| Description | Summary
CHURCH ADMINISTRATION : church book, 1813-1937; church meeting
minutes, 1813-1969, 2006; correspondence, 1856-1874, 1966-1970;
notice of special church meeting, 1881; report of Building Committee,
1969; proposals for partnership plan with Church of England, 1997;
annual report, 1997; church rules, 1936, 1975; report of conference on
future of church, 1988.
DEACONS : minutes, 1877-1918, 1951-1962; correspondence, 1896-1898.
ELDERS : minutes, 1970-1982, 1997-2008.
COMMITTEES : Quarterly (later Finance) Committee minutes, 1855-1863;
Chapel Building Committee minutes, 1858-1861; Repairs Committee
minutes, 1896; Manse Building Committee minutes, 1904-1910;
Church Committee minutes, 1965-1970; Pastoral Committee minutes,
1979; Building Committee minutes, 1966-1970.
TREASURER : accounts, 1811-1828, 1848-1946; balance sheets, 1861-1862;
bills and vouchers, 1858-1863, 1884-1888.
PROPERTY RECORDS : trustees' minutes, 1859; draft sharing agreement with
Presbyterian Church, 1971; papers relating to burial ground, 1843-
1882; correspondence on sale of organ, 1856; papers on building of
church and schoolroom, 1858-1866; plan of pews, 1884; ground floor
plan of church, 1966; plans and elevations of new church, 1967-1970;
design for stained glass window, n.d. [c.1967-1970]; site meeting
minutes, 1968-1970; architect's instructions, 1969-1970; papers on
compulsory purchase of site and building of new church, 1965-1970;
correspondence relating to manses, 1951-1978; papers relating to
installation of electric lighting, 1952; building accounts, 1821-1825,
1849-1866, 1966-1971; bills and vouchers, 1884-1888; papers relating
to trustees, 1859-1874.
CHURCH ORGANISATIONS : Sunday School rules, 1848, teachers' meeting
minutes, 1861-1864, 1948-1967, accounts, 1861-1878, library registers,
1862-1867, and cradle roll, 1954-1972; Sunday School and Priestwood
Bible Class missionary collection accounts, 1888; Bible Class register,
1848; Congregational School accounts, 1866-1876, correspondence,
1865-1867, and prospectus, 1867; Christian Instruction Society
committee minutes, 1848-1861, and memorandum, 1865; [part of]
agreement with choir leader, 1881; history of Boys’ Brigade branch,
1983; St Paul’s Family Meeting Place (later Child Contact Centre)
constitutions, 1994-2007, and committee minutes, 2005-2008.
REGISTRATION AND MEMBERSHIP : baptism registers, 1814-1855, 1881,
1923-1932, 1965-1972; register of burials, 1822-1859; membership
rolls, 1814-1889, 1908-1970; church directory, 1979; correspondence
relating to admission and transfer of members, 1861-1881.
SERVICE OF THE CHURCH : special orders of service, 1970-2012; licence of
place of worship, 1860; licence for solemnisation of marriages, 1864;
papers on dedication service, 1970.
MINISTER : letter from [the Revd] Joseph Estcourt, 1830; circular relating to
testimonial for the Revd James Ellis, 1876; papers relating to
inductions, 1972-1979.
PUBLICATIONS : church newsletter (one issue), 1971; magazines, 1976-2016
(incomplete); history of church, 1980.
OTHER BODIES : case for assistance from Berks, South Oxon and South Bucks
Congregational Union, 1951-1952; report of United Reformed Church
District Visits, 1980.
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| Admin History | The origins of the church rest in a prayer meeting held in the house of [William] Foster, a newcomer to the village of Bracknell, and occasionally visited by Thomas Burgwin, a Baptist minister. In 1801 the latter licensed a house in the village as a place of worship, and in 1808 a building (formerly used to store bark) was adapted as a meeting house and licensed for worship. The congregation applied to Broad Street Independent Chapel, Reading, for help providing a non-Baptist minister. The church was officially formed in 1813.
By 1820 the building was in a dangerous condition, and a chapel and schoolroom were built in 1821, although the new chapel was not formally licensed until 1828. It was demolished in 1858, and a new chapel and schoolroom was built, opening in February 1859.
In 1908 a secession from the church formed Bracknell Pentecostalist Church. In 1965 the Congregational Church joined with local Presbyterians, who had no building but agreed to supply and pay for the stipend of a Presbyterian minister. The new church was known as Bracknell Congregational/Presbyterian Church, and was managed by a Church Committee comprising the Congregational deacons and Presbyterian elders until 1970, when joint elders were appointed. The two congregations maintained separate membership records, but shared finances and general management. A formal Sharing Agreement was made in 1971, and in 1972 the two churches united nationally to form the United Reformed Church.
In the 1960s the church site in the High Street was subject to compulsory purchase by Bracknell Development Corporation. The old church closed in September 1967, and meetings were held at Harmans Water Community Centre until a new church building (St Paul's United Reformed Church) opened in the Harmanswater area of Bracknell in May 1970. The building was also used for worship by a Church of England congregation, and the two denominations became increasingly close. By 2012 there was also a Ghanaian congregation.
For a history of the church, see D/N50/12/2/1. |