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Parishes and Registration Districts

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  • Parishes and Registration Districts

    Did Registration Districts follow Parish Boundaries?

    i.e would a Registration District cover a set number of Parishes? - or could a Parish fall within more than one Registration District?

    I feel a bit embarrassed asking this :o, as I somehow feel that it a question that everyone else knows the answer to! - But I have been puzzling over this all day!
    Joan died in July 2020.

  • #2
    Joan

    No, parishes are ecclesiatical in nature, obviously, but registration districts are/were decided (roughly) on the population count.

    The 1841 census mainly follows parishes, however, not entirely. I was stunned to find, right in the centre of Blackburn, Lancs, a little "island" of the Parish of Gawsworth, in Cheshire.

    This dates back to ancient parish boundaries and out of area land holdings by the church, of course. It has nothing to do with civil registration, but so many different "headers" were put on the 1841 census, reflecting all possible types of boundaries, it is easy to get confused.

    OC

    OC

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    • #3
      I was going to say, "Yes"! lol :D

      If you have the name of a parish and you need to know which reg district covered it, you can try this link:

      English and Welsh Register Offices

      and click "download the placenames index".

      An easier but less accurate way, if you have an ancestry sub, is to go to the nearest census to the date you want and put the parish name in the box on the search page, then look at the transcribed details for someone living in the parsh and the district name should be quoted.

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      • #4
        According to Mark Herber in "Ancestral Trails" 2nd ed., when Civil Registration was first introduced in 1837, the districts originally covered the same areas as the existing Poor Law Unions. He also says Unions could cross County boundaries.

        So in one sense it would appear that Registration Districts would follow parts of a number of Parish boundaries, not necessarily all in the same County.

        I have also found myself that Registration Districts were not always named after the largest of the constituent parishes - for example Hambledon Registration District (Surrey, not Hampshire) contained the much larger village of Witley. I seem to remember reading somewhere that the Poor Law Unions were named after the location of the Union Workhouse, but can't quote a source for the info.


        Over the years there has been quite a lot of shuffling around of Registration Districts, so the association with the old Poor Law Unions no longer applies in all cases.

        Roger

        EDIT: I don't think Registration Districts are necessarily the same as Enumeration Districts, but am open to correction on that point.
        Last edited by Roger in Sussex; 27-12-07, 22:32.

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Roger in Sussex View Post
          EDIT: I don't think Registration Districts are necessarily the same as Enumeration Districts, but am open to correction on that point.
          A single enumeration district is a lot smaller than a registration district. However, a series of enumeration districts are supposed to follow the boundaries of the registration districts!

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          • #6
            Originally posted by Merry Monty Montgomery View Post
            A single enumeration district is a lot smaller than a registration district. However, a series of enumeration districts are supposed to follow the boundaries of the registration districts!
            Thanks Merry, for sorting me out on that point, it had been confusing me for quite a while (mind you, that's easily done :D )

            Roger

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            • #7
              That's what I mean - there are so many "districts" quoted, that it is very easy to get confused.

              I have also seen more than one parish covered in a single enumeration district, as with the "island" parish quoted above, in Blackburn.

              An Enumeration District was based on the distance that an enumerator could reasonably cover in one day, which is why there is sometimes a cross over into the next parish.

              OC

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              • #8
                Thanks for all your replies. I think I understand more than I did yesterday!!

                What originally got me puzzling was two marriage certs, both for marriages at St George's church, Altrincham. (both photocopies of the original)

                The heading on the first (1905) is -

                "Marriage solemnised at St George's Parish Church in the Township of Altrincham....."

                and on the 2nd (1937) -

                ""Marriage solemnised at The Parish Church in the Parish St George, Altrincham...."

                A Sussex marriage certificate doesn't mention the word "Parish" at all - just the district.

                I guess it's just a matter of changing styles
                Last edited by Muggins in Sussex; 28-12-07, 12:34.
                Joan died in July 2020.

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                • #9
                  The parish and boundaries of today have their source within the "Hundreds" which like the Irish "Townland" was the smallest unit and originated around a settlement.

                  "Mapping the Hundreds of England and Wales in GIS"


                  Hundreds and their northern equivalents (wapentakes and wards) were one of the principal and most enduring units of administration in England (11th to mid-19th centuries) and to a lesser extent Wales (16th to mid-19th centuries).[1] The importance of the hundred as a unit of administrative geography is manifest in the volume and quality of the historical data associated with it. For example, taxation returns ordered under hundreds survive for six centuries (PRO, E 179) and the hundred was the administrative unit used for parliamentary enquiries into poor relief expenditure in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and the first four national censuses from 1801 to 1841. As the only administrative unit in widespread use intermediate in size between the parish and the county, the hundred is unique in its potential to reveal sub-county regional differences at a national scale over an extended time period.

                  You can obtain further information with a google.

                  Janet

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