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Church History information for Berkshire and places above it in the hierarchy

Berkshire

  • General information about church history and availability of records.  
  • The GENUKI Church Database lists places of worship (not just Church of England) and burial grounds, including links to the individual churches' own websites and to the related Genuki Parish page where further information may be found. It is tended to cover the whole of UK and Ireland. The coverage for Berkshire is fairly complete. Contributions and corrections are positively invited.
  • Berkshire FHS have some information on churches and cemetaries (members only).
  • For ministers, see also Church Ministers.  
  • The Berkshire Religious Census 1851, editor Kate Tiller, Berkshire Record Society, 2010, ISBN 13 9780954871642,  lists places of worship, giving brief details of each (see sample page) and some photographs.  Copies held by the Berkshire FHS and Reading Central Library.  
    • The book is a transcription of the entries of Berkshire churches in the full Ecclesiastical Census Returns HO 129 which is available as a series of free downloads from TNA containing the returns for all of England and Wales, arranged by registration district.  The handwritten returns can be difficult to read (see sample page), so the transcription may be easier to use.  This was the first and only census of places of worship in England and Wales and was made alongside the population census of the same year with the same registration districts.  It was not compulsory and only about 80% of Berkshire churches seem to have responded, the C of E being particularly reluctant.  
    • All the Berkshire churches listed in the census are in the Genuki Church Database above and are identified as such.  
    • See article in Berkshire Family Historian, Mar 2008, Vol 31, page 8.
  • Berkshire Nonconformist Meeting House Registrations 1689-1852  in 2 parts, editor Lisa Spurrier, Berkshire Record Society, 2005, ISBN 0952494698,  copies available for reference in Reading Central Library and the RBA.  It is a transcription of the applications to register the places of worship in historic Berkshire of Protestant Dissenters (those who dissented from the Church of England) and also some Roman Catholic churches, as a result of the Toleration Act .  See sample record.  Most of the 366 entries are for a room in a private house, and therefore often do not show in other records of the time.  It also provides useful descriptions of the different denominations in Berkshire at the time: Methodists (Wesleyan, Primitive and Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion), Baptist (Particular, Strict, General), Presbyterians, Independents/Congregationalists, (Plymouth) Brethren).
  • Thumbnail descriptions of church buildings and their histories can often be found in trade directories through the years, see sample pages from a 1915 directory.
  • Church of England (C of E):  
    • The Clergy of the Church of England Database includes background information on particular dioceses, cathedrals & collegiate churches and non-diocesan locations (as well as historical information on the careers of some C of E clergymen).
    • Berkshire Glebe Terriers, 1634. Glebe terriers are descriptions of the extent of the glebe, or lands belonging to a parish church. The Berkshire set for 1634 is remarkably complete, having been drawn up in response to a visitation by the representative of the archbishop of Canterbury. Details are given of a wide range of Berkshire church lands and tithable products. Published by the Berkshire Record Society as their second volume of documents, 1995.
  • Methodist Church: 
    • Records of some Berkshire Methodist churches are held by the RBA (see Vol 72, 2015 of the Berkshire Echo). Some are published by the Eureka Partnership.
    • The Swindon Wesleyan Methodist Circuit was formed in 1817 from the Hungerford Circuit and covered a large area centred on Swindon including Clanfield [Oxfordshire], Faringdon [Berkshire], Highworth and Wootton Bassett [both Wiltshire].
    • Wantage and Abingdon Circuit: documents are archived with the Oxfordshire History Centre. 
    • Reading (later Reading and Silchester) Circuit:  the records of Valerie May Eyers, who was the Circuit archivist, are held by the RBA (ref. D/EX 1638) which contain much historical information about the Reading area Methodist churches c1891 to 1999, including leaflets, books, press cuttings and photographs.
  • Congregational Church:  
  • Roman Catholic Church:  
    • The Thames Valley Papists by Tony Hadlands is available free online and in hard copy from Reading Central Library.  It "tells the story of the Catholics of the Thames valley from Henry VIII's break with Rome until Catholic Emancipation nearly three hundred years later."  
    • Berkshire falls under the Catholic diocese of Portsmouth.  
  • Religious Society of Friends (Quakers):  
  • Baptist Church:
    • The Baptists of Berkshire Through Three Centuries by Ernest A Payne, 1951, copies held by Reading Central Library.  Describes the history of the church in Berkshire from 1600s to 1950s, with a table listing churches existing in 1949 with the name of pastor, number of members, etc.   Includes pictures of famous ministers of the Reading King St Church: John Howard Hinton, William Anderson, Robert Gordon Fairbairn.
  • Jews:  
  • Historic Churches of Berkshire from Royal Berkshire History provides brief histories (sometimes with photographs) of many Berkshire churches, including the ruined Reading Abbey.
  • For churches that are Listed Buildings, see also Dwellings. 
  • Photographs of churches, see:
    • The various resources listed above often have photographs or drawings.
    • Churches of Britain and Ireland. 
    • Francis Frith's Berkshire Churches - Photographic Memories, David Parker, ISBN 1.85937-170.1, 2000, copy held by Reading Central Library
    • The GENUKI church database (see above) has links to the churches' own websites which usually have photographs, and also links to Geograph. 
    • Oxfordshire Churches & Chapels include photographs of some churches and chapels in present day Oxfordshire including some that are in what was historic Berkshire.
    • For monuments in church yards, see Cemeteries.
    • See also Historical Photographs under History.
  • Reading Abbey- In medieval times, Reading was the site of a great royal abbey. The religious community was centred round a magnificent church and one of the largest monasteries in Europe. It was formed in 1121 by Henry I, who was later buried near the High Altar. Because of its royal patronage, the abbey soon became one of the important pilgrimage centres of medieval England and also one of the richest and most important.   It contained a number of religious relics, including the reputed hand of St James. Visited by successive kings, it was the venue for several important weddings and a meeting of Parliament in 1453. The abbey was closed in 1539, as part of Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries.

UK and Ireland