In
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
, an unparished area is an area that is not covered by 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
(the lowest level of local government, not to be confused with an
ecclesiastical parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
). Most
urbanised districts of England
The districts of England (officially, local authority districts, abbreviated LADs) are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government. As the structure of local government in England is not uniform, there ...
are either entirely or partly unparished. Many towns and some cities in otherwise rural districts are also unparished areas and therefore no longer have a
town council
A town council, city council or municipal council is a form of local government for small municipalities.
Usage of the term varies under different jurisdictions.
Republic of Ireland
In 2002, 49 urban district councils and 26 town commissi ...
or
city council
A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...
, and are instead directly managed by a higher local authority such as a district or county council.
Until the mid-nineteenth century there had been many areas that did not belong to any parish, known as
extra-parochial areas. Acts of Parliament between 1858 and 1868 sought to abolish such areas, converting them into parishes or absorbing them into neighbouring parishes. After 1868 there were very few extra-parochial areas left; those remaining were mostly islands, such as
Lundy, which did not have a neighbouring parish into which they could be absorbed.
Modern unparished areas (also termed "non-civil parish areas"), were created in 1965 in London and in 1974 elsewhere. They generally arose where former
urban districts,
municipal boroughs or
county boroughs were abolished and where no
successor parish was established. Parishes were not allowed in
Greater London
Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...
until the passing of the
Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 (which allows their formation in the
London boroughs) and it remained entirely unparished from 1965 until
Queen's Park was created in 2014.
Some cities and towns which are unparished areas in larger districts (i.e. not districts of themselves) have
charter trustees to maintain a
historic charter, such as
city status (an example being in
Bath) or simply the
mayoralty of a town.
List of unparished areas
Local authorities which are entirely parished are not listed. The ceremonial counties of
Cornwall
Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
(apart from
Wolf Rock),
Herefordshire
Herefordshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...
,
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...
,
Northamptonshire,
Northumberland
Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...
,
Rutland
Rutland is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Leicestershire to the north and west, Lincolnshire to the north-east, and Northamptonshire to the south-west. Oakham is the largest town and county town.
Rutland has a ...
,
Shropshire
Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...
, and
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...
are entirely parished.
Unparished areas in 1974 and subsequent changes
This is a list of unparished areas as they existed on 1 April 1974, noting changes which have happened since then to create the current geography in the table above.
See also
*
Extra-parochial area
*
Unincorporated area
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
in other countries
Explanatory notes
References
External links
*
{{Civil parishes in England
Civil parishes in England
Local government in England