A Brief History of Cranleigh Baptist Church

For a more detailed history, listen to "The CBC Story in Bricks and Mortar" talk, that was given when we moved into teh new building.
Click here to download the MP3 audio file (21mB)

Over 200 years ago (around 1800) a group of people who believed that churches should be independent and separate from the state met for fellowship, prayer and sermon-reading in Pear Tree Cottage on the Common. The sermon-reading was due to the fact that they then had no pastor.

They were joined in the 1820s by one George Holden, who had previously been parish clerk. After some years, Holden was found to have a considerable gift as a preacher, and he became pastor and leader of the group.

By 1828 the room had become so overcrowded that they built a small chapel on the north side of the Common; this can still be seen behind a row of three cottages there, although the chapel is now a private house. Their payment for the lease of the land is said to have been one red rose each year.

By 1862 they were officially identifying themselves as Baptists, having become convinced that baptism was for those professing faith. Before long the chapel proved too small for them and the present building at 262 High Street was opened in 1889 as Cranleigh Baptist Chapel. The pastor at that time was Charles Barringer, a former London businessman who had retired to the country at Cranleigh for his health. David Mann, founder of the Cranleigh store, filled various roles within the church and was pastor for two years to his death in 1910.

CBC in the early 1900's	CBC on the occasion of the coronation (June 1953)	CBC's 1889 building, today
(click on a picture to view larger)

The church's first overseas missionaries were Ebenezer and Mabel Mann who served in China with the China Inland Mission from 1907 to 1945. They have been followed abroad by about 20 others, up to the present day.

In the late twentieth century, after a period of growth, the church once again found that its meeting-place was too small. It decided to hold its morning services from Easter 1998 in the assembly hall at Glebelands School, and, when it had outgrown that (in 2001), in the school sports hall.

On 29th April 2007 the morning service moved once more, back to CBC's High Street site, after just over 9 years of meeting at Glebelands school.

The new building took a year to build and sits next to the 1889 building at 262 High Street, visit the "Building" section to see how it all happened.

During the opening celebration events for the New building, a member of CBC gave a talk on the history of Cranleigh Baptist Church. if you would like to listen to the fascinating account of CBC and it's many members, ministers and buildings, you can download the file in WMA format.

Click here to download CBC history WMA file (21mB)