UK and Ireland: Church History

• The GENUKI church database is being developed to help provide information about places of worship and burial grounds.
• Steve Bulman's "The Churches of Britain and Ireland" photograph collection
• Geograph British Isles - contains many church photographs amongst its ever-growing collection.
• A listing of the various County Online Parish Clerk schemes.

• Baptist Church:
  • The General Baptists and Particular Baptists came together in 1891 to form the Baptist Union of Great Britain.  Their Baptist Handbook of 1896 is available free from Internet Archive and contains, among other things, lists of officers, member churches, ministers and personal members.
  • Strict Baptist Historical Society has an online Pastor & Chapels database, library catalogue and a brief history of the church.
  • Regents Park College - Centre for Baptist History and Heritage. 
  • Baptist Historical Society - England and Wales.
• Church of England (C of E):
  • The Church of England was a key secular (as well as religious) institution until the Victorian period.  As part of local government, it was responsible for poor relief, running local charities, and even local roads and law enforcement.  As a result, the 'parish chest' contains a lot more than just the registers of christenings, marriages and burials.  Their registers also often contain records of adherents to other (non-C of E ) religions.
  • A Church Near You - a church search facility that in many cases gives maps with current Church of England parish boundaries.
  • Church of England Record Centre - "collections held at Lambeth Palace Library".
  • The Churches Conservation Trust  (formerly the Redundant Churches Fund) protects historic churches that have been made redundant but not sold off by the C of E.
  • Clergy of the Church of England - "a relational database documenting the careers of all Church of England clergymen between 1540 and 1835".
  • The Incorporated Church Building Society's archive includes over 15,000 files relating to applications by parishes for grants from the Society 1818 to 1982. Their online database lists the archive contents and provides links to online copies of plans and drawings of many of the C of E churches.  The society is now part of the National Churches Trust.  
• Congregational Church
  • Initially known as Independents, most Congregational congregations joined the Presbyterians and other denominations to form the United Reform Church in 1972 - see Wikipedia.
• Gospel Hall 
  • List of present Gospel Hall churches
• Jews - see Jewish Records
• Lutheran
  • A History of the Lutheran Church in Great Britain (archived copy) from the Trinity Lutheran Congregation website.
• Methodist Church
  • The Primitive Methodist church was an early 19th century (1807) secession from the Wesleyan Methodist church and was particularly successful in evangelising agricultural and industrial communities at open air meetings. In 1932, the Primitive, Wesleyan and the United Methodists joined together to form the Methodist Church in Britain. Their website provides a brief history of Methodism and advice on research.
  • The Methodist Church provides a list of Other Methodist websites.
  • The University of Manchester's Methodist Archives and Research Centre provides a Guide to Methodist Resources at the University of Manchester (archived copy) and an Index of Methodist Ministers and Probationers who have Died in the Work.
  • Dwight Radford's Index to Methodist Ministers (1819-1968).
  • The Wesley Historical Society offer a guide to help you search for Methodist family records and the Dictionary of Methodism which includes, among other things, brief biographical information.
  • My Methodist History, My Primitive Methodist Ancestors and My Wesleyan Methodist Ancestors are user-contributed sites to share information and research about Methodism, including some Berkshire chapels.  
  • Englesea Brook Museum of Primitive Methodism. 
  • Methodist Heritage aims to preserve historic Methodist sites and archives; their free handbook lists over 120 sites, including chapels, libraries, archives and museums.
  • The Origin and History of the Primitive Methodist Church, H. B Kendall - Vol 1 and Vol 2 are available free from eBooks.
• Presbyterian Church
  • In 1972, the Presbyterian Church joined the Congregationalists (see above) and others to form the United Reform Church. They were influenced by Calvinism which rejected bishops and believed that the church should be governed by their ministers and members.
• Roman Catholic Church
  • The TNA have a guide to researching Catholics.  
  • Brief timeline (archived copy) of the Catholic Church in England (later the UK) from the break with Rome in 1534 until emancipation in 1829.
  • Catholic Family History Society.
  • The Catholic History Website is a partnership of societies and individuals with an interest in Catholic history in the British Isles since the Reformation.
  • Catholic National Library (archived copy).
  • Archive of the Tablet - the Catholic News Weekly, founded 1840.
• Unitarians
  • Unitarian Historical Society include an online index to obituaries of Unitarian ministers, 1800-2004, and bibliography of Unitarian congregations since 1800.