![All Saint's Parish Church, Bakewell, Derbyshire](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/All_Saint%27s_Parish_Church%2C_Bakewell%2C_Derbyshire.jpg)
The parish with its
parish church
A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...
(es) is the basic territorial unit of the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
. The
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 ...
has its roots in the
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
and survived the
English Reformation
The English Reformation took place in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away from the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church. These events were part of the wider European Protestant Reformation, a religious and poli ...
largely untouched. Each is within one of
42 dioceses: divided between the thirty of the
Canterbury
Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour.
...
and the twelve of that of
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
. There are around 12,500 Church of England parishes.
Historically, in England and Wales, the parish was the principal unit of local administration for both church and civil purposes; that changed in the 19th century when separate
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
es were established. Many Church of England parishes still align, fully or in part, with civil parishes boundaries.
Each such ecclesiastical parish is administered by a
parish priest
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 ...
, specifically Rector, Vicar or Perpetual Curate depending on if the original set up of the rectory had become ''lay'' or ''disappropriated'' meaning its medieval rectorial property rights sold or bestowed on another body such as an abbey. This person may be assisted by
curate
A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...
(s) and/or
deacon
A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...
(s), who are also ordained and by lay clergy such as readers. High variance exists in the size of parishes, attendees and the number of christenings (baptisms), marriages, funerals and donations. Each parish is considered in the annual assessment and rebalancing of the diocese which pays the clergy's income (and indirectly by the
Commissioners as regards most old endowments which are held in common). A parish priest may serve one parish or more and some are part of a team ministry. As a shorthand, the term can mean the community or the combined annual congregation.
Etymology
A latin variant of the Greek ''paroikia'', the dwelling place of the priest was used by the eighth Archbishop of Canterbury
Theodore of Tarsus
Theodore of Tarsus ( gr, Θεόδωρος Ταρσοῦ; 60219 September 690) was Archbishop of Canterbury from 668 to 690. Theodore grew up in Tarsus, but fled to Constantinople after the Persian Empire conquered Tarsus and other cities. After ...
(who lived 602 to 690). He applied it to the
Anglo-Saxon township with a priest.
First seen in written English when that tongue came back into writing in the late 13th century, the word ''parish'' comes from the
Old French
Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligib ...
paroisse, in turn from
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
paroecia, which is the
latinisation of the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
παροικία (''paroikia''), "sojourning in a foreign land", itself from πάροικος (''paroikos''), "dwelling beside, stranger, sojourner", which is a compound of παρά (''para''), " beside, by, near" + οἶκος (''oikos''), "house".
History
![Escombe Church](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Escombe_Church.jpg)
The
introduction of Christianity and its development under
Æthelberht of Kent
Æthelberht (; also Æthelbert, Aethelberht, Aethelbert or Ethelbert; ang, Æðelberht ; 550 – 24 February 616) was King of Kent from about 589 until his death. The eighth-century monk Bede, in his ''Ecclesiastical History of the Engli ...
(c. 560–616) required an organisational unit for administering the church. From the Greek ''paroikia'', the
dwellingplace of the priest, eighth Archbishop of Canterbury
Theodore of Tarsus
Theodore of Tarsus ( gr, Θεόδωρος Ταρσοῦ; 60219 September 690) was Archbishop of Canterbury from 668 to 690. Theodore grew up in Tarsus, but fled to Constantinople after the Persian Empire conquered Tarsus and other cities. After ...
(c. 602–690) applied the ecclesiastical term parish to the
Anglo-Saxon township format which were already in existence. Generally the township and parish coincided but in the North some townships may have been combined and in the South, where populations were bigger, two or more parishes might be made out of one township. Townships not included in a parish were extra-parochial. There may have been much less uniformity than these general guidelines imply. Extended since the 973-975 reign of
Edgar (c. 943–975) the process of parish organisation appears to have been completed during the fifty-year reign of
Edward III
Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring r ...
(1312–1377).
![Beating the Bounds Marker Stone, Charminster - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Beating_the_Bounds_Marker_Stone%2C_Charminster_-_geograph.org.uk_-_786207.jpg)
In general
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
parishes owe their origin to the establishment of a
minster church by a corps of clergy. That usually large parish was soon subdivided into persistent smaller parishes, by legal doctrine termed
ancient parishes each associated with an
estate church founded by
Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...
or, later,
Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
landowners using the minster foundation template, regard being had to their
feudal dues and overlords. Having provided the land and usually the building the landowner reserved the right, "the
advowson
Advowson () or patronage is the right in English law of a patron (avowee) to present to the diocesan bishop (or in some cases the ordinary if not the same person) a nominee for appointment to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice or church living, ...
", to select a parish priest subject to the bishop's approval.
One parish may have straddled two (or rarely more) counties or hundreds and many extended to
outlying portions, usually described as "detached parts". These were usually commons, a full farm or more modest
enclosure
Enclosure or Inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or " common land" enclosing it and by doing so depriving commoners of their rights of access and privilege. Agreements to enclose land ...
or a burial plot, surrounded by the land of another parish.
Most ecclesiastical parish boundaries, in a few places perambulated each year by
beating the bounds Beating the bounds or perambulating the bounds is an ancient custom still observed in parts of England, Wales, and the New England region of the United States, which traditionally involved swatting local landmarks with branches to maintain a shared ...
, loosely resembles one or more great estates of more than one thousand years ago but more precisely tends to date from simplifications since the 17th century to fit a parish with the updated landowner's bounds assumed (taken on) over intervening centuries thereby minimising disputes.
Some sparsely populated areas of England were outside any parish, i.e.
extra-parochial
In England and Wales, an extra-parochial area, extra-parochial place or extra-parochial district was a geographically defined area considered to be outside any ecclesiastical or civil parish. Anomalies in the parochial system meant they had no ch ...
until the 19th century, though a very few technical exceptions remain (most notably royal peculiars). The term
unparished area
In England, an unparished area is an area that is not covered by a civil parish (the lowest level of local government, not to be confused with an ecclesiastical parish). Most urbanised districts of England are either entirely or partly unparish ...
, used for most urban areas, relates to
civil parishes
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority. ...
and not ecclesiastical parishes.
Parish priest
![Everyday details in stained glass window (Haggerston) - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Everyday_details_in_stained_glass_window_%28Haggerston%29_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1155294.jpg)
Each parish should have its own parish priest (titled Vicar of..., Rector of... or Perpetual Curate (usually going by Vicar of...) and prefix-styled and called the Reverend (), and mostly in the high church tradition Reverend Father or less formally ), perhaps supported by one or more
curate
A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...
s and/or
deacon
A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...
s. Termed ecclesiastical
pluralism some parish priests have held more than one parish
living (benefice), traditionally placing a
curate
A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...
in charge of those where they did not reside. The church property is in a special form of ownership ''ex-officio'', vested in them on institution and during tenure and so on as to successors.
Today most parishes of low attendance that are neighbouring are served by the same priest who leads in the churchmanship style and preaches, leads the worship and gives the sacrament in one church (or sometimes more) of each parish by rotation. Formal amalgamation of parishes is generally a quite slow reform but has happened for centuries. In those of higher attendance the priest does so without such inter-parish rotation, but will typically rotate intra-parish if the parish happens to have more than one active church and no other ordained clergy.
Further services are very often given by lay readers or other non-ordained members of the church community (most often called assistant readers).
In the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
, the
legal right
Some philosophers distinguish two types of rights, natural rights and legal rights.
* Natural rights are those that are not dependent on the laws or customs of any particular culture or government, and so are ''universal'', ''fundamental right ...
to appoint or recommend a parish
priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...
is called an
advowson
Advowson () or patronage is the right in English law of a patron (avowee) to present to the diocesan bishop (or in some cases the ordinary if not the same person) a nominee for appointment to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice or church living, ...
, and its possessor is known as a
patron
Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...
. The patron can be a person or else or jointly or by rotation,
the Crown
The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...
, a
bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
, a
college
A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...
, other Christian body, or a
charity
Charity may refer to:
Giving
* Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons
* Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing
* Ch ...
. Appointment (being invested as) a parish priest gave the incumbent many more privileges than today of having their
benefice
A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...
also termed a living – notably a wide range of lower to upper middle class incomes, depending on the type of benefice, hence most old summaries of parishes state the gross or net value of a living, whether present or in the Tudor-period King's Books which is an indicative starting point. The strength of the rights waned markedly after the
Tudor period
The Tudor period occurred between 1485 and 1603 in History of England, England and Wales and includes the Elizabethan period during the reign of Elizabeth I until 1603. The Tudor period coincides with the dynasty of the House of Tudor in Englan ...
. However, Oxford and Cambridge colleges if enjoying status as improprietors of the foregoing rectory of the parish would often nominate a candidate theologian to the diocesan bishop. Appointment is governed under the Patronage (Benefices) Rules 1987.
Until the 19th century rise of literacy especially, such patronage (advowson) might well help sway local opinions. However, a patron's candidate has always had to be approved by the
diocesan bishop.
An example can be seen in the article on
Grendon, Northamptonshire
Grendon is a small village and civil parish in rural Northamptonshire, England, on the borders of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Many houses are made of the local limestone and various older thatched houses survive. The name of the village m ...
. It was frequently used to promote particular religious views. For example,
Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick
Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick (5 June 158719 April 1658), Lord of the Manor of Hunningham,Hunningham, in A History of the County of Warwick: Vol. 6, Knightlow Hundred, ed. L F Salzman (London, 1951), pp. 117–120. was an English colonial ad ...
presented many
puritan
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...
clergy. In the 19th century
Charles Simeon
Charles Simeon (24 September 1759 – 13 November 1836) was an English evangelical Anglican cleric.
Life and career
He was born at Reading, Berkshire, in 1759 and baptised at St Laurence's parish church on 24 October of that year. He was the ...
established a trust to purchase
advowson
Advowson () or patronage is the right in English law of a patron (avowee) to present to the diocesan bishop (or in some cases the ordinary if not the same person) a nominee for appointment to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice or church living, ...
s and install
evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...
priests. Patronage thus has passing relevance to the small group of patrons today strongly geared towards one style of churchmanship or another – it is far from the final say on the matter. The right to sell advowsons was reduced by Acts and Rules until all sales became ineffective – since 1936.
Subject to local covenants, and their wealth, many church patrons contributed much to funds (beyond the by Poor Law Reforms-abolished system of rates).
Parish administration
The major business of the parish was administered by its
vestry
A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...
, an assembly or meeting of parishioners or their representatives to make the necessary decisions. Under the Registration Act of 1836, from 1 July 1837 the Church vestry's civil responsibilities
devolved
Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territories h ...
in gradual steps to the purely
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
and its
parish council and soon more widely than before to
poor law unions as to poor relief.
To ease internal frictions and more evenly manage and distribute funds and clergy the church set up
Ecclesiastical Commissioners
The Ecclesiastical Commissioners were, in England and Wales, a body corporate, whose full title was Ecclesiastical and Church Estates Commissioners for England. The commissioners were authorized to determine the distribution of revenues of the Chu ...
. All the ecclesiastical parish's major acts such as repairs, day-to-day financing, building lettings, fundraising for local schools and usual charities and church grounds are administered by the
parochial church council. This is partly ex officio (by virtue of a certain role) constituted and partly elected from the congregation.
A few purely civil parishes had been created between the English Civil War and the wholescale Victorian reforms, but they were few in number: Bedfordshire had one such; not created until 1810.
Parish clerk
The ancient parochial office of
clerk
A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record keeping, filing, staffing service ...
went in early times under the Latin name ''aquae bajulus'', (Holy) Water Bearer since the sprinkling of holy water was seen as an important duty of this office. He had many other duties as a kind of general assistant to the parish priest; these included participation in church services and accompanying the priest on various occasions. At his induction into office he received the holy water and sprinkler (probably from the
Archdeacon
An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that o ...
). By an injunction of the King's Visitors in 1548 (reign of
Edward VI
Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and the first E ...
) their duties were redefined; the custom of holy water sprinkling was abolished. The clerk then began to be an assistant to the churchwardens in collecting money (the Rates, tithes and any extra donations) such as for the benefit of the poor as well as continuing in some of his other functions. Parish clerks were appointed on the nomination of the parish priest and their tenure was regarded as secure. By the Lecturers and Parish Clerks Act 1844 only the archdeacon or the bishop could remove him from office (in case of misconduct). Sometimes the character and abilities of the clerk did not suit the priest and he would appoint someone more to his liking, leaving the original in a sinecure.
Vestry's responsibilities
In the absence of any other authority (which there would be in an incorporated city or town), the vestry, the ecclesiastical parish administrative centre, was the recognised unit of local government, concerned for the spiritual but also the temporal as well as physical welfare of parishioners and its parish amenities, collecting local rates or taxes and taking responsibility for the care of the poor, roads, law enforcement, etc. For example, parishes carried out the duties as legislated by the
Poor Law. What follows is a snapshot of the system at a particular point in time:
1835
In 1835 more than 15,600 parishes looked after their own:
* "churches and burial grounds, parish cottages and workhouses, their common lands and endowed charities, their market crosses, pumps, pounds, whipping posts, stocks, cages, watch houses, weights and scales, clocks and fire engines.
* Or to put it another way: the maintenance of the church and its services, the keeping of the peace, the repression of vagrancy, the relief of destitution, the mending of roads, the suppression of nuisances, the destruction of vermin, the furnishing (billeting
A billet is a living-quarters to which a soldier is assigned to sleep. Historically, a billet was a private dwelling that was required to accept the soldier.
Soldiers are generally billeted in barracks or garrisons when not on combat duty, alth ...
) of soldiers and sailors, even to some extent the enforcement of religious and moral discipline. These were among the multitudinous duties imposed on the parish and its officers by the law of the land.
* The parishes spent not far short of one-fifth of the budget of the national government itself."
Central government placed its obligations on parishes without specifying how they should be carried out. So no two parishes were organised in the same way, unless by coincidence.
![Parish boundary stone - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Parish_boundary_stone_-_geograph.ci_-_381.jpg)
The responsible householder found himself bound to serve in succession in the onerous and wholly unpaid public offices of
*
Churchwarden
A churchwarden is a lay official in a parish or congregation of the Anglican Communion or Catholic Church, usually working as a part-time volunteer. In the Anglican tradition, holders of these positions are ''ex officio'' members of the parish b ...
,
*
Overseer
Overseer may refer to:
Professions
* Supervisor or superintendent; one who keeps watch over and directs the work of others
*Plantation overseer, often in the context of forced labor or slavery
*Overseer of the poor, an official who administered re ...
,
*
Surveyor of Highways,
*
Constable
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...
;
by rotation every man was called upon in church to send his team or go in person to labour for six days on the roads. The whole parish had to turn out, when summoned, to join in the
hue and cry
In common law, a hue and cry is a process by which bystanders are summoned to assist in the apprehension of a criminal who has been witnessed in the act of committing a crime.
History
By the Statute of Winchester of 1285, 13 Edw. I statute 2. c ...
after suspected
felons
A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie") to describe an offense that resul ...
such as robbers. This general ability to carry out the
sheriff
A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...
's rights followed a sheriff's ''posse'' and were known as the sheriff's
posse
Posse is a shortened form of posse comitatus, a group of people summoned to assist law enforcement. The term is also used colloquially to mean a group of friends or associates.
Posse may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Posse'' (1975 ...
.
The property-less employee escaped the
tithes
A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more ...
and
taxes
A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or ...
and received, when destitute, the
parish pay. Under the
Settlement Act 1662
The Poor Relief Act 1662 (14 Car 2 c 12) was an Act of the Cavalier Parliament of England. It was ''an Act for the Better Relief of the Poor of this Kingdom'' and is also known as the Settlement Act or the Settlement and Removal Act. The purpose ...
, ''aka'' Poor Relief Act, at the discretion of the
Overseers of the Poor
An overseer of the poor was an official who administered poor relief such as money, food, and clothing in England and various other countries which derived their law from England such as the United States.
England
In England, overseers of the poo ...
, he was liable to be sent back to the parish where he was born or otherwise legally settled. However, he could obtain a settlement certificate to enable him to seek work elsewhere. He might thus live in a new parish but without becoming settled by contribution receive no benefits from the new parish; only from his parish of origin.
Increasingly from the 17th century, the wealthy classes in town or country could buy exemption from, or
commute for money, many of the innumerable personal obligations imposed by the parish,
and largely interacted with the vestry therefore only as a taxing authority.
Civil parish
Civil parishes
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority. ...
and their governing
parish councils came about as ecclesiastical parishes were relieved of what became, as faith and politics diversified, more conveniently made civic (secular) state responsibilities. Initially coterminous (with the same boundaries) by 1911 this held true of only 58%, with many unparished areas in civil terms, and continues to fall.
[''Three centuries of new parishes'' K. D. M. Snell, University of Leicester Publisher: Cambridge University Press pp 366-453]
Poor Law administration increasingly took account of widespread urban and rural population change given the Industrial Revolution. It became appreciated as expedient and necessary for the lower level of poor law administration,
civil parishes
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority. ...
, beneath poor law unions, to fit county limits. Ecclesiastical parishes not always did. Sanitation districts were set up by law, by preference, to draw on the secular most local (civil parish) councils until often effectively promoted, often reshaped, into public service administrative districts. Since 1895, a
parish council elected by the general public or a (civil) parish meeting administers a
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
. It ebbed in powers and functions until the
Local Government Act 1972
The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...
and related legislation has brought relative stability to these. It is since 1974 been the level of
local government
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 ...
below
district and borough councils and since
1992 patchwork rationalisation all county or city-wide
unitary authorities of England
The unitary authorities of England are those local authorities which are responsible for the provision of all local government services within a district. They are constituted under the Local Government Act 1992, which amended the Local Governm ...
. For many years the description of the number of tiers in local government routinely ignored civil parishes.
See also
*
Parish church
A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...
*
Parish pump
Hand pumps are manually operated pumps; they use human power and mechanical advantage to move fluids or air from one place to another. They are widely used in every country in the world for a variety of industrial, marine, irrigation and leisu ...
*
Parish registers
A parish register in an ecclesiastical parish is a handwritten volume, normally kept in the parish church in which certain details of religious ceremonies marking major events such as baptisms (together with the dates and names of the parents), ma ...
:
Birth certificate
A birth certificate is a vital record that documents the birth of a person. The term "birth certificate" can refer to either the original document certifying the circumstances of the birth or to a certified copy of or representation of the ensuin ...
,
Marriage certificate
A marriage certificate (sometimes: marriage lines) is an official statement that two people are married. In most jurisdictions, a marriage certificate is issued by a government official only after the civil registration of the marriage.
In so ...
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Death certificate
A death certificate is either a legal document issued by a medical practitioner which states when a person died, or a document issued by a government civil registration office, that declares the date, location and cause of a person's death, as ...
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Archdeacon
An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that o ...
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Diocese
In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...
References
{{reflist
External links
www.crockford.org.uk
Church of England
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Church parishes in the United Kingdom