Who we are

The Congregational Memorial Hall Trust was founded in 1872 to create a memorial to those Christian ministers who were forced out of their positions in the Church of England following the Act of Uniformity in 1662. The fund established by the Trust was used to create the Congregational Library and encourage and assist Biblical studies. Since 1872 the Library has occupied a number of sites in London and until recently was lodged with Dr Williams’s Library in Gordon Square, London, who managed the Congregational Library collections on behalf of the Trust. The Congregational Memorial Hall Trust and Westminster College, Cambridge, are pleased to announce a new partnership which will see the Congregational Library relocated to, and working out of, the College.

Welcome to our website. We hope you’ll find it useful, inspiring and informative. If you have any questions, please contact us.

News

Librarian Required for the Congregational Library

The Congregational Memorial Hall Trust is seeking a part time Librarian to manage and develop the Congregational Library which has recently relocated from London to Westminster College,  Cambridge. The job advertisement, job description and other documents and information can be downloaded here. Job Advertisement Job Description Person Specification Background Equality and diversity monitoring form

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2024 Congregational Lecture

The 2024 Congregational lecture will take place at Westminster College, Cambridge on Thursday 21 November 2024 at 5:30pm. Professor Alexandra Walsham will speak on the theme of evangelical conversion as it manifested itself among some of the mid 17th century congregations in London and Dublin, which emphasised the question of ‘heart knowledge’and the experimental realisation […]

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A new home for the Congregational Library

The Congregational Memorial Hall Trust and Westminster College, Cambridge, are pleased to announce a new partnership which will see the Congregational Library relocated to, and working out of, the College. There are numerous synergies between Westminster’s current library and archives collections and that of the Congregational Library. We all look forward to a new epoch […]

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Looking after your church history

 

Interested in looking after your Church history – see our guidance here.

More about the Reformation and Non-conformity

The way that Non-conformity grew out of the Reformation and influenced more than three hundred years of British and global history is often hidden from the national narrative.

From John Owen, born in 1616, who lived through the turbulent years of the Civil War, to the great non-conformists of the 19th century, who ministered when dissent from the Established Church was itself a bar to education and public office, and into the early 20th century, with its terrible wars and upheavals, they shaped the world in which we live now. Read more