

 church moved into Accrington, its present representative being New Road 

 (Blackburn Road). Colne (1769) has also the same origin. 



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