Tottlebank Baptist Church

Tottlebank Baptist Church – The church at Tottlebank was formed in 1669, making it the oldest nonconformist church in Lancashire. David Crosley (1669-1764) spent eight years there as minister between 1696 and 1704, before removing to Currier’s Hall in London. At the time of the above letter, the church had been unsettled for some time. After Joshua Kettilby’s resignation in 1770, probationers came and went and the church seemed in no hurry to name a successor, disagreeing over monies derived from church property. The church resided on a large farm it had purchased at the close of the seventeenth century and from which it received annual rents. Other monetary bequests had been left to the church as well. Some other nearby communities that had formed with the Tottlebank church many years earlier believed they were entitled to some share of the proce,eds of the church’s investments. An entry in the Tottlebank Church Book, dated 12 April 1769, reads: “Be it remembered that it is agreed for the time being by us whose names are hereunto subscribed that the people in communion with the church of Tottlebank residing in Broughton Dunnerdale and Ulpha hath a right to one half of the one hundred and Twenty Pounds being part of the stock belonging to Tottlebank Pursueant to which it is agreed that the Rev Mr Kettilby is to officiate at Broughton one whole Lord’s day every Month agreed to by us whose names are here under written this 12th day of April 1769.” Later, when the estate deed for the farm was renewed, the church book notes that it had been “Purchased by Monies which the Church had as a Common Stock . . . and no Member or Members could have any Personal, particular or Party claim but must remain as Common to the whole while a Church in Communion and that each Individual has an equal right to the one common whole thereof and no more.” A Mr. Hutton briefly followed Kettilby, but he settled instead at Little Broughton in Cumberland. The church book notes for 1775: “After the remove of M.r Hutton we were again supplied providentially (as a Probationer towards taking the Pastoral Charge of this Church) by M.r Bamford from Acronton [Accrington] who staid about three years, but on Trial had, in that space of time was judged not likely for the Increase and comfort of the Body; therefore he also removed.”  A Mr. Harper came for a few months in 1779, but he left for Warrington and later became an Antinomian. Apparently, William Hartley was also considered by Tottlebank (he may have been related to the Hartley’s who were members there), but he chose to go elsewhere. Eventually, Thomas Harbottle came from Hawkshead Hill in 1780, but he did not officially become pastor until 1783. Harbottle remained at Tottlebank until his death in 1824. See Tottlebank Church Book (MS., Angus Library, Regent’s Park College, Oxford), ff. 74-78; Foster Sunderland, A Brief History of Tottlebank Baptist Church, Greenodd, Ulverston: The Oldest Baptist Church in Lancashire ([Tottlebank]: n.p. 1965?), 14-15; Margaret F. Thomas, A History of the Tottlebank Baptist Church 1669-1999  (n.p.: [1999]).