Norman And Marian Barton Family Tree

    Places: Hundreds And Parishes

    Traditionally English counties were divided up into areas known as Hundreds (or Wapentakes). These Hundreds were further divided into Church Of England Parishes with each Parish having a Parish Church which could perform all ecclesiastical services and ceremonies. The original Parishes were large areas so within a Parish there were Chapels Of Ease to allow people in the further reaches of a Parish to attend services closer to home. The Parish Church licensed certain Chapels Of Ease to perform ceremonies such as Baptisms, Marriages and Burials. If the local Chapel Of Ease could only hold certain ceremonies then people would have to go to the Parish Church for the other ceremonies.

    Parishes also performed services such as poor relief until 1834 when the Poor Law Amendment Act was passed. Parishes also provided the basis for administrative and voting areas until the Reform Act of 1832.

    In 1850 responsibilities of parishes changed again with the Vestries Act moving more duties into civil administration.

    As populations increased some Chapels Of Ease became Parish Churches with their own Parish, and the original “ancient” Parishes shrank.

    The use of Hundreds declined and they were effectively abandoned by the end of the 19th Century.

    See Wikipedia Hundred County Division, Hundreds Of England and Hundreds Of Lancashire, also Wikishire Hundreds Of Lancashire and Family Search Lancashire Parishes.

    These are the Hundreds Of Lancashire (image from Wikishire)

    These are ancient parishes of Lancashire before 1832