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A civil parish is a country subdivision, forming the lowest unit of local government in England. There are 125 civil parishes in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, most of the county being parished: Luton is completely unparished; Central Bedfordshire is entirely parished. At the 2001 census, there were 312,301 people living in the 125 parishes, which accounted for 55.2 per cent of the county's population. ==History== Parishes arose from Church of England divisions, and were originally purely ecclesiastical divisions. Over time they acquired civil administration powers.〔Angus Winchester, 2000, ''Discovering Parish Boundaries''. Shire Publications. Princes Risborough, 96 pages ISBN 978-0-7478-0470-3〕 The Highways Act 1555 made parishes responsible for the upkeep of roads. Every adult inhabitant of the parish was obliged to work four days a year on the roads, providing their own tools, carts and horses; the work was overseen by an unpaid local appointee, the ''Surveyor of Highways''.〔(RAC Foundation : ''What Went Wrong? British Highway Development Before Motorways'' ) Retrieved 22 August 2009〕 The poor were looked after by the monasteries, until their dissolution. In 1572, magistrates were given power to 'survey the poor' and impose taxes for their relief. This system was made more formal by the Poor Law Act 1601, which made parishes responsible for administering the Poor Law; overseers were appointed to charge a rate to support the poor of the parish.〔(The Victorian Web : ''The Poor Law : Introduction'' ) Retrieved 22 August 2009〕 The 19th century saw an increase in the responsibility of parishes, although the ''Poor Law'' powers were transferred to Poor Law Unions.〔(Staffordshire University : ''Poor Law Unions and Registration Districts'' ) Retrieved 22 August 2009〕 The Public Health Act 1872 grouped parishes into Rural Sanitary Districts, based on the Poor Law Unions; these subsequently formed the basis for Rural Districts.〔(A Vision of Britain Through Time : ''Status Details for Rural Sanitary District'' ) Retrieved 22 August 2009〕 Parishes were run by vestries, meeting annually to appoint officials, and were generally identical to ecclesiastical parishes,〔Robert Tittler, ''The Reformation and the Towns in England'', 1998, Oxford University Press, 395 pages, ISBN 978-0-19-820718-4〕 although some townships in large parishes administered the ''Poor Law'' themselves; under the Divided Parishes and Poor Law Amendment Act 1882, all extra-parochial areas and townships that levied a separate rate became independent civil parishes.〔(Modern British Surnames : ''Selected Events in the History of Civil Registration and Boundary Changes 1801-1996'' ) Retrieved 22 August 2009〕 Civil parishes in their modern sense date from the Local Government Act 1894, which abolished vestries; established elected parish councils in all rural parishes with more than 300 electors; grouped rural parishes into Rural Districts; and aligned parish boundaries with county and borough boundaries.〔 Urban civil parishes continued to exist, and were generally coterminous with the Urban District, Municipal Borough or County Borough in which they were situated; many large towns contained a number of parishes, and these were usually merged into one. Parish councils were not formed in urban areas, and the only function of the parish was to elect guardians to Poor Law Unions; with the abolition of the ''Poor Law'' system in 1930 the parishes had only a nominal existence.〔Alex MacMorran and T R Colquhoun Dill, ''The Local Government Act 1894 and the Subsequent Statutes Affecting Parish Councils'', 1907, Butterworth and Co, London, 626 pages〕 The Local Government Act 1972 retained civil parishes in rural areas, and many former Urban Districts and Municipal Boroughs that were being abolished, were replaced by new successor parishes; urban areas that were considered too large to be single parishes became unparished areas.〔(Office of Public Sector Information : ''Local Government Act 1972'' ) Retrieved 22 August 2009〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Civil parishes in Bedfordshire」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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