Baptists in Haynes
Ebenezer Strict Baptist Chapel, November 2015
According to George E. Page and his pamphlet 'Baptist Churches in the Bedford Area', between 1660 and 1672 Bunyan Meeting Church used to hold some of their services at Haynes.
There is very little information about Baptists in Haynes. We do know that in 1824 William Whitteridge, John Cox and Thomas Allen, denominated Baptists, registered a building in the parish of Haynes as a place of religious worship for the assembly or congregation of protestants [ref: ABN2/217]. On 8th September 1894 a Calvinistic Baptist Chapel is registered by William Rudd Green of Cotton End, Eastcotts, for worship.
The present chapel was opened in 1934 and holds 150 people. It was built on the same site as a building that had been used for Baptist worship 100 years prior.
Ecclesiastical Census
On Sunday 30th March 1851 a census of all churches, chapels and preaching-houses of every denomination was undertaken in England and Wales. The local results were published by Bedfordshire Historical Records Society in 1975 as Volume 54, edited by D. W. Bushby. The return for Haynes Baptist church noted the following pieces of information:
- Sittings: 90 free, 82 other
- General congregation: 40 in the morning, 100 in the afternoon, 100 in the evening.
- Sunday Scholars: 22 in the morning, 100 in the afternoon, 100 in the evening.
List of sources at Bedfordshire Archives:
- ABN2/217: Application to register a building in the parish of Haynes, 1824
- X704/87: Ebeneezer Strict Baptist Chapel. Posters for anniversary services, 1963-1969