New Baptist exhibition opens in Nottinghamshire 

The long delayed public re-opening of the Churches Conservation Trust’s (CCT) restoration of the former parish church at Gamston, near Retford, will at last provide public access to one of the most unusual displays about Baptist history in England

By a quirk of history, the area around Gamston is actually very important for Baptist history and co-operation between the CCT and local community faith group Pilgrims & Prophets Christian Heritage Tours has supported the creation of a small exhibition written by Adrian Gray within this old Anglican building.

Gamston is only two miles from Askham, the probable birthplace of Thomas Helwys, who established a Baptist presence in London during the reign of James I. Only a few miles further away is Sturton, the birthplace of John Smyth, widely recognised as the founder of the English Baptists.

But Gamston also had its own Baptist congregation by about 1700 and its two ministers baptised a wandering Yorkshireman in the local River Idle in 1763. His name was Dan Taylor, and he went on to become one of the most significant Baptist figures ever – establishing the General Baptists in Yorkshire and significantly reviving the Baptists who had become influenced by Unitarianism. Under Taylor’s influence, Gamston was often used as a venue for major Baptist meetings.

The exhibition tells the story of Taylor, the wider outreach of the Gamston congregation, and lesser-known local Baptists.

One, Samuel Holberry, became a Chartist radical in Sheffield and died in prison after being arrested for stockpiling weapons.

The exhibition also explains how Baptists suffered from often setting their chapels up in small villages where members happened to live, and charts the decline and closure of the Gamston congregation which merged into the thriving Baptist church in Retford.


Note: the exhibition will normally be open once final building work has been completed. Please check before travelling. If in doubt, contact adriangray@pi;grimsandprophets.co.uk