Northill Registration and Early References

In 1672 Charles II issued a Declaration of Toleration for Protestants dissenting from the Church of England; this had the effect of some dissenting meeting houses registering with the Secretary of State. The Toleration Act of 1689 enshrined the right of protestants to dissent from the Church of England and, once again, encouraged meeting houses to register voluntarily with local quarter sessions and Anglican church. Registration provided protection against persecution, laying a duty of protection upon magistrates and so was popular with nonconformists. Most registrations were made with quarter sessions until the middle of the 18th century, presumably due to the mutual antagonism of nonconformists and established Church. However, from that point registration with the Church, via the local archdeaconry began to become the favoured method, because the archdeaconry Registrar would issue a licence at any time rather than during the days each quarter when the quarter sessions met.

Visitations by the Bishop of Lincoln to Bedfordshire in the early 18th century give some idea as to the number of nonconformists in each parish from returns made by the vicar or rector. Former County Archivist Patricia Bell has compiled returns from 1706 to 1720 for the Bedfordshire Historical Records Society (Volume 81, published 2002); information for Northill includes the following:

• 1706: "There are in the whole about 34 persons who Dissent from the Church of England. 2 are Quakers, the rest Anabaptists [Baptists] and Antinomians together. They have no Meeting house within the Parish".
• 1709: "About 30 Dissenters [out of 575], of which 2 Women Quakers, the rest Anabaptists and Antinomians. No Meeting".
• 1712: 14 families of dissenters out of a total of 143 families "all Antinomians, except one Quaker".
• 1717: "Upon a census made in the Year 1712 it appeared that the number of Families I then had in my Parish was 145, whereof 14 were Dissenters. What Alterations have since happened I have not had time enough allowed me to Enquire, but I believe them to be but Few. I have (I thank God) no Meeting-house in my Parish, Licensed or Unlicensed".
• 1720: 14 families "of the Independent sort, so far as I can learn. I have no Meeting-House in my Parish".

Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service has a reasonable number of registrations of nonconformist meeting houses in both the Quarter Sessions and Archdeaconry of Bedford archives. Registration continued through the 19th century even though persecution faded away - this was because registered buildings were allowed to claim exemption from parish poor rates, were exempt from control by the Charity Commission and were allowed to be licensed to carry out marriages. These things meant that registration became almost compulsory in practice for well established nonconformist meetings. This is fortunate for the local historian because sometimes the only surviving references to a nonconformist meeting occur as registrations. One drawback with the registrations are that they do not usually inform the reader of the particular type of denomination involved, though sometimes it is possible to infer it from other evidence.

Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service has a registration of a nonconformist meeting in 1831 in a barn belonging to Robert Morris [ABN1/2, ABN2/259 and ABN3/3, 108], registration being by Thomas Middleditch of Biggleswade and John Hutchins. Given their later history it seems quite likely that this was a Methodist meeting.