Piddington and Hackleton

                                            Carey Baptist Church           The Meeting House Carey knew

Having spent the first fourteen years of his life in Paulerspury, William Carey came to Piddington as an apprentice to Clarke Nichols the ‘cordwainer’ (a craftsman who made a shoe in all its stages).  His cottage was in Church Road and the remains of its stone wall can be seen in the garden of number 21.

The interior of  Clarke Nichol's cottage

Another apprentice, John Warr, engaged him in tireless religious debates. When George III called for a day of national prayer and fasting, John invited William to the Hackleton Meeting House. It was here that William found a personal faith and threw in his lot with the dissenters. He became one of the leaders, forming the group into a church with nine covenanted members

Before William’s apprenticeship was completed Clarke Nichols died and he transferred to the workshop of Thomas Old in the Jetty (to the left of Baptist Church). At the age of 19 he married Dorothy Plackett, his employer’s sister-in-law, at the 12th Century church of St John the Baptist, Piddington.   

Piddington Church                    Carey's home at Piddington

William and Dorothy set up home in a cottage a little way from Piddington Lane.  Here a daughter, Ann was born who sadly died before her second birthady.  Meanwhile the death of Thomas Old left William with many responsibilities as he took over the care of his family and the business.  He and Dorothy knew real hardship at this time. The workshop was known as Carey’s College, for here he began to study Latin and Greek, to read widely and to think deeply about the nature of Christian faith.  He would walk miles to hear preachers.  In 1783 he was baptised in the Nene in Northampton, by John Ryland.

Carey's pulpit at Hackleton

• At Hackleton Carey grew from boy to man, from casual observer to committed Christian.
• He found a personal faith in God among a humble group of dissenters.
• He helped to form the Hackleton church and became a Baptist
• He began to study the Bible in earnest.
• Earls Barton invited him to preach and he took his first steps as a lay preacher.
• His interest in languages began to take hold.
• He learned to cope with rigorous discipline at work and to shoulder domestic responsibilities.
• He earned money from teaching in the evenings.
• He learned much from older men from different Christian traditions.
• He became acquainted with important Baptists, like John Sutcliff, John Ryland and Andrew Fuller. These exerted a great influence on him and were to become his life-long supporters of the Mission.
• Borrowing ‘Captain Cook’s Voyages’  excited him greatly and started him thinking about world mission.

The view from Hackleton across the meadows and river to Piddington