A Brief History of Parish Councils
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation usually for rural or urban area and they are the lowest tier of local government below city/districts and counties. It is an administrative parish, it is not an ecclesiastical parish based on church parish boundaries.
The division into ancient parishes was linked to the manorial system, with parishes and manors often sharing the same boundaries. Initially the manor was the principal unit of local administration and justice in the early rural economy Broughton’s manor at that time was probably based at Broughton Old Hall on Whittingham Lane. In the 12th century the parish church replaced the manor court as the rural administrative centre and was able to levy a local tax on produce known as a tithe. This levy was used for roads, poor relief and to repair and maintain the church.
Roads: 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. (see the Toll Road story)
Poor relief: Poor relief became the parishes responsibility in 1601 with the Poor Law Act, prior to that the poor were looked after by monasteries, until their dissolution. Then in 1572, magistrates were given power to ‘survey the poor’ and impose taxes for their relief. The parishes appointed overseers and charged a rate to support the poor of the parish, this continued until the establishment of the Poor Law Unions in 1834.
Who were the “Councillors”? The parish authorities were known as vestries and consisted of all the inhabitants of the parish however as the population was growing it became increasingly difficult to hold an open vestry. In urban parish areas the select vestry (this was a group nominated by themselves) took over responsibility from the community at large which improved efficiency, but established an elite. This group were from the C/E churches which was not representative of the parish. In many cases this led to inefficiency and corruption and was a source for concern. As a result in the early 19th century the parish progressively lost its powers to other organisations;
- Broughton set up a company to run the road as it was a toll road which operated form the last 17th to 19th centuries.
- Broughton set up a Poor Law Board (responsibility for the poor relief went to the Poor Law union in 1834) and with Woodplumpton and Catforth built a poor house on Woodplumpton Road (by the canal bridge) until the establishment under the Public Health Act 1872 of Rural Sanitary Districts. Fulwood & Preston work house still stands on Watling Street Road.
Reform: The Poor Law Amendment Act 1866 declared all areas that levied a separate rate could become civil parishes as well. The church rate was abolished in 1868. At this time the term Parochial Church Council was introduced for ecclesiastical parishes (the current Parochial Church Councils for Broughton are St John Baptist/Broughton, St Anne’s Woodplumpton & St Laurence/ Barton)
Civil parishes in their modern sense were established in 1894, by the Local Government Act. The Act abolished select vestries, and established elected parish councils in all rural civil parishes with more than 300 electors. At this point Broughton had the same boundaries as the ecclesiastical parish and included land to the Black Bull & Ingol. These were grouped into rural districts in our case Fulwood Urban District Council. Broughton held its first Parish Council meeting in 1894.
Progress; In 1974 the Local Government Act 1972 retained civil parishes only in rural areas and small urban areas but abolished them in larger urban areas. This was when Fulwood Urban District Council became part of Preston and the rural parishes of Broughton, Catforth, Woodplumpton, Haighton, Barton, Whittingham, Goosnagh & Grimsagh established their current boundaries.