Independent Baptists in Houghton Conquest

The only mention of independent Baptists in Houghton Conquest is in the Ecclesiastical Census of 1851. 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 the independent Baptists was made by James Thomas, a preacher from North Crawley.

He tells ust hat the meeting only commenced in 1849. There were six free seats and six others - this presumably refers to benches or pews as the numbers attending were: 15 in the afternoon and 30 in the evening.