Hide

Cullingworth Baptist Church History

hide
Hide
Hide

CULLINGWORTH:
Cullingworth Baptist Church History up to 1912.

Source=h:/!Genuki/RecordTranscriptions/WRY/BaptistChurches.txt

CULLINGWORTH BAPTIST CHURCH

The Cullingworth Church was formed in 1836, and arose out of the work inaugurated by Rev. M. Saunders, of Hall Green, and Rev. D. Taylor, of Bingley. They rented a room called "The Lodge", and established a Sunday school. On June 15th, 1836, seven persons were baptised in the stream at Cow House Bridge, and a Church of twenty-two members was constituted. Mr. Joseph Harvey, of Horton College, was, in the following autumn, ordained to the pastorate, and the chapel, costing 900, was built in 1837. That the enterprise was attended with difficulty is evident from the church-book :-" We have builded our walls in troublous times, but Ebenezer ! "Mr. Harvey's stay was brief, and he has had six successors, but at present the pulpit is supplied by students and lay preachers.

Cullingworth has a stationary population, the massing of the textile industry in the large centres giving the village but little opportunity of growth. In 1870 a wave of prosperity enabled the Church to enlarge its premises, and similarly, in 1898, new schools were built. This latter enterprise was inspired by the generous gift of £300 by Mr. John Clayton. Mr. E. Wadsworth was also a helpful benefactor of the Church, bequeathing at his death £i000 for the upkeep of the free-hold. In 1909 the chapel was entirely renovated at an outlay of £1300. The cause at Cullingworth is carried on by a small, but zealous and united people, who are at present bending their energies to the extinction of a debt of £350 incurred by the recent renovations.


Transcribed by Colin Hinson © 2014
from the "Present Churches" section of
The Baptists of Yorkshire
by Rev. J. Brown Morgan
and Rev. C.E. Shipley