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Sion Baptist Church
Newchurch Road, Higher Cloughfold
The earliest record of worship in the Cloughfold area by
dissenters was the registration of a barn owned
by John Piccop in Dedwinclough dated 28th
October 1672. Over ten years later William
Mitchel, the Yorkshire preacher, and his younger
cousin David Crossley came into the Rossendale
area and Mitchel made his first recorded
appearance as a preacher at Goodshaw Chapel.
David Crossley was a restless and erratic
character and it was during his journeys that he
met with some Baptists and was baptised at
Bromsgrove in Worcestershire, thus becoming the
first Rossendale Baptist. It was through this
contact that William Mitchel became a Baptist,
though his Baptist beliefs were at odds with the
majority of the Rossendale dissenters and this
led to him being dismissed as Teaching Elder in
1699. Mitchel was replaced by Richard Ashworth
of Tunstead and about this time the Cloughfold
Church acquired its own premises. On the 20th
January 1700-01 the house of James Townsend was
legally certified for worship and became known
as "The New Chapel". Five years later, in 1705,
it was taken over by Robert Litchford and
became the property of the Church. Though
William Mitchel had by now moved to Bradford his
beliefs and principals were gradually winning
with the Cloughfold Church and by 1710 the
Church had become unmistakably Baptist.
The house of Robert Litchford continued to be used until 1839
when a new church was built on the same site.
The new church opened for worship on the 29th
March 1839 (Good Friday) and this building
was enlarged and re-opend on the14th April 1854
(Good Friday). It was shortly after this
enlargement that the church took on the name of
Sion Baptist. By 1900 the Sunday School, which
held in the basement of the church, was so over
crowded that a new Sunday School was built at
the rear of the church.
In 1979, with the building starting to deteriorate, it was
decided to renovate and convert the Sunday
School for worship. After work costing £15,000
to £17,000 was completed the Church held the
first service there on the 27th October 1984.
The old church was demolished in 1986 and the
Baptist Housing Association built sheltered
accommodation on the site and gave it the name
of Litchford House. |
