Cleckheaton Circuit - Wesleyan Methodist

This set of baptisms is found in the West Yorkshire Archives under reference C25/113 which the catalogue states they relate to Whitcliffe Road Wesleyan chapel. The baptisms date back to 1837 and given the fact that Whitcliffe Road chapel didn't open until late 1889, it is safe to assume that baptisms prior to this time cannot have taken place there.

So, where did the baptisms take place? Some of the early baptisms specifically state they took place at "Cleckheaton Chapel" and the like, others just list the town as the venue. This could mean at the local chapel, or possibly at the home of the parents. By 1840 the practice of recording where the baptism took place seems to have been dropped, but returns for a short period in the mid 1840s.

The Cleckheaton Circuit consisted of a number of venues from the area, not entirely restricted to the Spen Valley. From the timeline of when Wesleyan chapels were built in the area, we can try to work out the likely location of some of these baptisms:

1795 - Brighouse Wesleyan Chapel opened.
1811 - Marsh Wesleyan Chapel opened.
1811 - Heckmondwike Wesleyan Chapel opened
1822 - Oakenshaw (although the Wesleyan Chapel wasn't opened until 1874, a local meeting house and school room was used prior to this time)
1824 - Scholes Wesleyan Chapel opened.
1839 - The Roberttown Centenary Wesleyan Chapel opened.
1843 - Wyke Wesleyan Chapel opened.
1844 - Littletown Wesleyan Chapel opened.
1853 - Northgate Wesleyan Chapel opened.
1889 - Whitcliffe Road Wesleyan Chapel opened.

In 1849 a conference was held by the Wesleyan Methodists in which it was decided to expel Reformers and, as a result, a dramatic impact was almost immediately seen in the overall membership. In December of 1848 Cleckheaton had 197 members and by June of 1851 there was just 62. During the same period Scholes had 60 members reduced to just 13; Littletown 75 to 18; Heckmondwike 211 to 44; The loss at Roberttown wasn't quite as evident with 57 down to 42. Oakenshaw was the only venue on the Cleckheaton circuit that actually made a gain of membership from 9 to 10.  

It was in this early 1850s period that five of the eight chapels within the Cleckheaton Circuit became owned by the Reformers, these being Brighouse, Marsh, Scholes, Wyke and Littletown.  

Baptisms recorded on the Cleckheaton Circuit have been separated into three periods. The earliest, in the main, are likely to contain those baptised at Marsh chapel, but specific entries also relate to Scholes, Roberttown, Littletown, Oakenshaw & Heckmondwike. The middle period is when Northgate chapel had opened and likely to be the venue for most of the baptisms. The final period relates to Whitcliffe Road chapel. This project is complete.