Description

These volumes contain the texts of all surviving Berkshire registration certificates for non-conformist places of worship (including tents and a field), and they provide evidence about the meeting houses themselves and the leading individuals involved.

Edited by Lisa Spurrier (2005)

Under the Toleration Act of 1689, protestant dissenters were permitted to worship in public provided that their premises were licensed by either Quarter Sessions or the church authorities. With minor modifications, the system lasted until 1852. These volumes contain the texts of all surviving Berkshire registration certificates for non-conformist places of worship (including tents and a field) between those years. The certificates provide evidence about both the meeting-houses themselves and the leading individuals involved making them of great value to those researching the history of their community as well as to historians of religion.

Peter Durrant