Welcome to The Briercliffe Society Forum

I was very surprised to learn from Venita's website of John Lambert's conversion to the LDS before he emigrated to the USA in 1840
http://homepage.mac.com/venitar/Genealo ... mbert.html
I had no idea that the Mormon missions started so early, nor that the British Mission started in Lancashire. Nor that there's a Temple in Preston!

I found the following (and much more) at http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/dail ... sh_eom.htm
Between 1837 and 1841 there were two apostolic missions to the British Isles. In 1837-1838 Heber C. Kimball and Orson Hyde established the first mission, concentrating in the area of Preston and the Ribble Valley. The Church was barely seven years old when Elders Kimball and Hyde departed for England in July 1837. The Prophet Joseph Smith had directed men to go on missions from the beginning......

In April 1836, Parley P. Pratt, an apostle, was sent to Toronto with a prophetic promise that the fruits of missionary work there would lead to the introduction of the gospel into England........ Elder Pratt helped to convert, among others, John Taylor, Isaac Russell, and Joseph Fielding, all of whom had family contacts in Britain and several of whom accompanied Elders Kimball and Hyde when the Prophet assigned them to go to the British Isles on the first mission.

Elders Kimball and Hyde were in England from July 1837 to April 1838. Landing at Liverpool, they traveled north to Preston, where relatives of the Canadian converts provided various assistance, including a place to preach. Finding ready acceptance of their message, they baptized more than 140 people by October 1837. They moved up the Ribble Valley, finding other audiences, particularly among the textile workers throughout Lancanshire. By the time they returned home in April 1838, Church membership had grown to about 1,500 people in Britain, in spite of growing opposition, particularly from local clergy.

.....the expanding British Mission......saw an additional 4,000 converts join the Church by 1841......(and) had ......other related consequences: (1) the establishment of a successful emigration program that saw the first converts gathered to Nauvoo, with at least 50,000 members emigrating from the British Isles to America;..... (2) the use of Britain as a base for further LDS missionary activity into continental Europe and other countries, such as South Africa, India, and Australia.

From https://www.lds.org.uk/media_news.php :
Between 1837 and the turn of the century, as many as 100,000 converts emigrated to join the main body of the Church in the United States. In fact, by 1870 nearly half of the population of Utah were British immigrants.
In the late 1950s, a temple was dedicated in London. In June 1998, another temple was opened in Preston, the site of the first preaching more than 150 years ago. Preston is the home of the oldest continuous branch (a small congregation) of the Church anywhere in the world, dating back to 1837.

I wonder where exactly John Lambert heard the word. Is there any LDS connection in Briercliffe?

Charon

I see that the first link in my previous post doesn't work. Sorry! I hope this one will.
http://homepage.mac.com/venitar/Genealo ... mbert.html

BTW, the reference to the Temple in Preston (which I gather is actually in Chorley!) is not in this link but further down the page in my previous post.

Charon

The first link now works Charon, I edited it.

I fancy we have had a query about Mormon interest in Briercliffe before.

_________________
Mel

Searching for lost relatives? Win the Lottery!

Charon, the church is in Chorley, just off the A6 next to the M61. The grounds around it are immaculate. Everything in its place, no litter, no grafitti, it is a credit to them.

_________________
Gloria

I'd be dangerous with a brain.

Mel, Gloria,

thanks for your comments (and Mel's editing).

I can imagine how well-looked-after the Chorley Temple must be. In the 80s when I worked in Washington DC, I often drove past the Mormon Temple, clearly visible from the Washington Beltway (their M25). It looked absolutely pristine, almost magical, with its soaring spires.

Charon

This is the one at Chorley http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/ewm/0 ... s1/13.html

_________________
Gloria

I'd be dangerous with a brain.

Thanks Gloria - this is the Washington DC one. http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/washington/
You can see the "house style"!

Charon

I wasn't expecting anything so grand!( of the UK Temple).
Are there many temples in the UK?

_________________
Mel

Searching for lost relatives? Win the Lottery!

Donny Osmond is supposed to come to the Chorley one when he is in the country.
When it was built it was opened to the public to look around, here is one of the comments
"Overall the interior is expremely plush with the impression given of no expense spared on any aspect of construction or furnishing - right down to the marble doorways. I was particulary taken with the full size marble bull that supports the christening pool. Our guides were friendly and helpful and quite ecstatic that their Church had chosen to build a temple on this spot."

_________________
Gloria

I'd be dangerous with a brain.

Mel,

as far as I can see, the only other temple in the UK is the London one. http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/london/

There's a full list of all the temples in the world, currently 128, with links to a picture of each, at http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/ They are in many different countries, though naturally most are in the USA.

It's interesting that the Washington DC temple was only the 16th in the world when it opened in 1974 - but the 128th, in Twin Falls Idaho, opened last August. Quite a rate of expansion!

Charon

Regarding where John Lambert might have "heard the word," that's one of the things I'm trying to learn. Since the early missionaries often preached in dissenting chapels, I wonder if it was at Haggate. I've never seen that name (Haggate) mentioned in anything I've read about the mission in England, but it may have happened. It's interesting to me that many of the early LDS converts had belonged to a dissenting group before they joined.

_________________
Venita

Homepage: Family History and Other Fascinations
http://homepage.mac.com/venitar/home.html

They look similar don't they!

You don't hear of new CofE churches being built these days do you, they are being closed down instead.

_________________
Mel

Searching for lost relatives? Win the Lottery!

Mel,

I'm sure you've thought of this, but I'll ask anyway: is there anything in the Lancashire newspapers of 1837-8 or 1841-2 about the LDS missions? Judging from the number of conversions in the next few years,they must have attracted a good deal of attention (if not quite on the scale of the Billy Graham missions!) - and the quote I posted earlier mentions opposition by the established churches, which might have been reported.

By the way, it's true that not many Cof E churches are being built now, but then there are rather more than 128 already! Not surprising, with a good few centuries of head start over the LDS.

Charon

It was not fair of me to compare the number of LDS Temples with the number of C of E churches - Temples, if I'm not mistaken, are more like Cathedrals. I see there are about 20 LDS Chapels in Lancashire alone, though I think that may be the greatest number in any UK County.

Charon

Venita,

in trying to find out where John Lambert heard the word, have you come across a book by David M W Pickup "The Pick and Flower of England - The Story of the Mormons in Victorian Lancashire" ? It was published by Living Legend in Burnley in paperback in 1996, ISBN 1874129002. David Pickup is an officer of the Temple in Preston (Chorley!) so I should think the book would be available in Salt Lake. I can't readily find a copy for sale here.

I have not seen it so it may be no help! Perhaps you can comment if you know of it?

Charon