Civil parishes are small divisions used for statistical purposes and formerly for local government in
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
.
Civil
parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...
es gained legal functions in 1845 which parochial boards were established to administer the
poor law. Their local government functions were abolished in 1930 with their powers transferred to county or burgh councils. Since 1975, they have been superseded as the smallest unit of local administration in Scotland by
community council
A community council is a public representative body in Great Britain.
In England they may be statutory parish councils by another name, under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, or they may be non-statutory bodies. In ...
s.
History
Civil parishes in Scotland can be dated from 1845, when parochial boards were established to administer the
poor law. While they originally corresponded to the parishes of the
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland.
The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...
, the number and boundaries of parishes soon diverged. Where a parish contained a
burgh
A burgh is an autonomous municipal corporation in Scotland and Northern England, usually a city, town, or toun in Scots. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when King David I created the first royal burghs. Burg ...
, a separate ''landward'' parish was formed for the portion outside the town.
Until 1891 many parishes lay in more than one
county
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
. In that year, under the terms of the
Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889
The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c. 50) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which was passed on 26 August 1889. The main effect of the act was to establish elected county councils in Scotland. In this it foll ...
, the boundaries of most of the civil parishes and counties were realigned so that each parish was wholly within a single county. In 1894 the parochial boards were replaced by more democratically elected parish councils.
Parish councils were in turn abolished in 1930, under the
Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929
The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 (19 & 20 Geo 5 c. 25) reorganised local government in Scotland from 1930, introducing joint county councils, large and small burghs and district councils. The Act also abolished the Scottish poor law syst ...
, with powers being transferred to county councils in landward areas of counties and burgh councils where they were within a burgh.
Their boundaries continued to be used to define some of the local authorities created by the
Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973
The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (c. 65) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom that altered local government in Scotland on 16 May 1975.
The Act followed and largely implemented the report of the Royal Commission on Local Gove ...
and they continue to be used for census purposes and they are used as part of the coding system for agricultural holdings under the
Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) used to administer schemes within the
Common Agricultural Policy
The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is the agricultural policy of the European Union. It implements a system of agricultural subsidies and other programmes. It was introduced in 1962 and has since then undergone several changes to reduce the ...
.
According to the website of the
General Register Office for Scotland
The General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) ( gd, Oifis Choitcheann a' ChlĂ raidh na h-Alba) was a non-ministerial directorate of the Scottish Government that administered the registration of births, deaths, marriages, divorces and adopti ...
, there are now 871 civil parishes.
Relationship with ecclesiastical parishes
Civil parish boundaries originally corresponded with the
ecclesiastical parishes of the
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland.
The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...
. As parishes used for religious functions diverged from civil parishes, the former became known as
quoad sacra parish A ''quoad sacra'' parish is a parish of the Church of Scotland which does not represent a civil parish. That is, it had ecclesiastical functions but no local government functions. Since the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929, civil parishes have ...
es.
Community councils
Since 1975, Scotland has been divided into
community council
A community council is a public representative body in Great Britain.
In England they may be statutory parish councils by another name, under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, or they may be non-statutory bodies. In ...
areas which are often similar to civil parishes in their boundaries.
These community council are not equivalent to
English parish councils and
Welsh community councils and do not have legal powers of their own but in some cases
local authorities
Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...
have a legal obligation to consult them.
See also
*
List of civil parishes in Scotland
This is a list of the 871 civil parishes in Scotland.
*The 871 parishes are listed here
Context
From 1845 to 1930, parishes formed part of the local government system of Scotland: having parochial boards from 1845 to 1894, and parish counc ...
*
History of local government in Scotland
The History of local government in Scotland is a complex tale of largely ancient and long established Scottish political units being replaced after the mid 20th century by a frequently changing series of different local government arrangements.
...
*
Local Government (Scotland) Act 1894
The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1894 (57 & 58 Vict. c. 58) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It created a Local Government Board for Scotland, and replaced existing parochial boards with parish councils.
Part I of the ac ...
*
Local Government (Scotland) Act 1947
The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1947 (10 & 11 Geo. 6 c. 65) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, that reformed local government in Scotland, on 1 October 1947.
Section 1 of the Act reads "For the purposes of local government, ...
References
External links
Scottish Civil Parish Maps at ArcGIS*scotlandsplaces.gov.uk displays parish maps for individual counties, as i
this example of Dumfriesshire parishes.*A list of the 871 parishes may be downloade
here
{{Civil parish
History of local government in Scotland
Former subdivisions of Scotland
Defunct organisations based in Scotland