In 1672 Charles II issued a Declaration of Toleration for Protestants dissenting from the Church of England; this had the effect of some dissenting meeting houses registering with the Secretary of State. The Toleration Act of 1689 enshrined the right of protestants to dissent from the Church of England and, once again, encouraged meeting houses to register voluntarily with local quarter sessions| and Anglican church. Registration provided protection against persecution, laying a duty of protection upon magistrates and so was popular with nonconformists. Most registrations were made with quarter sessions until the middle of the 18th century, presumably due to the mutual antagonism of nonconformists and established Church. However, from that point registration with the Church, via the local archdeaconry| began to become the favoured method, because the archdeaconry Registrar would issue a licence at any time rather than during the days each quarter when the quarter sessions met.

Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service has a reasonable number of registrations of nonconformist meeting houses in both the Quarter Sessions and Archdeaconry of Bedford archives. Registration continued through the 19th century even though persecution faded away - this was because registered buildings were allowed to claim exemption from parish poor rates, were exempt from control by the Charity Commission and were allowed to be licensed to carry out marriages. These things meant that registration became almost compulsory in practice for well established nonconformist meetings. This is fortunate for the local historian because sometimes the only surviving references to a nonconformist meeting occur as registrations.

The first mention of nonconformists in Colmworth is in 1725 when a house used for dissenting worship was registered with the Quarter Sessions [QSR1725/76], sadly the document is damaged and no names survive. In 1766 the dwelling house of Mary Fisher was registered by Russell Chapman of Colmworth, an illiterate husbandman and Thomas Lee of Great Barford, husbandman [ABN1/1 and ABN2/23]. In 1810 the dwellinghouse and premises of William Wagstaff was registered by Wagstaff himself and by Thomas and William Calvert [ABN1/1 and ABN2/137].

In 1830 the dwellinghouse of Robert Shimmon [Skinner] was registered by Shimmon/Skinner, who could not sign his own name and witnessed by Samuel Barley and John Fielding [ABN1/2, ABN2/248 and ABN3/3]. In January 1841 the house of George Creamer was registered by Creamer himself [ABN1/2 and ABN2/351] and two months later the house of Charles Crowsley was also registered by Crowsley and George Cornish [ABN1/2 and ABN2/354]. A year later a building belonging to Henry Shimmon was registered by Charles Parker [ABN1/1 and ABN2/364] and in 1844 a building occupied by James Ashwell was registered by William Youle [or Gould] [ABN1/2 and ABN2/375].

The denominations of none of these meetings are noted on the certificates, though it seems reasonable to assume that one or more were likely to have been Methodist given that in 1854 a Primitive Methodist |chapel was registered by Henry Kent of Bedford, baker.

In 1932 the Primitive and Wesleyan Methodists, together with other breakaway starnds, came once more into union to found the Methodist Church of Great Britain.