Baptists, Whitley, Melksham Without

In July 1672 the house of Abraham Little at Whitley was licensed for Anabaptist worship and William Rutty was licensed to teach in it. There is no indication of what became of this meeting and it is not until 1798 that another house was licensed for Baptist worship - that of Sarah Bryant, a widow at Whitley Common. Two further houses were licensed in the 19th century - one occupied by Isaac Cannings and owned by Elizabeth Nash and Rebecca Scott in 1813, and the house of William Tayly in 1826. The congregations never became large enough to build a chapel.