Civil administrative division of Scotland, below the level of local authority
Civil parishes
are small divisions used for statistical purposes and formerly for local government in
Scotland
.
Civil
parishes
gained legal functions in 1845 when 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 Since 1975, they have been superseded as the smallest unit of local administration in Scotland by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 councils
.
History
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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 number and boundaries of parishes soon diverged. Where a parish contained a
burgh
, the area of the parish outside the burgh was termed the
landward
area.
Until 1891 some parishes lay in more than one
county
. In that year, under the terms of the
Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889
, 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
, 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
and they continue to be used for census purposes. 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
.
According to the website of the
General Register Office for Scotland
, there are now 871 civil parishes.
[1]
Relationship with ecclesiastical parishes
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Civil parish boundaries originally corresponded with the
ecclesiastical parishes
of the
Church of Scotland
. As parishes used for religious functions diverged from civil parishes, the former became known as
quoad sacra parishes
.
Since 1975, Scotland has been divided into
community council
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
have a legal obligation to consult them.
See also
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References
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External links
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