The Ilston Book is the earliest record of a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

church in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. It is named after the location of a Baptist meeting place near the ruins of the old Trinity well, the site of a pre-Reformation chapel, at Ilston Beck in

Gower Gower ( cy, Gŵyr) or the Gower Peninsula () in southwest Wales, projects towards the Bristol Channel. It is the most westerly part of the historic county of Glamorgan. In 1956, the majority of Gower became the first area in the United Kingdom ...

near

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

Foundation of the chapel

This "Cromwellian" church was founded in 1649 during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

under the

Calvinistic Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Calv ...

leadership of John Myles (aka John Miles) (1621–1683). Thus this earliest Welsh Baptist church stood in the

Particular Baptist Reformed Baptists (sometimes known as Particular Baptists or Calvinistic Baptists) are Baptists that hold to a Calvinist soteriology (salvation). The first Calvinist Baptist church was formed in the 1630s. The 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith w ...

tradition.

Transfer of the Book to Massachusetts

In 1663 Myles took the Ilston Book with him when he and the whole congregation emigrated to North America, where they settled in a town they named

Swansea, Massachusetts Swansea is a town in Bristol County in southeastern Massachusetts. It is located at the mouth of the Taunton River, just west of Fall River, south of Boston, and southeast of Providence, Rhode Island. The population was 17,144 at the 2020 cens ...

, and they founded the

First Baptist Church in Swansea The First Baptist Church and Society is a historic Baptist church in Swansea, Massachusetts. The congregation, founded in 1663, is the oldest Baptist congregation in Massachusetts and one of the oldest in the United States. The congregation w ...

Brown University

The Ilston Book is held in the Library of

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

Brown University
Brown University home page at

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

, but is not open to public view. The full list of 261 members up to 1660 is recorded, and shows that they travelled from a wide geographical area in

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

References

* ''The Ilston Book : earliest register of Welsh Baptists'' / transcribed and edited by B.G. Owens (1996) Aberystwyth : National Library of Wales. . * Henry Melville King, ''Rev. John Myles and the Founding of the First Baptist Church in Massachusetts'' (Providence, RI: Preston & Rounds, Co. 1905). * Gwent, Mervyn & Evans, Evan, ''A portrait of Gower'', Swansea : Royal Institution of South Wales; Gower Society, 1952 — has a chapter about Ilston Beck, John Myles and the Ilston Book. Baptists in Early North America, Vol. 1, Swansea, MA, William Brackney with Charles Hartman; Mercer University Press, 2013

External links

{{Gower Peninsula, state=collapsed History of Christianity in Wales Gower Peninsula Welsh manuscripts Baptist Christianity in Wales