INTRODUCTION

Though supposed to be a more ancient body than the Independents the Baptist church cannot distinctly trace its origin to an earlier period. On no religious society did the hand of persecution press so heavily, and hence their early history is involved in much obscurity. Denied the rite of christian burial, many of the early Baptists were buried in private gardens. Hence when a church was founded its members sought a place of interment before they proceeded to build a chapel. The small cemetery on the west side of Mount street was founded by the Baptists before they had expended the modest sum of £100 in the small edifice built by Cornelius LAUNDER, esquire, and now known as Park street chapel. One of the earliest Baptist preachers at Nottingham was Abraham BOOTH, author of the "Reign of Grace," and subsequently pastor of a church at London. Mr. BOOTH was a framework-knitter at Sutton-in-Ashfield, and was accustomed to perform his periodic journeys to Nottingham on foot. A Baptist church existed in the town as early as the seventeenth century, and the chapel in Park street, now occupied by the Scotch Baptists, is supposed by some local historians to have been the third place erected by them in Nottingham. The society of General Baptists was formed in 1775, the chief member being William FOX, who came from Kegworth in 1773 and in the following year began to preach to a few friends in his own house. The earliest preachers were Mr. TARRATT, Mr. POLLARD, and Mr. HALLAM of Ruddington. The services at the opening of their first chapel were conducted by Mr. POLLARD of Loughborough and Mr. FELKIN of Ilkeston. The Tabernacle, on the removal of the Baptists to Plumptre place, was sold to a cowkeeper and was soon afterward taken down. A portion of the pulpit now ornaments the interior of an arbour at Radford grove.