Former Baptist Chapel in March 2007
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.
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.
The first surviving registration of a meeting house in Ridgmont is very early, in 1672. This was a place of worship for Congregationalists and took place in the house of William Jarvis.
In 1690 a marriage settlement between Thomas Hollingworth and Elizabeth Jarvis, daughter of William [see below] was enacted [X347/6]. Part of the settlement was Matthew Hollingworth's messuage in Ridgmont. On Thomas, in his will of 1721, left to his wife the rent "of the Meeting Place that joyneth to my house" [X347/6]. Thomas' son, also Thomas, conveyed the meeting house to trustees Joseph Bevan and Thomas Roberts in 1768 [X347/6].
The first entry in the Church Book for 22 Sep 1701 [X347/1] reads: We whose names are here recorded did unanimously agree and consent and gave up ourselves together as a Church to walk together in the Fellowship of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ And we Judge Union with Christ, soundness in Judgement in the Fundamentalls of the Gospel, and a Holy Conversation to be the only and sufficient grounds of the Communion of Saints…" William Jarvis was the pastor. A somewhat cryptic note in 1774 stated that the tradition was that "Mr.Bunyan" was instrumental in the founding of the church. It is possible that this did, indeed mean John Bunyan and that the church held itself to the direct descendent of the Congregationalist church registered in 1672, the year in which Bunyan was released from his imprisonment in Bedford.
It was noted in the church book in 1801 that they met in Brogborough on a Wednesday in November to "administer the Ordinance of Baptism". In 1811 the new meeting house was built, the old one being taken down. This is the building that survives today. The foundation stone was laid on 1 May. Around the same time the Duke of Bedford gave land to enlarge the burial ground.
About the time of the building of the new chapel the members of the church were in crisis; the first fifteen pages of the second Church Book [X347/2] were cut out and three pages inserted in their place which began in 1816 with: "Whereas this is the third time within a few years that this Religious Society has been threatened with total ruin by the occurrence of internal disorders…" The causes are not stated but may well have been connected with the national split which saw the division of the church into two wings, the Strict or Particular Baptists and the newer General Baptists who formed the Baptist Union in 1813. At any rate the church dissolved itself in Oct 1816 and reformed itself without deacons. Ridgmont became a Baptist Union church.In 1820 it was noted that "Mr.Foord wished to join the Methodists" and in 1822: "Brother Foord's house being used by Methodists".
Despite these problems the church was flourishing by the 1830s as in 1832 a library was started and it was recorded that 250 children attended the Sunday School. There were also "stations" in Husborne Crawley, Eversholt and Steppingley. The British School is first mentioned in the book in 1864 [X347/3] and the next year the meeting passed a resolution against frequenting drinking houses; at this time there were 97 members of whom 24 were non-resident (presumably including those in Husborne Crawley, Eversholt and Steppingley). Alterations were carried out on the chapel in 1869 and evidently Mr.Foord's defection to the Methodists had not caused too lasting a grievance as the Wesleyans "kindly offered their chapel for Sunday mornings".
The chapel and schools (one for infants the other for older children) were altered and repaired between 1881 and 1883 [X347/28-34]. The Ridgmont Baptist archive, catalogued as X347, is extremely rich and a detailed history of the building and its worshipers could easily be written by consulting it.
Sunday School treat photographed by Jack Shepherd around 1900 [Z49/984]
When Miss Janet Bolton, born in the village c.1901 recalled her childhood she remembered:
'The Baptist chapel was the seat of our pleasure. A lot of children went there, and although the Chapel held about 500 people, a great many came there. One of the chief attractions was the Sunday School treat, which was held in the summer time, and we had a tea in the Schoolroom, and then went out into the meadow at the back of the Chapel, called Hollybush. There was a section of the iron fence that could be taken out, and we were able to run down into the field. We played all kinds of games, and my father and another man used to put up swings in the trees there. We thought that great fun".
The chapel was closed in 1993 and is now a private house.