The actual origins of Baptist worship in the town of Olney,
Buckinghamshire are shrouded in history, but we have many items of
evidence which have survived.
We understand, for instance, that John Gibbs, a Baptist leader from the
town was a signatory to a “remonstrance” presented to Parliament in
1657, when Oliver Cromwell, who had become Lord Protector after being a
leader of the Parliamentarian armies fighting the Royalists, was
petitioned by Parliament to become King.
The first main documents in existence, though, came about as a result
of the Conventicle Act passed in Parliament in 1664, which instituted
punishment for anyone over the age of 16 attending a religious meeting
not conducted in accordance with the Church of England’s Book of Common
Prayer. In 1669 Archbishop Sheldon, the head of the Anglican Church in
this area, requested all his local clergy to report any “unlawful
religious assemblies” in their locality, and received a report that
there was “One Anabaptist meeting in Olney at the home of Widow Teares:
number about 200 ‘meane’ people, led by Mr. Gibbs, one Bredon and James
Rogers, lace buyers, and one Fenne, a hatter”.
Records of the local courts (Assizes) are in existence, showing that
many Baptist dissenters from Olney were among those fined for being
absent from the Anglican Church services for 3 or more weeks or
“meeting in unlawful assembly at Olney”. At the Midsummer session of
the court in 1684, for instance, 27 people (men and women) were each
fined 6 shillings and eightpence (approx. 60 cents or a labourer’s
wages for a week), one 10 shillings (approx 1 dollar), and one £1
(approx. 2 dollars). A number of these people still have descendants
living in the town.
The place where the dissenters met was a barn in the centre of the
town, but when opposition became too great they would meet in Three
Counties Wood, just outside the town. As its name suggests, this was a
place where the counties of Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and
Northamptonshire met. Since the police were only allowed to operate in
their own county, worshippers could see them coming and move quickly
over the border into another county.
In 1689 the Act of Toleration was passed by Parliament, which
relieved the situation and made it possible for dissenters to have
their Chapels officially licensed, and John Bunyan (the author of
Pilgrim’s Progress, whose imprisonment for many years probably resulted
in part from his preaching at Olney) applied for and obtained a
preaching licence for “Joseph Kent, his barn at Olney”. It is not
certain exactly when the original building was constructed, but the
land was purchased in 1694 and there is a stone in our present building
dated 1694 (which has obviously been moved from its original location).
The upper stone levels are the work of Victorian restorers. It seems
that the barn had very little in the way of foundations, and for this
reason we are loath to interfere too much with the basic structure of
the main sanctuary, and we often wonder where the water goes when we
take the plug out of the baptistry!
It seems that, as is so often the case, the Baptist cause in Olney
flourished when up against opposition, but entered on a period of
decline “taking things easy” once the opposition was no longer there.
In the early days the Olney cause shared a Pastor at times with the
local town of Newport Pagnell and at other times with various villages
in the vicinity. In particular, John Gibbs covered Newport Pagnell and
Olney until his death in 1699.
Our Church Archives make interesting reading. In the early 1700s a Mr.
Maurice led an exodus of members to join the local Congregational
Church, and in 1738 a sizeable group of the members “were dismissed to
become a separate Strict Baptist Church”, but in 1763 twenty-six men
and forty-eight women signed a very strict Church Covenant in which
they are referred to as belonging to the Particular Baptist
denomination.
In 1766 Olney Baptist Church joined a new Association of Baptist
Churches in the area set up to give mutual support. This Association
has been “revamped” a number of times since, the latest only a few
years ago.
The Archives of these early years are fascinating, containing many
detailed reports of Church meetings. On many occasions they prayed for
rain and then gave thanks when it arrived. In February 1788 they sought
God’s help when fever hit the town (apparently cholera was rife at the
time), and in June they gave thanks that it had gone, but they again
needed rain. Members were constantly being disciplined by the Church
meetings for breach of the Church Covenant, mostly for immoral
behaviour. (What would they have thought of the morals of today!!!).
1775 was a very significant year for our Church, since it was the
date on which John Sutcliff settled in Olney, subsequently to become
Pastor for thirty-nine years. During this period he set up an academy
or seminary in two adjacent houses close to the church, and under his
tutelage a number of prominent Baptist preachers developed. Of these,
the most well known were William Robinson, who became the first “home
grown” missionary to Serampore in 1806, and William Carey whose vision
of a calling to evangelise the heathen led to him becoming instrumental
in the formation of the Baptist Missionary Society in 1792 and becoming
its first missionary in 1793. (It was Olney Baptist Church which had
actually commissioned him to be a Minister after considerable
discussion as to his suitability!!).
The financial accounts for the period are also interesting to us today.
For instance, in its first year of its existence the Baptist Missionary
Society received donations from our Church totalling ten pounds,
fifteen shillings, 6 pence and three farthings (our coinage was much
more fun when we had 20 shillings to the pound, 12 pence to the
shilling and 4 farthings to the penny and could really confuse visitors
from other countries!! The only problem was that those of us who had to
use calculators had to remember the decimal equivalents such as 7
shillings and 6 pence = 0.375 pounds).
We learn that in 1858 gifts were made for those affected by the Indian
Mutiny and for “the poor saints in Lancashire due to cotton failure”.
We find, too, gifts for the families of reservists called up in the
1900 Boer War, and in 1915 gifts to causes connected with the war in
France. All this among great concern on occasions about the cost of
repairs and repainting and very special arrangements for an occasional
social evening.
In 1894 the premises were altered quite extensively and in 1986, after
an arson attack by a young man who also set fire to other buildings in
the town, an extension was added at the rear, providing a new hall,
kitchen and toilets. The hall is named in memory of Peter Gravett, who
was Pastor here for 25 years up to 1987. Completed in 2015, this was
extended with a larger extrance area, larger hall, meeting areas, cafe
area, new kitchen and toilets.
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