Congregational Church of England and Wales

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.