Archive
Stratford-upon-Avon Congregational (later United Reformed) Church Records
Description
Records of the Congregational Church in Stratford-upon-Avon, including log-books of the British School, 1866-1881
Records of the Congregational Church in Stratford-upon-Avon, including log-books of the British School, 1866-1881
DR172
1783-1954
26 items
open
collection
United Kingdom - England - Warwickshire - Stratford-upon-Avon - Rother Street - Congregational (later United Reformed)Church,
separate list in reading room. other records of the Congregational/United Reformed Church are at DR265; DR571; DR865; DR957
Retained at church until deposit
The United Reformed Church in Stratford regards its origins as arising with the ejectment in 1662 of Alexander Beane, Vicar of Holy Trinity Church, Stratford, for failing to sign the Act of Uniformity. Nothing further is known about presbyterianism in Stratford until 1689 when licences were granted for the holding of conventicles in dwelling houses in the town. In 1698 John Letherland was ordained and in 1714 a new Meeting House erected in Rother Street, on the site of the now demolished Public Hall. In 1782 the small congregation subscribed to a Solemn Covenant and Constitution, marking the formation of the Independent church in Stratford which continues in Stratford as the United Reformed Church. The congregation moved to a new church building in Rother Street in 1880 and in 1972 the Congregational Church and the English Presbyterian Church were amalgamated to form the United Reformed Church. See also: Barber, Alexander, A Church of the Ejectment; Stratford-on-Avon, 1912 Brockway, K.N., A Brief History of Rother Street Congregational Church, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1962