national organization of Congregational churches, established in 1832 and known until 1965 as the Congregational Union of England and Wales. It developed from the activities of English Christians of the late 16th and 17th centuries who wished to separate from the Church of England and form independent churches. A group of these Separatists (Independents) left England for Holland and subsequently some of them, the Pilgrims, settled in Plymouth, Mass., in 1620. In England the Independents had their greatest influence during the time of the Commonwealth (1649–60), when Oliver Cromwell (Cromwell, Oliver), an Independent (Separatist), was lord protector.

The Independents were eventually called Congregationalists. They survived various periods of persecution and became an influential religious minority in England and Wales. They established several academies and colleges and were active in the ecumenical movement. Merger in 1972 with the Presbyterian Church formed the United Reformed Church of England and Wales. A minority of members refused to join the union.