Welcome

Books from the Congregational Library unpacked and on the shelves

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

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.

Accessing our printed collections

You are welcome to visit the Congregational Library to consult its collections. Requests for access should be made to the Congregational Librarian, Jacqueline Reiter (01223 330637). Access is conditional on your agreeing to its regulations by signing this form. More information on how to access the Library can be found here.

The Congregational Library’s online catalogue can be accessed here.

Accessing our archives and manuscripts

Click here to access the Congregational Library manuscripts handlist.

For the Archive of Ministers’ Papers, please click here.

Otherwise, choose from the following links:

Congregational Lectures

The Congregational Lecture has been held every year since 1987. Previous Congregational Lectures can be downloaded from this page.

News

Inside a 16th century book showing a strip of vellum with medieval handwriting on it, acting as a binding stay

Congregational Library update: October 2025

We hope you are all keeping safe despite the windy weather brought in by Storm Benjamin. Here at the Congregational Library we are very definitely staying indoors and continuing our unpacking journey. The big news is that shelving is being installed in the Carrie Room as we write: we will soon be finished unpacking in […]

Congregational Library update: September 2025

Autumn has very definitely arrived, as evidenced by the drop in external temperatures recorded by our environmental monitors. Thankfully internal temperatures are steady enough in most areas of the Congregational Library; books, particularly old ones, don’t like fluctuations in temperature or humidity, so it’s good to see that our books are being kept in a […]

Leaving a Mark: Exhibition at Westminster College

One of the joys of being a librarian or an archivist is finding something in the collections which reminds us that the books and other items had a life with other people before they arrived. The Congregational Librarian has teamed up with the Westminster College Archivist and the Theological Federation Librarian to bring together a […]

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