Stratford-upon-Avon Congregational (later United Reformed) Church Records

Records of the Congregational (later United Reformed) Church and British School in Rother Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, deposited by the Church Secretary

Marriage registers, 1881-1988, church magazines, 1892-1977, and administrative papers, mainly 1919-95 but including some earlier items relating to chapels in Loxley (from 1816), Quinton (from 1839), and Wilmcote (from 1880).

DR957/1-10 Marriage registers, 1881-1988

DR957/11-13 Registration documents, 1935-1989

DR957/14 Communion attendance register, 1959-1962

DR957/15-18 Minute books, 1937-1990

DR957/19 Minute book, Annual Church Meetings, 1954-1961

DR957/20-24 Minute books, deacon's/elders' meetings, 1943-1980

DR957/25-26 Minute books, United Baptist & Congregational meetings, 1969-1979

DR957/27 Minutes, Finance & General Purposes Committee, 1977-1986

DR957/28-30 Minutes, Missionary Council, 1963-1971

DR957/31-33 Minutes, various women's committees

DR957/34-39 Tercentenary celebrations, 1961-1962

DR957/40-43 Church centenary celebrations, 1979-1981

DR957/44-46 Financial records, 1932-1970

DR957/47-53 Administrative records, 1941-1985

DR957/54-59 Papers relating to ministers, 1852-1991

DR957/60-68 Papers relating to site and fabric of Rother Street church

DR957/69-72 Papers relating to John Roberts Almshouses, 1928-1947

DR957/73-76 Wilmcote chapel, 1880-1921

DR957/77-78 Loxley chapel, 1816, 1950

DR957/79-82 Quinton chapel, 1839-1958

DR957/83-99 Church mamgazines, 1892-1977

DR957/100-2 Researches of Miss K. N. Brockway, 1959-1981

DR957/103-10 Printed books and pamphlets, 1871-1895

DR957/111-17 Miscellanea, 1912-1991

<span class="wrapper"><p>Other collections of church records and papers at DR265, DR381, DR571, DR957</p> <p>Barber, Alexander, A Church of the Ejectment; Stratford-upon-Avon, 1912</p> <p>Brockway, K. N., A Brief History of Rother Street Congregational Church, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1962</p></span>

• <corpname>Stratford-upon-Avon Congregational Church</corpname>
• <corpname>Stratford-upon-Avon United Reformed Church</corpname>

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 1689n 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 covenant 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

A British School was established for the children of non-conformist children in 1824 and transferred from the British Schools Committee to the School Board in May 1881