| Description | The collection consists of church books, minutes, members' baptism, marriage and burial registers, member lists, accounts, histories and printed material.
It includes archives of predecessor chapels across Mile End, Shadwell, Stepney, and Whitechapel.
The church registers and member lists or rolls are of value for tracing individuals. The lists give the names of members, age, residence, date of admission to the congregation and remarks including where individuals moved to join another church.
A highlight is are case notes of Ebenezer Chapel's Association for Visiting and Relieving the Sick Poor. The volume details visits and payments given between 1841 and 1844. These notes are indexed by name. Page 99 refers to visits made to Mr Selby, 115 New Gravel Lane, Shadwell aged 70, a 'man of colour' (reference W/CAE/B/3/1).
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| AdminHistory | The Coverdale and Ebenezer Congregational Church, Watney Street, Stepney (until after 1949) was latterly at Care House, Bigland Street, Shadwell prior to its closure. It was a place of worship for protestant Christians who had the right to practice reformed worship independently without interference from a wider authority. A member of the London Congregational Union, it was for a short time a member of the East London Congregational Mission. The Church had its origins in a number of Independent or Congregational churches in London's East End.
The Coverdale Chapel, Commercial Road, Limehouse was formed 29 March 1838 in Dalgleish Place School Room. The first members were mainly members of the church at Rose Lane, Ratcliff. It took in members of Limehouse Independent Church. The Chapel opened 6 October 1841.
The Ebenezer Chapel was established on the north side of Ratcliff Highway in Shadwell in 1785. It moved to a site in Watney Street, Commercial Road, St George-in-the-East in the late 1870s. By 1910 it had become Brunswick and Ebenezer Congregational Church, based at Watney Street, Stepney. It was also referred to as Watney Street Congregational Church.
The Brunswick Congregational Church, 193 Whitechapel Road, was formed 28 February 1894. It was an amalgamation or 'union' of Sion Congregational Church, Whitechapel Road (formerly the Sion Chapel) founded 1790 and Mile End Road Congregational Church ('founded 1640'). By 1910 Brunswick Congregational Church joined the Ebenezer Chapel to become Brunswick and Ebenezer Congregational Church.
The Iron Chapel, Mile End Road later known as Mile End Road Congregational Church was formed in 1855. Reverend Samuel Eastman resigned as co-pastor of the Latimer Chapel, Bridge Street, Mile End 'solely through my colleague's [Reverend R Saunders] determination not to co-operate with me' and formed The Iron (Congregational) Chapel. The building opened in December 1855. Difficulties arose and in 1870 the Reverend James Chew, pastor and other officials resigned, some leaving the country for America. |