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

<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 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 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 Rotehr 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