Lightcliffe Congregational Church History

LIGHTCLIFFE:
Lightcliffe Congregational Church History up to 1868.

There was early preaching in Lightcliffe. The early minister was Rev. JONATHAN WRIGHT, who was ordained in Horton, Bradford, in 1694. He married a widow of Rev. W. Courlass,* rector of Marston. He received aid from the Stretton fund. After Mr. Wright's death, the preaching, which seems to have been in a private house, was discontinued. He was probably related to Joshua Wright, O. Heywood's friend.

A chapel, erected in 1823, by a body of Primitive Methodists, was purchased by the Independents. The services were conducted by students for several years. The ministers have been-

• Circ. 1830. Rev. ANDREW SAWYER. About 1840 the chapel was closed for a year.
• 1841. Rev. HANLEY PICKERSGILL.
• 1844. Rev. GEORGE SWANN. Rev. EDWARD G. CECIL. Mr. C. left for Surrey Chapel, London, 1854.
• 1855. Rev. JOSEPH HOYLE, B.A. (Airedale Coll.), from Pickering. He removed to Staindrop, Jan., 1863.
• 1864. Rev. JOHN THOMSON (Edinburgh and Glasgow), from Beaminster, who is the present minister (in 1868).

NOTES:-
* Dorothy, daughter of Bryan Dixon, of Hunslet Lane, Leeds, was born 1665. Her memory was extraordinary. She could bring home the greatest part of a sermon she had heard, as well as if it had been written in short-hand. This recommended her, it seems, greatly to ministers, by whom she was much sought after. She married for her first husband Rev. Wm. Courlass, Rector of Marston. -Thoresby's Leeds, 612.