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General Baptist Church
South Street, Bacup
In 1852 a group of
people arrived in Bacup from Heptonstall Slack in Yorkshire, the
place which William Mitchell and David Crosley a come in 1692 to
form the Baptist church at Bacup. They were handloom weavers looking
for work in the cotton mills of Rossendale.
They held their
first meeting in a house in Earnshaw Road and soon after moved to a
house in Burnley Road. On Good Friday 1854 they moved again, this
time to a building on Newchurch Road and from there they decided to
start a building fund for a new chapel. After raising £250 a plot of
land was bought between Gladstone Street and Tong Lane. On Good
Friday 1872 the foundation stone for South Street General Baptist
church was laid and the first was held on the 3rd April 1873. The
chapel, which cost £1600 to build could 250 people.
By 1921 Mount
Olivet Baptist chapel had fallen in to disrepair and an agreement
was made to merge with South Street under the title Mount Olivet and
South Street Baptist Church. The War years took their toll and
attendances declined. After turning down an invitation to talks on
forming one Baptist church in Bacup it was decided in September 1962
to close the chapel and the last service was held on the last Sunday
in December 1962. Whilst there was no formal agreement to unite the
church on the Sunday following closure the members joined in worship
with the newly formed Trinity. |
