The origins of the Staines Congregational Church, Thames Street, are in a small congregation of independents formed in 1789. A minister was appointed by the group in the same year, but no meeting house was constructed until 1802. This was situated on Tilley's Lane. In 1837 a new chapel was constructed at Thames Street. Designed by W Higgins, it was brick with an Ionic portico looking towards the High Street. In 1956 this chapel was demolished to allow road widening and a third constructed, designed by J P Blake. The present day church is situated on Stainash Crescent, off Kingston Road.
Christ Church at Whetstone United Reformed Church has its origins in independent meetings first held in Whetstone in 1788. In 1817 the meetings were moved to Totteridge where at first the congregation met in private houses. A permanent chapel with adjacent school room were constructed on Totteridge Lane in 1827, named the 'Totteridge Lane Chapel'. In 1884 it was agreed that the church should move to the developing residential area of Oakleigh Park, Whetstone, and a plot of land was duly purchased. A new church and school were built and opened in 1888, with the name 'Whetstone Congregational Church, Oakleigh Park'. In 1900 the church was gutted by a fire. It was decided to convert the damaged church into a hall, and build a new church and school room. In 1972 the Congregational Church merged with the Presbyterian Church to form the United Reformed Church, and the Whetstone church accordingly changed its name to 'The United Reformed Church, Whetstone'. Extensive rebuilding work was undertaken in 1975-1976, including the construction of a new church and a block of flats. In 1979 the name 'Christ Church at Whetstone United Reformed Church, Oakleigh Park' was adopted.
Herne Hill Congregational Church was situated at the junction of Red Post Hill and Denmark Hill.
The Greenwich Road Congregational Church was founded in 1750 as the 'Greenwich Tabernacle' and was situated in a converted barn. In 1799 a new site on the Greenwich Road was purchased and construction began on a chapel, completed in 1801. This was name the 'New Tabernacle'. The church closed in 1924 and became a coroner's office. A Greenwich Road Memorial Chapel was founded in a housing estate in Bellingham, near Beckenham.
No historical information has been located for this chapel.
The Eltham Congregational Church was founded in 1846. It belonged to the Metropolitan Kent District. In 1972 it joined the United Reformed Church.
Barbican Congregational Church was situated in New North Road, Hoxton, near Shoreditch.
Kingsland Congregational Church had its origins in prayer meetings for brickmakers held in their foreman's house in 1789. In Summer meetings were held on Kingsland green. In 1792 a site for a permanent chapel was found in Robinson's Row, on the west side of Kingsland High Street. The Chapel was registered as Congregational (also known as Independent) in 1794. The Kingsland School (later institute) was opened in 1808 and came to be associated with the Congregational Church.
There were three Congregational Churches in Dalston: at Middleton Road, Pownall Road and Shrubland Road. The Shrubland Road chapel was founded in 1878.
The Canning Town Congregational Church, Barking Road, originated in 1855 in services conducted at Plaistow Marsh by Thomas Perfect. Although lacking formal training, he served successfully as pastor until he retired in 1884. In 1860 a small chapel was built in Swanscombe Street. This was superseded in 1868 when a new building was erected in Barking Road, but remained in use as a mission hall. Another mission hall was maintained at North Woolwich from about 1879 to 1907. Under F. W. Newland (1884-1894) the Mansfield House university settlement became closely associated with the church, its boys' club being centred at the Swanscombe Street hall, which was rebuilt in 1891. F. W. Piper (1905-1909) devised a scheme to unite under his superintendency most of the Congregational churches in the area, as the South West Ham mission. Canning Town, Victoria Docks, and their missions came together in 1906, and were joined in 1909 by Greengate. The object of the mission was to ensure pastoral care for churches too poor to support separate ministers, but the traditions of independence were too strong: Greengate left the union in 1914 and Victoria Docks in 1917. Canning Town continued to call itself the South West Ham mission until 1923. All its buildings were badly damaged in the Second World War. Swanscombe Street, wrecked in 1940, was later demolished. The Barking Road church, twice bombed, was derelict from 1941. Its dwindling congregation continued to meet elsewhere in various borrowed premises, under the leadership of Mrs. M. Angel, widow of a former minister. Through her efforts a smaller church, opened in 1949, was erected on the foundations of the old one. She died in 1959 and the church closed almost immediately.
From: A History of the County of Essex: Volume 6 (1973), pp. 123-141.
In 1782 George Gold, minister of the Brickfields Congregational church in West Ham, began to hold services in a hired house at Barking. A church was formally constituted in 1785, and a meeting-house erected in the Broadway. In 1829 the congregation was estimated at 350-400. The church, which had been enlarged in 1805, was rebuilt in 1824-1826, during the pastorate of George Corney. Joseph Smedmore promoted the erection of a new and larger building, opened in 1864, and the addition of new schoolrooms in 1877. After the First World War, when many residents in the older part of Barking were moving into the new houses north of the railway, the church sold its building in the Broadway, and in 1929 erected a new one in Upney Lane. The church joined the United Reformed Church in 1973.
Source: A History of the County of Essex: Volume 5 (1966), pp. 231-233.
Watling Congregational Church was opened in Eversfield Gardens, on the edge of the Watling estate, in 1938. It was dependent on Union Congregational Church in Mill Hill, until in 1942 it acquired its own minister. The church was a plain brick hall, used also for social activities in 1970. In 1972 it joined the United Reformed Church on the merger of the Congregational and Presbyterian Churches. In 2001 it merged with Union Congregational Church, Mill Hill and St James United Reform Church, Edgware to form Trinity United Reform Church. All three churches worshipped as one from Eversfield Gardens from May 2005.
Source: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 5: Hendon, Kingsbury, Great Stanmore, Little Stanmore, Edmonton Enfield, Monken Hadley, South Mimms, Tottenham (1976), pp. 39-43.
The Acton Congregational Church closed in 1976 and the congregation joined the Acton United Reformed Church. There had been Congregational meetings taking place in Acton since 1817.
The Streatham Hill Union Chapel was built in 1829; this was a union of Anglican and dissenting congregations under the Reverend J. Hunt. The union was an uneasy one and in 1837 the Anglicans decamped to found Christ Church, Roupell Park; while in 1840 the Baptists established the new Salem Chapel in New Park Road, leaving the Chapel to the Congregationalists.
In 1850 the Reverend Hunt was persuaded to leave, and under the new ministry of Reverend John Hall the Streatham Hill Congregational Church emerged. In 1871 the old chapel was demolished and replaced by the present church; the school and hall were built in 1878. In 1972 the church became a congregation of the United Reformed Church with the name Brixton Hill United Reformed Church.
West Ealing Congregational Church was founded in 1900, with services held at number 70 the Avenue from 1901 until a hall was constructed in Argyle Road in 1903. After the First World War the hall was adapted into a permanent church and another hall and classrooms were added. The church was closed between 1973 and 1976.
The Broadway Congregational Church was founded in 1662. It was first known as the White Horse Yard Meeting House and then the George Yard Chapel. The White Horse and the George were inns; the Congregationalists met in their courtyards. The church was built in 1724 on Brook Green Road, which is now called Shepherd's Bush Road.
Stockwell Green Congregational Church originated in Stockwell Green New Chapel, which was built as a Congregational chapel in 1798. The chapel was rebuilt in 1850 as the Stockwell Green Congregational Church. The church was active in providing charitable works for the local area, including the Stockwell Institute which ran day schools, a lecture and meeting hall, Sunday Schools, a Benevolent Society and a Coal Club.
The church became Stockwell Green United Reformed Church in 1972 when the Congregationalist and Presbyterian churches merged. In 1987 the church building was sold. The congregation moved 60 - 68, Stockwell Road in 1991.
Park Chapel was also known as the Camden Town Congregational Church. It was situated on Arlington Road and was founded and built in the 1840s. It appears to have closed by 1971.
Harringay Congregational Church originated in a Sunday school started in 1891 in Falkland Hall, an upstairs room behind a shop at the south corner of Falkland Road and Green Lanes. Land was bought at the junction of Allison Road with Green Lanes and an iron building was opened there in 1894. It was replaced by a permanent church, opened in 1902, and by a new hall and schoolrooms, built as a threestorey block in Allison Road in 1912. The church, of red brick with stone dressings and in the Gothic style, underwent major internal reconstruction in 1970, when the seating capacity was reduced from about 650 to 220. All three halls, collectively known as Allison Hall, were retained by the church in 1972, although the bottom one had been leased to the government since 1947. In 1969 Harringay Congregational Church united with Hornsey Church of Christ. The Hornsey premises, in Wightman Road, were sold and the new church became known as Harringay United Church.
From: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 5: Hendon, Kingsbury, Great Stanmore, Little Stanmore, Edmonton Enfield, Monken Hadley, South Mimms, Tottenham (1976), pp. 356-364.
East Finchley Congregational Church originated with meetings of Independents in 1804. They built a chapel on the edge of Finchley Common, facing the Great North Road, in 1830 and enlarged it in 1846. The building, further enlarged in 1861 and 1874, was restored as a lecture hall and Sunday school after a fire in 1875. An imposing stone chapel, accommodating 600, was opened at the junction of High Road and East End Road in 1878. A new hall and Sunday school were built behind in 1895, whereupon the old chapel was sold. The chapel was extended in 1926 but demolished in 1965, when part of the site was sold. A smaller chapel and hall, each seating 150, were opened in 1970.
From: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 6: Friern Barnet, Finchley, Hornsey with Highgate (1980), pp. 87-91.
Boscombe Congregational Church, Bournemouth, Dorset, was founded in 1887. It was part of the Western District of the Hampshire Congregational Union.
Chelsea Congregational Church, Markham Square, was registered for Congregationalists in 1860 in succession to Radnor Congregational chapel, Radnor Street. There were 890 evening worshippers in 1886, but later the church was burdened with debt from building costs; there were reports of dissension in 1916 and of members joining the Methodist church in 1923. Attendance in 1903 was 307 in the morning and 501 in the evening, the largest attendance at any protestant nonconformist chapel except Chelsea Baptist Chapel. The Church was demolished for housing in 1953. The name of Chelsea Congregational Church was adopted by the Edith Grove Church in 1960.
From: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 12: Chelsea (2004), pp. 263-272.
College Place (later Elystan Road) Chapel was built in 1838 by John Stacey on ground on the south side of College Place belonging to George Downing, a trustee of Ranelagh chapel. The chapel was registered for Wesleyan Methodists by Edward Ellard in 1839. The chapel closed in 1908 and was taken by the Salvation Army in 1909.
From: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 12: Chelsea (2004), pp. 263-272.
The foundation stone of West Dulwich Congregational Chapel in Rosendale Road was laid on October 7, 1851, by the Reverend J. Burnet. The building soon proved too small and a larger chapel was erected at the corner of Chancellor Grove and Park Hall Road, and opened in 1855. The foundation stone of the chapel in Rosendale Road was incorporated in the fabric of the new chapel. The chapel was destroyed by enemy action in the war of 1939-1945.
From: 'Norwood: Churches', Survey of London: volume 26: Lambeth: Southern area (1956), pp. 173-180.
Bedford Congregational Chapel was situated on Charrington Street, near Mornington Crescent, Camden. It was founded in 1851. In 1903 it had 85 members and 162 students in the Sunday School.
The Holywell Mount Congregational Chapel was situated on the junction of Chapel Street and Curtain Road, Shoreditch, Hackney. It is now closed.
The Brunswick Congregational Chapel, Whitechapel Road, Stepney was founded in 1640. In 1894 it merged with the Sion Congregational Chapel, also situated on Whitechapel Road.
Orange Street Congregational Chapel was bought from French Protestants by Thomas Hawkes in 1787 and converted into a Congregational chapel. The first minister was John Townsend, founder of the London Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb. A Sunday school at 36 St Martin's Street was registered in 1816. The Chapel was re-registered again by Congregationalists in 1861; and was still in use in 2009.
Source: Protestant Nonconformity: City of Westminster, A History of the County of Middlesex.
Wood Green Congregational Church was registered in 1864, three years after meetings had started in schoolrooms nearby. The building, the first permanent nonconformist church to serve the new houses of Wood Green, was estimated to hold 500 and in 1873 was criticized as too large. It was classical in style, with roundheaded doors and windows, pilasters, and a pedimented front facing Lordship Lane at the corner of Redvers Road. The congregation was united with Harringay Congregational church in 1964, whereupon the Wood Green Church building was acquired by the local authority as an arts centre.
From: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 5: Hendon, Kingsbury, Great Stanmore, Little Stanmore, Edmonton Enfield, Monken Hadley, South Mimms, Tottenham (1976), pp. 356-364.
Merton Hall Congregational Church was founded in 1798. The chapel was not built until 1818. In 1903 it belonged to the London Congregational Union district of Metropolitan Surrey West. It seems to have closed some time before 1957, possibly because of destruction during air raids in 1940.
Trinity Congregational Church, Croydon, was founded in 1858. It established a mission at Leslie Park. In 1903 it had 112 members.
A Presbyterian congregation was established in Uxbridge in 1753. By 1833 they had adopted Congregational Church practices and the name Uxbridge Old Meeting Congregational Church. They joined the London Congregational Union in 1922. A second Congregational body was established in Uxbridge in 1777, called the Providence Congregational Church. The two churches were united in 1962 as the Uxbridge Congregational Church, worshipping at the Old Meeting premises.
Since its formation in 1811, East Hill United Reformed Church has also been known as East Hill Congregational Church and Wandsworth Congregational Church. The first meeting place was the old chapel in Wandsworth High Street formerly used by French refugees. However, as membership grew a new premises became necessary, a purpose built hall being opened on East Hill in 1860. This growth in size was reflected in the variety of activities the church pursued, ranging from Missions to other parts of Wandsworth such as Eltringham, to their Literary and Debating Society and the Dorcas Society.
The Independent Congregation at Clapham was founded in 1645. The earliest records relating to the congregation are licences granted in 1672 for individuals to use their houses for meetings (these licences are held at the National Archives).
Among the ministers of the congregation was Philip Furneaux, who was a champion of religious liberty. During his ministry (1754-1778), a new Church was built in Clapham Old Town in 1762. Previously the congregation had met in a wooden building and later a brick structure in Nag's Head Lane, later North Street, Clapham. A new church was built in 1852 at a cost of £11,000. Following considerable damage during the Second World War another Church building was constructed in 1957.
The most famous minister of the congregation was Reverend Dr James Guinness Rogers (1822-1911) who was a leading figure in nonconformist politics during the late nineteenth century. He was a prolific writer: his works included "Sermons on the Life of Christ" and "The Gospel in the Epistles". A friend of Gladstone (who opened his 1892 election campaign from Rogers' house), he assisted in the foundation of the Liberation Society (formerly the British Anti-State-Church Association). His ideas for a greater nonconformist voice, spanning the denominations, came to fruition in the National Council of Evangelical Free Churches (later the Free Church Federal Council). In a personal capacity he was Chairman of the Congregational Union of England and Wales in 1874 and was a founder member of the Council of King Edward's Hospital Fund for London. He was minister at Clapham between 1865 and 1900.
Barnsbury Congregational Chapel and school room, was built in 1835 on the corner of Barnsbury and Milner streets, under Charles Gilbert who had resigned from Islington chapel. The church seated 500 in 1838. It reopened in 1841 after alterations, now seating 550. In 1851 the chapel seated 708; attendance was 556 for morning service and 347 in the evening. Attendance in 1903 was 113 in the morning and 497 in the evening. Numbers declined from around 1900 and the chapel closed in 1909.
From: 'Islington: Protestant nonconformity', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 8: Islington and Stoke Newington parishes (1985), pp. 101-115.
The Highbury Quadrant Congregational Church was founded in 1878. It is now part of the Congregational Federation.
The Lewisham High Street Congregational Church was founded in 1797. It ran two mission stations, at Hither Green, founded in 1871, and Ladywell, founded in 1874. In 1972 it became Lewisham High Street United Reformed Church.
Trinity Congregational Church, Catford, was situated on Stanstead Road. It was founded in 1858. It is now Trinity United Reformed Church.
Willesden Green Congregational Church first met at the house of Oliver Nodes in 1817. A small, plain chapel was built in 1820 at the junction of High Road and Dudden Hill Lane. Attendance in 1851 was 20 for morning services and 30 for evening services. A larger chapel was built in 1878 to the west, at the junction of High Road and Pound Lane. Attendance in 1903 was 108 for morning service and 131 in the evening. The original building was used for Sunday school until it was closed in 1907.
From: 'Willesden: Protestant nonconformity', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 7: Acton, Chiswick, Ealing and Brentford, West Twyford, Willesden (1982), pp. 242-246.
The Weigh House in Cornhill was situated on the south side of Eastcheap, between Botolph Lane and Love Lane. In 1697 a Meeting House was founded above the Weigh House for members of the congregation of the Reverend S. Slater, who had been compelled in 1662 by the Act of Uniformity to resign the living of the Church of Saint Katherine by the Tower. This meeting was Presbyterian but by 1780 the church joined the Congregational Church, and became known as the King's Weigh House Chapel. In 1832 the site of the chapel site was required for road building and the congregation moved to Fish Street Hill, where they remained until 1882 when this chapel site was required for the construction of Monument Station. The congregation merged with a small church on Robert Street (now called Weigh House Street) and built new, larger premises on Duke Street, Westminster, opened in 1891. The church closed in 1965 when the congregation merged with that of Whitefield Memorial Church on Tottenham Court Road. The Duke Street building is now a Ukrainian Catholic cathedral.
Edmonton and Tottenham or Snells Park Congregational chapel derived from an Independent chapel which was opened on the east side of Fore Street, near the Tottenham boundary, in 1788. The building was enlarged in 1803 and in 1820 consisted of a chapel and vestry within a burial-ground. A schoolroom was added in 1838. When John Snell's estate was sold in 1848, the Church purchased a plot on the site of his mansion, between Langhedge Lane and Park Road (later Snells Park), for a larger chapel. The new chapel was opened in 1850. With accommodation for 850 people, it was twice the size of the old chapel. On census Sunday 1851 590 people attended in the morning and 498 in the evening, the highest figures for any nonconformist chapel, and in 1903 305 people attended in the morning and 432 in the evening. The old chapel continued in use as a schoolroom until the late 1960s. Lectures were given there in the 1870s, leading to a secession and the foundation of Lower Edmonton Congregational church in Knight's Lane. The two congregations reunited to form Edmonton Congregational church on a new site in 1959, although the Edmonton and Tottenham chapel continued to be used for worship until it was sold to the council and demolished in around 1965.
From: 'Edmonton: Protestant nonconformity', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 5: Hendon, Kingsbury, Great Stanmore, Little Stanmore, Edmonton Enfield, Monken Hadley, South Mimms, Tottenham (1976), pp. 188-196.
Edmonton and Tottenham or Snells Park Congregational chapel derived from an Independent chapel which was opened on the east side of Fore Street, near the Tottenham boundary, in 1788. The building was enlarged in 1803 and in 1820 consisted of a chapel and vestry within a burial-ground. A schoolroom was added in 1838. When John Snell's estate was sold in 1848, the Independents purchased a plot on the site of his mansion, between Langhedge Lane and Park Road (later Snells Park), for a larger chapel. The new chapel was opened in 1850. With accommodation for 850 people, it was twice the size of the old chapel. On census Sunday 1851 590 people attended in the morning and 498 in the evening, the highest figures for any nonconformist chapel, and in 1903 305 people attended in the morning and 432 in the evening. The old chapel continued in use as a schoolroom until the late 1960s. Lectures were given there in the 1870s, leading to a secession and the foundation of Lower Edmonton Congregational church in Knight's Lane. The two congregations reunited to form Edmonton Congregational church on a new site in 1959, although the Edmonton and Tottenham chapel continued to be used for worship until it was sold to the council and demolished in around 1965.
From: 'Edmonton: Protestant nonconformity', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 5: Hendon, Kingsbury, Great Stanmore, Little Stanmore, Edmonton Enfield, Monken Hadley, South Mimms, Tottenham (1976), pp. 188-196.
Anerley Congregational Church was founded in 1856, and was part of the London Congregational Union Metropolitan Surrey District. In 1903 it had 300 members. The Penge Congregational Church was possibly a preaching station or branch church of the Anerley Church. It was situated on Beckenham Road, between Penge and Anerley. It was part of the London Congregational Union Metropolitan Kent District.
Basing Place Congregational Chapel and the Hoxton Academy Chapel were both mission churches founded by the New Tabernacle Congregational Church, Old Street.
Forest Gate Congregational Church had its origins in a Gospel Service conducted by Jabez Legg in a cottage at Forest Gate. These services began in 1825 and by 1832 has expanded enough that a chapel was constructed, called Forest Gate Chapel. By the 1850s the local area developed from a small semi-rural community into a suburban neighbourhood, and it was decided to construct a new church in the middle of this development, which was completed in 1856. It was also at this date that the chapel joined the Congregationalist Church. Between 1884 and 1888 extensive rebuilding works took place, with further rebuilding in the 1920's.
The Bexley Congregational Church was built in 1890. It is now part of the Bexley United Reformed Church.
In 1876 a meeting was held to consider the building of a Congregational Church and in 1878 the Congregational Lecture Hall was opened in Station Road. The Sidcup Congregational Church was formed in 1879. In 1887 the foundation stone was laid for a new church in Station Road (opposite Victoria Road). The church opened in 1888 with room for 550 and a further 300 in a gallery.
During the First World War the Church Hall was converted into an Auxiliary Hospital and 1065 soldiers were treated. During the Second World War the Congregational Hall was used to shelter homeless families and during September 1940 gave shelter to 500 people. In 1942 the local paper reported a Christmas party for Belgian refugees.
In 1971 a 95% majority of members supported a union of the Congregational and Presbyterian Churches to form the United Reformed Church. Between 1973 and 1975 discussions between the United Reformed Church and the Methodist Churches eventually led to a 75% majority of both churches in favour of combining. For financial and practical reasons the United Reformed Church building was chosen as the new church of the merged congregations. The name Emmanuel Church was selected.
The West Croydon Congregational Church was built in 1886. The church is now used by a Jain congregation and is called the Oshwal Mahajanwadi.
The South Croydon Congregational Church has now been closed.
In 1866 the London Congregational Union established the South London Mission on New Kent Road at Elephant and Castle. In 1905 they rebuilt the Mission and renamed it the Crossway Central Mission. This was demolished in the 1960s to make way for a housing estate, but the mission was rebuilt nearby as Crossway Church. By the time the church was completed in 1973 the Congregationalists had merged with the Prebyterians to become the United Reformed Church.