Rivington Chapel

Rivington Chapel between Blackburn and Bolton was originally founded by a Mr Newton, the former vicar of Rivington, who had been expelled from the parish church on account of his puritan convictions and refusal to submit to the new Prayer Book services demanded by the Cavalier Parliament. Initially meeting in secret, they built the present chapel in 1703 which was duly licensed for Presbyterian worship, having previously registered private houses in the brief periods of toleration in 1672 and 1689. A stone, now affixed to the chapel’s internal wall, which was discovered by workmen early in Victoria’s reign, states:

“Rev Samuele Newton driven from Church on Bartholomew Sonday 1662”

The drift to unitarianism (a trinity-denying early form of ultra-liberalism) must have started before 1754 when faithful congregants broke away to form a rival, orthodox congregation at Horwich. This is the theological state in which Rivington Chapel remains, sadly.

It struck me as odd that a ministry and congregation that could withstand the wrath of the English government and the local justices succumbed to unbelief and Bible denial. Truly, doubting God’s word is far more dangerous than anything some godless parliament can concoct.