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Burnley Express and News, May 4, 1940
HILL-LANE BAPTIST CHURCH’S 100th BIRTHDAY
Flourishing Cause That Began in a Farm Loft
BURWAIN’S FARM, BRIERCLIFFE. IN A LOFT OVER A STABLE HERE, THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH MET. (Photo with the news article).
One hundred years of Christian witness at Briercliffe will be culminated this week-end and next, when the centenary celebration in connection with Ebenezer Baptist Church and School, Hill Lane, are held. The following details of the Church’s history are taken from the interesting handbook published in connection with the celebrations.
Although it was not until 1840 that the school chapel was built, the story of the Briercliffe Dissenters has its beginning much further back in history than that. Indeed, there is evidence that secret meetings of Dissenters were held in what was known as “th’ Acred Farm” some time about 1670-90, before religious freedom was wholly won. In a meadow facing the house, beneath a plane tree, is the grave of one of these early Dissenters, with the memorial: “Here lies the body of Elizabeth, the wife of John Vipon, 1681.”
THE INFANT CHURCH
In or about the year 1740 there was born in Briercliffe one named William Smith, who lived at Hill Farm. About 1760 this young man, who by the way, was then a maker of shalloons (a worsted material), began calling together his friends in a room, or loft, over a stable at Burwains, to hear the Gospel message. Smith’s business took him frequently to Thursden, Widdop, and Heptonstall. At Heptonstall at this time the Baptist Church was thriving, a church having been in existence there since 1704, and probably through contact with the Heptonstall Baptists, the young man became convinced that theirs was the true way of life, and adopted Believer’s Baptism, the practice they upheld.
The infant church formed at Burwains followed closely on the lines of the Heptonstall church. Some of Smith’s Inghamite friends were won over by his teachings, and were baptised. This was in 1761. Six years later the members secured land at Haggate, and there built a chapel, and William Smith, one of the first trustees, was now appointed elder of the church.
In 1824 some difficulty arose, and a number of the members left. For a time they worshipped over the shop at the junction of Burnley road and Todmorden road, Haggate, but later they moved to Marsden Heights. This meeting dissolved in 1876, and most of its members returned to Haggate. In a record of “Dissenting Meetings,” dated 1828, it is stated that no fewer than 220 people were meeting together at a Baptist place in Briercliffe.
There was an important development in 1833 or 1834, when the church was seeking union, and joined with the “Scotch Baptists.” This order of things did not satisfy all the members, however, and some of them broke away and later built on Hill-lane a church of their own, calling it Ebeneezer.
The only tombstone in the churchyard that bears the date 1840, when the school-chapel was opened, stands in front of the present school, and bears the inscription: “In memory of Ellen, wife of James Edmondson, of Extwistle, who died June 12th, 1840, aged 35 years.
FIRST HILL-LANE CHURCH
The first Church at Hill-lane was of the same persuasion as the mother church at Haggate, and Thomas Greenwood was appointed the first elder. John Ashworth, James Hargreaves, Jos. Hartley, John Clough, and James Smith were the first workers of whom there is now any record. It would appear that this James Smith was the son of William Smith, as there is a record of his death in 1854 at the age of 63 years.
The corner stone of the new Baptist Chapel, at Hill-lane, Briercliffe, was laid on Monday, May 29th, 1871. In 1856 the first resident minister came. He was the Rev. William F. Smith. Between 1853 and 1856 the Rev. J.C. Park (minister at Trinity, Colne) had helped in the ministry. During the Rev. W.F. Smith’s ministry of nine years 56 members were added to the church, and Hill-lane joined the Baptist Association, with which the members have been associated since that time.
The year 1864 saw the close of Mr. Smith’s ministry, and the Rev. W. Cheetham, of Tring, Herts., accepted a call to the pastorate continuing his labours until October 7th, 1866.
Nelson Sunday School Union was formed at a meeting in Salem Chapel, Nelson, on February 11th, 1867, and Ebeneezer Baptist School, Briercliffe, was one of the founder-members. Mr. John Heap, who had been secretary of the church since 1864, was elected first secretary of the newly formed Sunday School Union, accepting the post on his twenty seventh birthday. He was a keen musician, and could play most of the “Messiah” and “Judas Maccabaeus” by heart. He was also a self taught linguist, and could speak and read in Hebrew, French, German, Spanish and Esperanto.
On February 2nd, 1868, the Rev, R. Littlehales accepted the call of Hill-lane, and he proved a great preacher and energetic organizer.
Carr-road Baptist Church Nelson, the daughter church of Hill-lane, had its beginnings on Sunday, August 23rd, 1868, when it was resolved that “Hartley Walton’s new building in Dial street be secured as a preaching station.”
PLAN FOR NEW CHAPEL
The people of Hill Lane had felt for some time, before Mr. Littlehales came, that the old school-chapel was unsuitable, since the fellowship had grown in numbers, and on October 27th, 1868, it was decided to build a new chapel, but this motion was rescinded at a meeting on June 9th, 1869, and a proposal to alter the existing chapel adopted instead. In August of the same year a Sunday school and morning service were commenced at Nelson.
In 1870 - and this will be interesting to many local church people- the system of weekly offerings by envelopes was adopted and is still practiced successfully.
Although the intention to build a new chapel had been deferred, in February 1871, it was decided to proceed with the scheme, and the building was begun. The corner stone was laid by Mr. George Foster, of Sabden, on Whit Monday of the same year. Much of the stone with which the church was built was quarried quite near to the church. In March, 1872, the new chapel was opened. Many of the friends of Hill-lane made great sacrifices in order that this beautiful chapel might be built. Mr. Littlehales himself collected over £200 from his friends. The following year, 1873, saw the granting of “aspirate powers of govern-
Twelve months later, in 1874, Mr. Littlehales left, and was succeeded in 1875 by the Rev. I. Lloyd, of Pontypool Church, who left in 1879 after an uneventful pastorate. The church was without a minister until July, 1884, when the Rev. Jonas Lee accepted the call.
The school was formally opened on Saturday, March 9th, 1887, by Alderman Barlow, of Accrington. Tea was served in the new schoolroom, over 400 people being present.
Mr. Lee left in 1892 for Pendle street, Padiham, and Hill-lane was without a minister until 1895, when the Rev. A. Gray came. He formed a “Young People’s Christian Endeavour Society” in 1897. The big event of 1899 was the birth of the Tennyson street, Mission which at first was opened merely as a social institute. It was on Sunday, October 6th, 1907, that this place was opened as a Sunday school. About 1908 alterations at the mission were begun, and six good classrooms were provided.
The Rev. A. Grey left after a long prosperous ministry in 1916, and in 1920 was succeeded by the Rev. C. Stanley. A new organ was presented and installed in the church in 1922, and the following year Mr. Stanley departed, being succeeded by Rev. W.O. Pugh, who was instrumental in starting “Sisterhood” and “Brotherhood” meetings.
The Rev. W.O. Pugh left in 1926, and was followed in 1927 by the Rev. A.H.B. Cook, who was instrumental in forming a Young People’s Fellowship. Although Mr. Cook left in 1932, the “Y.P.F” flourished, and is now a strong auxiliary organization. For five years the church was without a minister, until, in 1937, the Rev. Herbert Hough, then of Winton, accepted the call, and he is still the minister.
To-day there will be a procession of witness from Tennyson-street School, to be followed by an evening meeting in the church. To-morrow there will be special services of thanksgiving, and the celebrations will be continued next week-end. There will be a public tea in Hill-lane School next Saturday, and Sunday, May 12th, the Sunday school anniversary services will be held.
[This history of Hill-lane Church and School has been extracted from an official handbook compiled by Mr. Percy Nuttall, to whom acknowledgements are made.]

I have just acquired a booklet (through ebay) celebrating the centenary of 'Ebenezer Baptist Church and School, Hill Lane, Briercliffe.'

I plan on transcribing (or using my new found OCR software if it will read the print) the book and putting it on the site.
It was compiled by Percy Nuttall.

First glance, there are some great pictures.

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Mel

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A note, written in red ink on the inside front cover reads
'Hill Lane' is the Chapel that Kathleen Heaps Daddy attended from being a small boy.
This area is also where he was born - Shores Hey Farm Briercliffe - still farmed by a member of the Heap family (my cousin Eveline Heap son) at 1978.

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http://www.briercliffesociety.co.uk/Pho ... tenary.htm

Page two
Centenary General Committee.
REV. H. HOUGH .................. PRESIDENT.
MR. SMITH KIPPAX ............ GENERAL SECRETARY.
MISS S. A. GREENWOOD ........ TREASURER (Finance Committee).
MRS. M. NUTTALL ............... No. 1 CATERING COMMITTEE.
MISS E. KIPPAX .................. HYMNS COMMITTEE.
MISS S. NUTTALL ............... No. -2 CATERING COMMITTEE.
MISS B. NUTTALL.
MR. P. LEAVER.
MR. C. E. GIVEN.
MR. H. CARTWRIGHT ........... INVITATIONS COMMITTEE.
MR. J. R. SWARBRICK ......... DEMONSTRATION COMMITTEE.
MR. P. NUTTALL ................. PUBLICITY.
CONVENERS OF OTHER COMMITTEES :
MR. W. EDMONDSON ............ PROCESSION.
MR. G. WHITTAKER ............. STEWARDS AND CLOAK ROOM,
MR. H. EDMONDSON ............ STEWARDS AND CLOAK ROOM.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT.
To all those who have helped in any way to make this a
complete record of our Church History, whether by the loan
of interesting documents or photographs, let me say in all
sincerity " Thank you."
PERCY NUTTALL

Page three
It is with joy and thankfulness in our hearts that we dedicate this Souvenir Brochure to God.
The object of this book is not to bring- praise or honour to any name, although we realise that there are those who are deserving of all that we can give.
Nor yet is it to pay homage or give glory to the Church so near and dear to all our hearts.
The primary purpose for which this book has been brought into being in this:—
"That you may see and know what men and women can do when they have surrendered their lives to God, and rested their all upon His promises."
Just ask yourself:
"What would my life be like without the torch of Christian Truth that has been handed on to me — without the Church that our fathers built — without the Christ they served?"
God is working His purpose out, and in that purpose He fashioned you a part.
You can perform it if you will, because God uses us not according to our weakness, but according to His Own Almighty Strength.
May He help and guide you. God bless you.

Page five
Centenary Celebrations,
May 4th and 5th, 1940.

SATURDAY, MAY 4th.
Procession of Witness will assemble at Tennyson Street School at. 3 o'clock.
The order of the Procession will be as follows:—
Centenary Banner. Ministers (Past and Present).
The Eight Oldest Members of the Church in years of membership. Primary Scholars, followed by the Band.
The rest of the Scholars, along with visitors and friends, will follow, commencing with the Younger Girls, and working up to Ladies.
Boys and men will fall in behind, and the Procession will proceed through the village to Hill Lane.
Tea will be served in the School at 4-30.
Meeting in the Church at 7 o'clock.
Rev. H. Hough, Chairman.
Speakers: Rev. H. Motley (Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland).
Miss J. M. Pilling (Burnley Baptist Union).
Mr. W. Ingham (Carr Road, Nelson).
Mr. James Halstead (Haggate Baptists).
Mr. Fred Leaver and Mr. Jos. Sutcliffe (Hill Lane).
And Old Friends.
Special Anthems by the Choir.

SUNDAY, MAY 5th.
2-30 and 6-30 p.m.
SPECIAL SERVICES OF THANKSGIVING will be held in the Church, when the Rev. Herbert Motley (General Superintendent, North Western District) will preach.
United Communion Service, 3-30. The Choir, under the baton of Mr. Alfred Barker, will render special music.
Miss Edith Kippax, L.L.C.M., at the Organ.

Page six
Centenary Celebrations,
May llth and 12th, 1940.

SATURDAY, MAY llth.
Public Tea in the School at Hill Lane at 4-30.
At 7 o'clock, a Demonstration, entitled " The Building of the Church," will be given by the Scholars.
Pianist: Miss M. Wyld, A.L.C.M.
Mr. Richard Nuttall (Hill Lane) will be in the chair, and speakers will include the following:—
Miss Edna Robinson (Nelson Sunday School Union),
Miss S. A. Jackson and Mr. Thos. Nuttall (Hill Lane).

SUNDAY, MAY 12th.
SUNDAY SCHOOL ANNIVERSARY
SERVICES.
In the Morning, at 10-30, Mrs. R. Hurt (of Burnley) will address a Children's Service.
Special Music will he rendered by the Children.
Services at 2-30 and 6-30, when the Rev. A. H. B. Cook (Coseley) will preach.
The Choir once again will render special Anthems, led by Mr. Alfred Barker.
Miss Edith Kippax, L.L.C.M., will officiate at the Organ.

Page seven
Hymn of Thanksgiving and Consecration
Written for this Happy Occasion.

We meet with one accord
Upon this holy clay,
And crave Thy richest blessings, Lord,,
Before we go away.

We thank Thee for Thy care,
So long and freely given,—
For those who all Thy love declare,
And point our steps to Heaven.

For those who built, these walls,
With strong and willing hand,
Who answered when they heard Thy call,
And worked at Thy command.

And there were those who prayed,
And watched by night and day—
They lead the erring feet, that strayed
Into the narrow way.

They sought for no reward,
Nor did they count the cost—
Their joy to serve, and labour hard,
To seek and save the lost.

Lord, grant to us Thy love,
That we their steps may trace,
Along the shining path to Heaven,
To meet Thee face to face.

Page eight
Dear Friends,
Our greeting is simple but sincere. We send a message of Christian goodwill to all into whose hands this Handbook comes.
Many of you will be uniting with us in our special gatherings for the Centenary Celebrations, and we welcome you gladly into our fellowship. May your visit

be rich in spiritual joy.
Months of prayerful preparation preceded the issue of this Handbook, and we trust that those who have worked so loyally may be rewarded for their service.
We rejoice in the willing response of our people.
Our gatherings have a two-fold purpose.
First, we raise our "Ebenezer" and thank God for the past—for the great souls who have served Him at Hill Lane and the harvest gathered in His Name.
But we meet. also to dedicate ourselves afresh to God, and to pray for His continued blessing upon His Church and people.
We pray that the words of Haggai, the prophet, may be true of Hill Lane, "The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former."
And may the Lord by His Spirit, overrule in all things.
Yours in Christian fellowship,
HERBERT HOUGH.

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The first Dissenters in Briercliffe of whom we have any record were a Quaker family who dwelt in what is commonly referred to locally as "Th' Acred Farm."
We have evidence of secret meetings held in this place some time about 1670-90, before religious freedom was wholly won.
We are told they had a pass-word, or sign, without which you could not be admitted to this homestead whilst meetings were in progress.
In the meadow, facing the house, beneath a plane tree, is the last resting place of one of these early Dissenters. We read: "Here lies the body of Elizabeth, the wife of Iohn Vipon. 1681."
A little later we find the enthusiastic followers of Ingham raising a Bethel at Wheatley Lane in the year 1750, and another at Winewall two years later.
So we can see the seeds of freedom of thought and worship were sown early in our own neighbourhood, and it is from these seeds that our Baptist Churches have grown.
The people of that time were comparatively poor and uneducated, earning their living by hand-loom weaving or as casual farm labourers— chiefly by the former.
Their weft and warps they carried in a "poke" slung over their shoulders from the Cloth Hall at Colne, and when the weaving was completed the pieces were delivered in the same manner.
Those who worked on the farm found their work much different from farming to-day. Each farmer grew corn or oats in those days. Evidence of this is seen in the ridges along so many of our fields to-day. The reaping of these harvests was done with a scythe—all had to be done by hand.
It was carted in sheaves to the barn, threshed out with the flail; the winnowing of the corn followed before it was taken to the mill. In Briercliffe there were two mills, at Extwistle and Pig Hole, and the motive power of mills in those days was the water-wheel. There it was ground into oatmeal, which was sold to make porridge and the popular hard bread, known to-day in country places as "minny bread."
So we can see for ourselves that these early Nonconformists were by no means idlers, nor were they wealthy or wise in the sense that many would think of these things to-day.
And yet they were wealthy because they possessed what so few of us possess to-day—the love of Christ within their hearts and a burning desire to see His Kingdom come. And they were wise, in that they were not lured away from the narrow path by the sights that dazzle or the sounds that tempt.
This was the Briercliffe to which William Smith was born — in what year we know not. We must surmise it was the year 1740 or thereabouts. These were the influences that moulded his young life along Nonconformist lines.
In the year 1760 we find this young man (who by the way lived at Hill Farm) calling his friends together in a room, or a loft over a stable at Burwains, to hear the Gospel Message.
William Smith was a maker of shalloons, a worsted material marketed at Halifax, and was a manufacturer in a small way. Frequently he took journeys to that distant place for business reasons, going by way of Thursden Valley, Widdup, and Heptonstall.
Now the Baptist cause at Heptonstall was thriving at this time, a church having been in existence there since 1704, and a chapel wherein to worship since as early as 1717. So we can see that in the year 1760 this would be a very healthy church.
There can be no doubt whatever that William Smith, coming in contact with the people who worshipped there on his frequent business errands, learned their methods, became convinced that theirs was the true way of life, and adopted Believers' Baptism, the practice which they upheld.
Tradition will have it that Smith took a journey to Glasgow, and there came into direct contact with Baptists for the first time, but as there was no Baptist church in Glasgow in 1760 this story would appear to be without foundation.
It is more likely that the Baptists of Heptonstall influenced him first, because we find the infant church formed at Burwains following closely the pattern of the early church over the border. Some of his Inghamite friends were won over by his teaching, and were baptized.
Then in the year 1767 — six years after the church was formed (1761) — the members secured land at Haggate, and there built a chapel, which was duly registered for public worship. The original licence, still in existence, reads:—
"County of Lancaster to wit. This is to certify that at the General Quarter Sessions of the Peace, held by adjournment at Preston, in and for the County Palatine of Lancaster, on Thursday, the thirtieth of April, in the seventh year of King George III. reign, the now erected Baptist Chapel at a place called Haggate, in the Parish of Burnley, in the said County, is recorded as a meet ing house for Protestants dissenting from the Church of England to exercise their religious worship in. As witness my hand, Bradley, Deputy Clerk of the Peace in and for the said County."
The following were the first trustees:—William Smith the younger, shalloon maker; Ambrose Walton (Wheatley Lane), piece maker; James Hoyle (Hill), shalloon weaver; John Hargreaves (Colne), weaver; John Heap (Marsden), farmer; John Burrows (Marsden), weaver; Hartley Emott (Haggate), weaver; John Stuttard (Southfield), weaver; Jonathan Hey (Briercliffe), cordwainer.
William Smith was now appointed Elder of the Church. This office was held by a certain Thos. Greenwood in the early church at Heptonstall. Such men were frequently referred to as "Dissenting Ministers."
He was soon joined in this great work by Abraham Nowell, whose tombstone can still he seen in its original position near to the spot where the first chapel stood. It is interesting to note that this man makes reference to living at Holt Hill in 1760.
No overtures to join the Association of Baptist Churches seems to have been made by the young church at Haggate, though the Association meetings at Colne in 1787 might have presented a favourable opportunity.
At the close of the century there appears to have been twenty people who had openly confessed Christ and joined His Fellowship, and so the church began to grow.
In the year 1824 some difficulty arose, and a number of the members left. For a time they worshipped over the shop at the junction of Burnley Road and Todmorden Road, Haggate. Later, however, they moved to Marsden Heights, and this meeting is sometimes confused with the one that subsequently became Hill Lane. This little flock, known as "Nutter Church," dissolved in the year 1876, and most of its members returned to Haggate.
In a record of " Dissenting Meetings" which was gathered in 1828, we are told that there were no less than 220 people meeting together at a Baptist place in Briercliffe. Of course, all were not actual members of the church.
In 1833, or early in 1834, the Church was seeking union and joined the "Scotch Baptists." The Baptist Historic Society tells us that this order of things did not satisfy all, and some broke away and formed themselves into a separate church, later building on Hill Lane a church of their own, and calling it Ebenezer.
One authority says that this severance did not take place until the year 1838, when "fourteen men and eight women left"; but this would appear to be incorrect, as these few had raised their Ebenezer only two years later.
The only tombstone in the churchyard that bears the date 1840, when the school-chapel was opened, stands in front of the present school, and bears the inscription:—"In memory of Ellen, wife of James Edmondson, of Extwistle, who died June 12th, 1840, aged 35 years."
The first church at Hill Lane was of the same persuasion as the mother church at Haggate, and Thomas Greenwood was appointed first elder. John Ashworth, James Hargreaves, Jos. Hartley, John Clough, and James Smith are the first workers of whom we have any record. It would appear that this James Smith was the son of William Smith, of Hill, as we have record of his death in the year 1854 at the age of 63 years.

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Mel

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Until yesterday, I had thought that "Hill Lane Chapel" was the original site of what became Haggate Chapel. Hadn't expected there to be another, fully working Baptist Chapel so close to where the Haggate one was!

Yes, down the road and around the bend a bit. It was formed by a breakaway group from Haggate Chapel I think.

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I recently purchased a book called Historical Fragments of Haggate Baptist Church 1797-1934, written by Abraham Leaver. On the inside cover, written in red ink, a note is written:

“This is the village chapel where Kathleen Heaps Mummy used to be a big worker and was also – the soprano “Lead” in the chapel choir.

Haggate – 1 Acre street was the house where I was born, 10/10/ 1928 and my Mummy & Daddy were married at Haggate Baptist Chapel 13/8/1927”

Ooh. From the same family collection then!

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Mel

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Hill Lane now has a website http://www.hilllanebaptist.org.uk

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Mel

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