{{Short description|Welsh Anglican clergyman}} {{Redirect|Walter Craddock|the American baseball pitcher|Walt Craddock}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Walter Cradock | image = | alt = | caption = | other_names = Craddock, Cradoc | birth_date = {{birth year|1606}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|1659|1606}} | occupation = Welsh Anglican clergyman }}

'''Walter Cradock''' (Craddock, Cradoc) (c. 1606 – 1659) was a Welsh [[Anglican]] clergyman, who became a travelling [[Evangelicalism|evangelical]] preacher. He was a founder of the first [[Independent (religion)|Independent]] church in Wales in 1638, at [[Llanvaches]], with [[William Wroth]] and [[William Thomas (Baptist)|William Thomas]], an early Baptist.

==Life== He was born at [[Trefela]], near [[Llangwm, Monmouthshire]], and is believed to have been educated at the [[University of Oxford]]. His first position was as a curate, at [[Peterston-super-Ely]], [[Glamorgan]].<ref name = NLW>{{cite DWB|id=s-CRAD-WAL-1610|title=CRADOC, WALTER (1610? - 1659), Puritan theologian|access-date=2014-04-04}}</ref>

In 1633 [[William Erbery]], Vicar of St.Mary's, Cardiff, Cradock his curate there, and William Wroth, were reported to [[William Laud]], and the [[Court of High Commission]] turned them out for unorthodox preaching, and on the technical grounds and acid test of orthodoxy, of refusing to read the [[Book of Sports]].<ref>Gareth Elwyn Jones. ''Modern Wales: A Concise History'' (1994), p. 120.</ref> From late in 1634 Cradock spent almost a year in [[Wrexham]], preaching, and making a convert of [[Morgan Llwyd]].<ref>Thomas Allen Glenn, Merion in the Welsh Tract: (1970), p. 262.</ref> From there Cradock had to move to [[Herefordshire]], where he met [[Vavasor Powell]]. With [[John Myles (minister)|John Miles]], Cradock, Erbery, Powell, and Llwyd are the group of recognised Puritan leaders, who founded the later Welsh [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|Nonconformist]] congregations, whether [[Baptist]], [[Congregationalist]], [[Presbyterian]] or [[Quaker]].<ref>John T. Koch, ''Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia'' (2006), p. 422.</ref>

He was also at [[Shrewsbury]] at this period. [[Robert Harley (1579–1656)|Sir Robert Harley]], of [[Brampton Bryan]], Herefordshire, took Cradock in, during 1639.<ref name = LP>{{cite web|url=http://www.cymmrodorion1751.org.uk/pages/publications/religious.html|title=Dorion Cymmro Blog|publisher=cymmrodorion1751.org.uk|access-date=2014-01-22}}</ref> He moved on to [[Llanfair Waterdine]], and an independent congregation there. On the outbreak of the [[English Civil War]] the Llanvaches congregation, an independent [[conventicle]], moved with Cradock to [[Bristol]], where there was an independent church at [[Broadmead]]. Since royalist forces then occupied Bristol, in 1643, some moved again to London, and made contact with [[Henry Jessey]], who had been a supporter of the congregation from the start; Cradock preached with Jessey at [[All-Hallows-the-Great]].<ref>Claire Cross, ''Church and People: England, 1450–1660'' (1999), p. 183.</ref><ref name="caerwentcom">{{cite web|url=http://www.caerwentcom.com/394%20October%20Caerwent%20Newsletter%20Woe%20Unto%20Me%20Part%20III%20(2).htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708111347/http://www.caerwentcom.com/394%20October%20Caerwent%20Newsletter%20Woe%20Unto%20Me%20Part%20III%20(2).htm |archive-date=2011-07-08 |url-status=dead|title=Oct 07 Newsletter|access-date=2014-04-04}}</ref>

In 1641 Cradock was in the group of preachers for Wales authorized by the [[Long Parliament]] : others were Erbery, [[Ambrose Mostyn]], [[Richard Symonds (minister)|Richard Symonds]], and [[Henry Walter (priest)|Henry Walter]]. These Welsh radicals formed a tight and effective lobbying group, and held together until the mid-1650s.<ref name = LP/> Parliament renewed similar authority, in 1645 and 1646, with funding;<ref name="british-history">{{cite web|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=34139|title=House of Lords Journal Volume 8 – 17 November 1646 &#124; Journal of the House of Lords: volume 8 (pp. 568–569)|publisher=british-history.ac.uk|access-date=2014-04-04}}</ref><ref name="british-history2">{{cite web|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=23746|title=House of Commons Journal Volume 4 – 22 July 1646 &#124; Journal of the House of Commons: volume 4 (pp. 621–624)|publisher=british-history.ac.uk|access-date=2014-04-04}}</ref> it was also specified that Symonds, Henry Walter and Cradock should preach in Welsh.<ref name="llgc">{{cite DWB|id=s-SYMO-RIC-1609|title=SYMONDS, RICHARD (1609 - ?), Puritan preacher|access-date=2014-01-22}}</ref> Cradock had already shown he could do that in 1645, preaching to captured royalist Welshman after the [[battle of Naseby]].<ref>[[Christopher Hill (historian)|Christopher Hill]], ''Change and Continuity in 17th Century England'' (1974), p. 26.</ref>

He was one of the “Welsh saints”, who commanded troops of [[Thomas Harrison (soldier)|Thomas Harrison]] with Vavasor Powell and [[Jenkin Jones (captain)|Jenkin Jones]].<ref>[[Austin Woolrych]], ''Commonwealth to Protectorate'' (1982), p. 11.</ref> He was later appointed the regular preacher to [[Barebone's Parliament]], at [[St. Margaret's, Westminster]].<ref>Austin Woolrych, ''Commonwealth to Protectorate'' (1982), p. 241.</ref>

He was a supporter of [[Oliver Cromwell]], and when controversy arose over Cromwell's [[The Protectorate|Protectorate]], he condemned Vavasor Powell's anti-Cromwell pamphlet ''The Word of God''. The majority of the Welsh Puritan group of which he had been a founder agreed with him.<ref>Gareth Elwyn Jones. ''Modern Wales: A Concise History'' (1994), p. 123.</ref> He withdrew, to a living at Llangwm.<ref name = NLW/>

==Works== *''The Saints Fulnesse of Joy'' (1646) *''Gospel-Libertie'' (1648) *''Mount Sion or the Privilege and Practice of the Saints'' (1649) *''Divine Drops'' (1650) *''Gospel-Holinesse'' (1655)

==Notes== {{reflist}}

==External links== * [http://www.sovereignredeemerbooks.com/views/books/book-list.php?author=walter-cradock''Brief Biographical Information & Book entitled MOUNT SION, 1648 & Glad Tidings, 1648.'']

==Further reading== *Geoffrey F. Nuttall, ''The Welsh Saints 1640–1660: Walter Cradock, Vavasor Powell, Morgan Llwyd'' (Cardiff, 1957) *T. Charles, T.; D. Oliver. ''The works of the late Rev. Walter Cradock, with a short account of his life'' (Chester, 1800)

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cradock, Walter}} [[Category:1606 births]] [[Category:1659 deaths]] [[Category:17th-century Welsh Anglican priests]] [[Category:Welsh Caroline nonconforming clergy]] [[Category:Welsh independent ministers of the Interregnum (England)]] [[Category:People from Usk]]