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Civil parishes () are units of territory in the island of
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
that have their origins in old Gaelic territorial divisions. They were adopted by the Anglo-Norman
Lordship of Ireland The Lordship of Ireland (), sometimes referred to retrospectively as Anglo-Norman Ireland, was the part of Ireland ruled by the King of England (styled as "Lord of Ireland") and controlled by loyal Anglo-Norman Lords between 1177 and 1542. T ...
and then by the
Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The Roman symbol of Britannia (a female per ...
Kingdom of Ireland The Kingdom of Ireland (; , ) was a dependent territory of Kingdom of England, England and then of Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain from 1542 to the end of 1800. It was ruled by the monarchs of England and then List of British monarchs ...
, and were formalised as land divisions at the time of the
Plantations of Ireland Plantation (settlement or colony), Plantations in 16th- and 17th-century Ireland () involved the confiscation of Irish-owned land by the Kingdom of England, English The Crown, Crown and the colonisation of this land with settlers from Great Br ...
. They no longer correspond to the boundaries of
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
or
Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...
parishes, which are generally larger. Their use as administrative units was gradually replaced by Poor Law Divisions in the 19th century, although they were not formally abolished. Today they are still sometimes used for legal purposes, such as to locate property in deeds of property registered between 1833 and 1946.


Origins

The Irish parish was based on the Gaelic territorial unit called a ''
túath ''Túath'' (plural ''túatha'') is the Old Irish term for the basic political and jurisdictional unit of Gaelic Ireland. ''Túath'' can refer to both a geographical territory as well the people who lived in that territory. The smallest ''túath ...
'' or ''
Trícha cét The , also known as , meaning "thirty hundreds", was a unit of land-holding in eleventh and twelfth century Ireland.Norman invasion of Ireland The Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland took place during the late 12th century, when Anglo-Normans gradually conquered and acquired large swathes of land in Ireland over which the monarchs of England then claimed sovereignty. The Anglo-Normans ...
, the Anglo-Norman barons retained the ''tuath'', later renamed a parish or manor, as a unit of taxation. The civil parish was formally created by
Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The Roman symbol of Britannia (a female per ...
legislation. Accounts were kept of income and expenditures for each parish including pensions and poor relief. Statutes were based on ecclesiastical parishes, although it is not known how well-defined such parishes were. At the time of the
English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...
, in 1654–56 a Civil Survey was taken of all the lands of Ireland. It proved inaccurate, and in 1656–58 the Down Survey was conducted, using physical measurements to make as accurate a map as was possible at the time of
townland A townland (; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion, and mo ...
s, parishes and baronies. This became the basis for all future land claims. Parishes are an intermediate subdivision, with multiple townlands per parish and multiple parishes per barony. A civil parish is typically made up of 25–30 townlands. It may include urban areas such as villages. A parish may cross the boundaries of both baronies and counties; in some cases it may be in several geographically separate parts. Civil parishes had some use in local taxation. They were included on the nineteenth-century maps of the
Ordnance Survey of Ireland Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSI; ) was the national mapping agency of the Republic of Ireland. It was established on 4 March 2002 as a body corporate. It was the successor to the former Ordnance Survey of Ireland. It and the Ordnance Survey of ...
. The
Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 The Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 ( 61 & 62 Vict. c. 37) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland that established a system of local government in Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots diale ...
established
administrative counties An administrative county was a first-level administrative division in England and Wales from 1888 to 1974, and in Ireland from 1899 until 1973 in Northern Ireland, 2002 in the Republic of Ireland. They are now abolished, although most Northern ...
divided into county districts (urban districts and rural districts) making parishes largely obsolete, and they were removed from subsequent editions of OS maps. For
poor law In English and British history, poor relief refers to government and ecclesiastical action to relieve poverty. Over the centuries, various authorities have needed to decide whose poverty deserves relief and also who should bear the cost of hel ...
purposes
district electoral division An electoral division (ED, ) is a legally defined administrative area in the Republic of Ireland, generally comprising multiple townlands, and formerly a subdivision of urban and rural districts. Until 1996, EDs were known as district electora ...
s replaced the civil parishes in the mid-nineteenth century. Townlands are the smallest land unit in Ireland, and were the most precise address that most rural people had until the 2015 introduction of postcodes.


Relationship to ecclesiastical parishes

An 1871 report to parliament noted that there were three classes of parish in Ireland: the civil parish, the Church of Ireland parish and the Roman Catholic parish. The first two generally but not always had the same boundaries, while the third generally did not. As a result of the 16th-century
Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...
, the Roman Catholic church had to adapt to a structure based on towns and villages, with parishes that generally were larger than the old parishes. A Tudor statute, renewed in 1695 by the Irish parliament, said that land should be granted in each parish for a resident Protestant schoolmaster. The Union of Parishes (Ireland) Act 1827 defined rules for redefining parish boundaries, erecting Chapels of Ease and making Perpetual Cures. It has since been amended and in part repealed. While the boundaries of the parishes of the Church of Ireland changed following the disestablishment of the church in 1869, this did not affect the boundaries of the civil parishes. The 1871 report noted that ecclesiastical parish boundaries must be flexible to meet the requirements of the cure of souls, but that for statistical and possibly administrative purposes the boundaries of civil parishes should be fixed, or at least should rarely change.


Administrative uses

By 1800 civil parishes had replaced the ecclesiastical parishes for administrative purposes, although the timing and method of the change is not well-documented. The civil parish was used for census and taxation purposes. The civil parishes were included on the nineteenth-century maps of the
Ordnance Survey of Ireland Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSI; ) was the national mapping agency of the Republic of Ireland. It was established on 4 March 2002 as a body corporate. It was the successor to the former Ordnance Survey of Ireland. It and the Ordnance Survey of ...
. At the time of the 1861 census there were 2,428 civil parishes in Ireland (average area ). Poor Law districts were created in 1838, each centered on a large town. There were 130 poor law unions with 829 registration districts and 3,751 district electoral divisions for census purposes. In 1898 poor law unions replaced civil parishes as the basic local government unit. Later "parish councils" which gained a modicum of official recognition were based on Roman Catholic parishes: first those recognised by the
Congested Districts Board for Ireland The Congested Districts Board for Ireland was established by Arthur Balfour, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, in 1891 to alleviate poverty and congested living conditions in the west and parts of the northwest of Ireland. William Lawson Micks w ...
; and later those recognised by Part VIII of the Local Government Act 1941, mainly set up by
Muintir na Tíre Muintir na Tíre (, meaning "People of the Country") is a national Irish voluntary organisation that promotes community and rural development. Canon John Hayes founded the organisation in 1937. Past presidents *Canon John Hayes Founder: 19 ...
and operating during the Second World War Emergency.


Recent years

Civil parishes have not been formally abolished in either
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
or the
Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...
, and are still used in some legal contexts. One example where the parish is still referenced in
Republic of Ireland law The law of Ireland consists of constitutional, statutory, and common law. The highest law in the State is the Constitution of Ireland, from which all other law derives its authority. The Republic has a common-law legal system with a written co ...
is the Intoxicating Liquor Act, 1988, which allows "any person resident in the parish in which the club premises are situated" to object to the granting of an alcohol licence to a club. Until 1981 the Republic's official census reports included the populations of civil parishes in and near cities, because "numerous requests" were still being made for them. In 2001 there were 2,508 civil parishes. Old records of marriages, births etc. are mostly organised by civil parish. Church of Ireland parishes usually conform to civil parish boundaries.


See also

*
List of civil parishes of Ireland Civil parishes in Ireland are based on the medieval Christian parishes, adapted by the English administration and by the Church of Ireland. The parishes, their division into townlands and their grouping into baronies, were recorded in the Down ...


References

Citations Sources * * * * * * * * * * *


External links

* (Zoom in to scale of 10,000:1 or less, to show 6-inch maps from 1833–46 with parish boundaries in blue.) * County maps include colour-coded parishes * {{Civil parish