THE HISTORY AND FUNCTIONS OF PARISH COUNCILS

Parish Councils have their origins in the development of villages during Saxon and Norman times - 1000 or more years ago. Villages were ruled by the Lord of the Manor because as communications were poor and central government often weak, there was little national control. Sometimes the villagers all met to make decisions which affected the whole community. Gradually, it seems, that parish priests and sometimes schoolmasters joined the Lord of the Manor to become a kind of ruling clique and thus the first effective parish councils.

By 1601, Church Vestry Meetings were so organised and workable that it was quite natural for legislators to give them the responsibility of levying the poor rate. These were the first effective local taxes. Everyone in the parish was entitled to attend Church Vestry Meetings but in practice the work fell to a few individuals, rather like Parish Councils today.

Although the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act removed from Parish Vestries the responsibility for poor relief and handed it to Poor Law Unions (the origins of our present District Councils) parishes had naturally accumulated responsibility for administering local charities, managing commons under distribution of land as a consequence of the 18th Century Enclosure Acts.

In 1894 although the Squire, the Parson and sometimes the Schoolmaster were still the leaders in the village, popular education was spreading and more people wanted a say in managing local affairs.

The great Victorian Prime Minister, W.E. Gladstone, piloted the 1894 Local Government Act through the House of Commons. It met a lot of opposition: there were over eight hundred amendments moved during its passage through the House. Nevertheless, the Act became law and Parish Councils were formed.

Under the 1894 Act, Parish Councils were to receive their income from rates levied on agricultural land, but this was a time of agricultural depression and the money raised was so very low that soon this system was abandoned. Householders were then rated; something they had never experienced before, and this lead to more opposition to Parish Councils. It wasn’t until after the First World War that Central Government began to give serious responsibilities to Parish Councils, the earliest among them being the provision of allotments and playing fields, although an Act relating to allotments had been passed in 1908.

After the Second World War the National Association of Parish Councils was formed, and by 1952 half of all parishes in the country were members. The Association became a national force and raised the profile and consequently the activity of parish councils.

(Adapted from Whetstone PC website)