PLAISTOW CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, BALAAM STREET, PLAISTOW, WEST HAM

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: LMA/4108
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: PLAISTOW CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, BALAAM STREET, PLAISTOW, WEST HAM
Date(s)	: 1925-1943
Level of description	: Collection
Extent	: 0.15 linear metres
Name of creator(s)	: Congregational Church of England and Wales

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Plaistow Congregational Church, Balaam Street, originated in 1796 in a mission conducted by W. Newman, a Baptist minister from Bow. Regular meetings were held in private houses, and in the open air, until 1807, when a building was erected in North Street by a group of Independents and Baptists under Robert Marten, who was the leading layman until his death in 1839. A union church of the two denominations was constituted in 1812, with Henry Lacey (1812-1824) as minister. 'Marten and his religious crew' encountered local opposition and even violence in the early days, but their numbers grew. A day-school was opened (1844) and in 1860 a new church was built in Balaam Street. John Foster (1865-1869) was the church's only Baptist minister. In 1869 part of the congregation - probably the Baptists - apparently seceded with him to form a church in Upper Road, Plaistow, which soon disappeared. After this, Balaam Street seems to have had little or no Baptist connexions. Under Richard Partner (1888-1903) the membership increased rapidly as the area was built up, reaching 670 in 1902, by which time the church had been enlarged to accommodate 1,000. In 1887 a mission hall was built in Southern Road. After 1903 Balaam Street began to decline, though it remained fairly strong until 1939. During the Second World War the church was bombed, being finally abandoned in 1945 and later demolished. Meanwhile, in 1943, the members of Balaam Street and Southern Road united with Greengate as Plaistow Congregational church.

From: A History of the County of Essex: Volume 6 (1973), pp. 123-141.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Marriage registers for Plaistow Congregational Church, Balaam Street, 1925-1943.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

Three volumes.

Conditions governing access:

These records are available for public inspection, although records containing personal information are subject to access restrictions under the UK Data Protection Act, 1998.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright: Depositor

Finding aids:

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Received in 1998 (B98/202).

Allied Materials

Related material:

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
January to March 2009