Stemming from the Baptist Church at Pole Moor, in 1850 meeting rooms opened in the village for a Sunday School, These rooms were expanded in 1861 and then a chapel opened ten years later. This was not on the site of the present-day church, but on High Street. That church featured an outdoor baptismal pool - a daunting experience at an altitude of more than 300m, especially on a winter's day! A manse was built for the minister in 1880 but, as a consequence of difficulties in acquiring suitable land, a graveyard was not added until 1903.

By the end of the nineteenth century, that building was already proving too small, even though it seated 240 adults and 200 children, so we can gain an idea of the strength of Baptism in the village at that time.  This led to the opening of the present church in 1900.

Reports from the local press show how the Baptist Church was the centre of village life throughout the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century. Activities included lectures, sports days, musical performances and theatre acts.