Parishes in Scotland between 1894 and 1929

[Adam Brown]

Can someone put me right about parishes in Scotland between 1894 and 1929? I’ve looked into it but I think I need someone who knows more to help me out. (If this has already been covered on the forum please point me to the thread).

In 1894 across the whole of the UK, Parish Councils were created. These were the lowest level of local government. At this point you now had a civil parish and an ecclesiastical parish.

In 1929 in Scotland only the civic parishes were abolished [as part of the Local Government (Scotland) Act] and the functions incorporated into the County Councils. In England & Wales the civic Parish Councils continue to this day.

Does that mean post-1929 if a parish was referred to in Scotland it was only an ecclesiastical boundary and not a local government one?

There are also quoad sacra parishes to consider too. This is an ecclesiastical term only and not one applied to local government parishes. I’m assuming then that if a quoad sacra church parish was created between 1894 and 1929 then the civic parish would contain both the original and quoad sacra parishes. That would mean during that period an ecclesiastical parish - if it is a quoad sacra parish may actually have different boundaries to the civic parish.

Regards

Adam

[paddyscar]

Hi Adam:

I'm not really the one to explain this to you any better than you have outlined, but until someone with more knowledge comes along ...

If you use the blue search box in the header of this page, and enter quoad sacra in the first search box, you will be shown 36 threads on this subject that may lead to a better understanding with some examples.

http://talkingscot.com/forum/viewtopic. ... &highlight
http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/conte ... x.aspx?368

Hope this helps,
Frances

[AndrewP]

Hi Adam,

As I understand it, civil parishes (quoad civilia) were created, originally based on the church parishes, but for many reasons evolved differently. Many of the boundaries were down to land ownership, which was one of the reasons that many parishes, church and civil straddled county boundaries and/or had detached parts (sometimes in the same county, sometimes within another county). Some of the aims of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 was to bring all parishes within one county, have no detached parts of parishes and have no detached parts of counties. The Act was largely successful in these aims, but not completely so. These boundary changes took place on 15 May (Whitsunday) 1891.

The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 saw the abolition of civil parishes in Scotland from 15 May 1930. At that point parish councils in Scotland were done away with, but the civil parish boundaries were used for some purposes in later years.

The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 saw the demise of the county councils in Scotland (as set up by the 1889 Act) from 16 May 1975. The civil parish boundaries were used in part at this point when setting up the regions and districts. For example, Kirknewton & East Calder, Midcalder and West Calder parishes, which had previously been in Midlothian, were moved into West Lothian District. There were many other examples of this around Scotland, so the district boundaries created by the 1973 Act, where they varied from the former county boundaries in many cases followed civil parish boundaries. These parish boundaries remained shown on Ordnance Survey maps until the mid-1970s.

Quoad sacra parishes were normally sub-divisions of church parishes, usually where a new 'parish' church had been built, and the church parish(es) divided up. Quoad sacra parish boundaries did not necessarily follow civil parish boundaries. It was reasonably common for quoad sacra parishes to be partly in two or more civil parishes.

All the best,

AndrewP

[Adam Brown]

Andrew

Thanks for the detailed replies. That is just what I was after.

many thanks for your help.

Kind regards

Adam

[Big Sanny]

Civil parishes continued after 1930 for BM & D purposes. I was born in 1953 and have a 'parish' birth certificate.