ROGER FROST: Aenon Baptist Chapel’s important role in religious history

Many of you will recognise the pictures published with this article. Both are from the Ken Bolton Collection, held by the Briercliffe Society, and both contain different views of the building which concerns us.

The first picture is of a view along Croft Street as it was 50 years ago. It may be that the large crane, in the background, was being used in the construction of the Keirby Hotel. All the smaller buildings in the middle distance have long since gone but, in the foreground, the two buildings there are very much with us. On the right is Burnley Library and, on the other side of Croft Street, is the building once used as Aenon Baptist Chapel.

The other photo shows the same part of the town from a different position. It was taken when Burnley Bus Station was being built, not the present ultra modern structure but the 1960s bus station which was on the same site. Although the Magistrates’ Court is perhaps more prominent, Aenon Baptist Chapel can be seen on the extreme right.

I have not mentioned Aenon Chapel very often in this series but have decided to do so this week as the building has been saved by the local Primary Health Care Trust and is to be used to provide much-needed NHS dental services to the town. This is something to be celebrated in itself but, as you will see, there is more to Aenon than many of you will appreciate.

When today’s photos were taken there was much concern that Aenon would be demolished in the town centre redevelopment which was taking place at the time. That it survived, when so many other chapels have gone, is a bit of a miracle.

The building has had a chequered history since the 1960s – the church has closed and moved elsewhere in town. An opportunity to extend the neighbouring Burnley Library into Aenon was missed by the incompetence of the County Council and the building was later used as night club.

Proposals to use the building as an indoor market never got off the ground and, to cap it all, that hideous statue of Moses (the original of which is by Michelangelo) was erected in front of the building. Thankfully, the Health Care Trust has been wise enough to remove Moses and, in doing so, their work has revealed a building which is a credit to them and the town.

Aenon Chapel dates from 1850-02 and is the work of local architect James Green, who lived at Portsmouth, near Todmorden. He was also responsible for Burnley Mechanics (now the town’s Mechanics Theatre) in 1855. The chapel is in the Italianate style, on a high basement with steps to deeply arched entrances on each side. The ground floor is rusticated, a device often used by Green, and the upper has, at the centre, a tripartite pedimented window.

The story of the church is quite interesting. Although there were Baptists in Briercliffe by 1760 they arrived in Burnley some years later. Ebenezer Baptist Church, in Colne Road, dates from 1787 but one of the most influential men in the early Baptist movement came to Burnley eight years before. This was Dan Taylor, who travelled from Hebden Bridge, where he was living, and preached, first in Worsthorne, and then in a house in Burnley Market Place, which, in those days, was situated at the bottom of what is now Manchester Road. His visits became regular and Burnley Baptists owe a great deal to him.

Mr Taylor described Burnley as a “wretched place” with “no religion in or near it that we know of” but soon Baptist churches were being established in the town.

Mr Taylor even collected money from the Assembly of the General Baptists held in London for the building of a Burnley church. This may have been Ebenezer but it was from this church, in 1850, that its pastor, the Rev. T. Batey, and 64 members formed Aenon and within three years there were almost 200 members.

A few words about “Aenon”, the word. It is Greek coming from the Hebrew term “ay-yin” meaning “spring” or “natural fountain” but I prefer the “many waters” interpretation. Aenon is mentioned only once in the Bible, but it was near Salem where John the Baptist carried out his work and was baptised by Jesus.

Burnley’s Aenon Baptist Church has contributed much to the town, especially in the field of education where there was once a day school.

Several of its ministers gave public lectures on a number of difficult subjects. W.H. Allen, for example, Minister from 1871-5, addressed Burnley people on the wages question and industrial relations at a very difficult time in our history.

The church was also to the fore with its social work but Aenon deserves a place in history because, at a meeting there in 1891, the Baptist Movement achieved something for which its leaders and members, nationally, had been praying for 150 years. This was the creation of what is now called the Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland.

Aenon Baptist Chapel in Burnley was the place where this agreement, essentially between the General and Particular Baptists, was made. Dr Underwood, the historian of the Baptist Movement in England, describes the event: “In 1891, the Association of the New Connexion met at Burnley …… and it was resolved by an overwhelming majority to accept the invitation offered. No confession of faith was asked for or given by either party. The two Missionary Societies and Building Funds were also amalgamated ……

It (the union of the churches) was such a complete success that very few Baptists today know what once constituted the difference between Particular and General Baptists. The adjectives have now been dropped.

It is my opinion that this event, one of the most important of a religious nature to take place in Burnley, should be commemorated. Significantly, it will be 120 years in 2011 since the historic meeting at Aenon.

I wonder if the Primary Health CareTrust would allow us to place a blue plaque on the building? Perhaps we should do more? I would be pleased to hear from them.