Civil parishes in Cambridgeshire

A civil parish is a country subdivision, forming the lowest unit of local government in England. There are 264 civil parishes in the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, most of the county being parished; Cambridge is completely unparished; Fenland, East Cambridgeshire, South Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire are entirely parished. At the 2001 census, there were 497,820 people living in the parishes, accounting for 70.2 per cent of the county's population.

History

Parishes arose from Church of England divisions, and were originally purely ecclesiastical divisions. Over time they acquired civil administration powers.

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.

The poor were looked after by the monasteries, until their dissolution. In 1572, magistrates were given power to 'survey the poor' and impose taxes for their relief. This system was made more formal by the Poor Law Act 1601, which made parishes responsible for administering the Poor Law; overseers were appointed to charge a rate to support the poor of the parish. The 19th century saw an increase in the responsibility of parishes, although the Poor Law powers were transferred to Poor Law Unions. The Public Health Act 1872 grouped parishes into Rural Sanitary Districts, based on the Poor Law Unions; these subsequently formed the basis for RDs.

Parishes were run by vestries, meeting annually to appoint officials, and were generally identical to ecclesiastical parishes, although some townships in large parishes administered the Poor Law themselves; under the Divided Parishes and Poor Law Amendment Act 1882, all extra-parochial areas and townships that levied a separate rate became independent civil parishes.

Civil parishes in their modern sense date from the Local Government Act 1894, which abolished vestries; established elected parish councils in all rural parishes with more than 300 electors; grouped rural parishes into Rural Districts; and aligned parish boundaries with county and borough boundaries. Urban civil parishes continued to exist, and were generally coterminous with the Urban District, Municipal Borough or County Borough in which they were situated; many large towns contained a number of parishes, and these were usually merged into one. Parish councils were not formed in urban areas, and the only function of the parish was to elect guardians to Poor Law Unions; with the abolition of the Poor Law system in 1930 the parishes had only a nominal existence.

The Local Government Act 1972 retained civil parishes in rural areas, and many former Urban Districts and Municipal Boroughs that were being abolished, were replaced by new successor parishes; urban areas that were considered too large to be single parishes became unparished areas.

The current position

Recent governments have encouraged the formation of town and parish councils in unparished areas, and the Local Government and Rating Act 1997 gave local residents the right to demand the creation of a new civil parish.

A parish council can become a town council unilaterally, simply by resolution; and a civil parish can also gain city status, but only if that is granted by the Crown. The chairman of a town or city council is called a mayor. The Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 introduced alternative names: a parish council can now choose to be called a community; village; or neighbourhood council.

List of civil parishes and unparished areas

1including South Trumpington

2including part of Northstowe

Former civil parishes

Ashton (near Ufford; a parish 1866-1887)
Barham (once a chapelry to Stow Longa, then a parish; merged with Woolley 1935)
Bassingbourn (ancient parish); merged with Kneesworth 1966
Bluntisham, later Bluntisham-cum-Earith (split into Bluntisham and Earith 1948)
Botolph Bridge (ancient parish abolished 1702 and merged with Orton Longueville)
Brington (ancient parish merged with Molesworth 1935)
Burwell St Andrew (ancient parish merged to form Burwell c. 1700)
Burwell St Mary (ancient parish merged to form Burwell c. 1700)
Bythorn (formerly a chapelry) and Keyston (ancient parish); merged 1935
Cambridge (created 1900, abolished 1974)
Cambridge All Saints (ancient parish abolished 1900 and added to Cambridge)
Cambridge Holy Sepulchre (ancient parish abolished 1900 and added to Cambridge)
Cambridge Holy Trinity (ancient parish abolished 1900 and added to Cambridge)
Cambridge St Andrew the Great (ancient parish abolished 1900 and added to Cambridge)
Cambridge St Andrew the Less (ancient parish abolished 1900 and added to Cambridge)
Cambridge St Benedict (ancient parish abolished 1900 and added to Cambridge)
Cambridge St Botolph (ancient parish abolished 1900 and added to Cambridge)
Cambridge St Clement (ancient parish abolished 1900 and added to Cambridge)
Cambridge St Edward (ancient parish abolished 1900 and added to Cambridge)
Cambridge St Giles (ancient parish abolished 1900 and added to Cambridge)
Cambridge St John Zachary (ancient parish abolished 1446)
Cambridge St Mary the Great (ancient parish abolished 1900 and added to Cambridge)
Cambridge St Mary the Less (ancient parish abolished 1900 and added to Cambridge)
Cambridge St Michael (ancient parish abolished 1900 and added to Cambridge)
Cambridge St Peter (ancient parish abolished 1900 and added to Cambridge)
Cambridge St Radegund (ancient parish abolished 1857)
Cambridge Without (created 1912 out of parts of the parishes of Cherry Hinton, Grantchester and Trumpington; abolished 1923 and added to the parish of Cambridge)
Cherry Hinton (ancient parish merged into Cambridge 1934)
Chesterton (ancient parish merged into Cambridge 1923)
Clopton (ancient parish merged into Croydon C17th)
Denton and Caldecote (ancient parishes merged 1935)
Duxford St John and Duxford St Peter (ancient parishes merged to form Duxford 1874)
East Hatley (ancient parish merged with Hatley St George to form Hatley 1957)
Ely College (formerly extra-parochial, a parish from 1858, merged into Ely 1974)
Ely Holy Trinity (ancient parish merged with St Mary 1933)
Ely Holy Trinity with St Mary (a 1933 merger of the ancient parishes of Ely Trinity and Ely St Mary), merged into Ely 1974
Ely St Mary (ancient parish merged with Holy Trinity 1933)
Eynesbury (ancient parish) and St Neots Urban (created 1895); merged to form current St Neots parish in 1974
Eynesbury Hardwicke (created from Eynesbury 1895; split between Abbotsley and St Neots 2010)
Fletton (ancient parish abolished 1894 and split into Fletton Rural and Fletton Urban)
Fletton Rural (created 1894, renamed Fletton from 1938), Stanground South (created 1905) and Woodston Rural (created 1894); abolished 1974 and merged into Peterborough
Folksworth and Washingley (ancient parishes merged 1935)
Fulbourn All Saints and Fulbourn St Vigor (ancient parishes merged to form Fulbourn 1765)
Great Catworth (ancient parish) and Little Catworth (possibly a civil parish at some point before 1885); merged to form Catworth 1885
Great Chishill and Little Chishill (merged 1968)
Great Raveley, Little Raveley and Upwood (merged to form Upwood and the Raveleys 1935)
Great Stukeley and Little Stukeley (merged to form The Stukeleys 1935)
Grunty Fen (formerly extra-parochial, created 1858, merged into Wilburton 1933)
Gunthorpe, Walton and Werrington (all created 1866; Werrington was previously a chapelry); Paston (an ancient parish); Fletton Urban, Peterborough Within, Peterborough Without and Woodston Urban (all created 1894); and Peterborough Minster Close Precincts (formerly extra-parochial; created 1858); all abolished and merged into Peterborough in 1929
Hamerton and Steeple Gidding (ancient parishes merged 2010)
Hartford (ancient parish merged into Huntingdon 1935)
Hatley St George (ancient parish merged with East Hatley to form Hatley 1957)
Histon St Andrew and Histon St Etheldreda (ancient parishes merged to form Histon c. 1800)
Houghton and Wyton (merged to form Houghton and Wyton 1935 and now split between that and Wyton-on-the-Hill)
Huntingdon All Saints, Huntingdon St Benedict, Huntingdon St John, and Huntingdon St Mary (merged to form Huntingdon 1921)
Huntingdon and Godmanchester (existed 1961-1982; now split into the original two parishes)
Huntingdon Holy Trinity, Huntingdon St Andrew, Huntingdon St Botolph, Huntingdon St Clement, Huntingdon St Edmund, Huntingdon St George, Huntingdon St Germain, Huntingdon St Lawrence, Huntingdon St Martin, Huntingdon St Michael, Huntingdon St Nicholas and Huntingdon St Peter (all abolished during the period C13th-C16th)
Kneesworth (formerly a chapelry; civil parish created 1866; merged with Bassingbourn 1966)
Landwade (a medieval chapelry to Exning (in Suffolk) but located in Cambridgeshire; later a civil parish; parish abolished 1953 and merged into Fordham; whole area transferred to Exning parish in Suffolk, 1994)
Longstanton All Saints and Longstanton St Michael (merged to form Longstanton 1953 and now split between Longstanton and Northstowe)
Longthorpe (a medieval chapel to Peterborough; parish formed 1908 out of Peterborough Without, abolished 1929 and merged into Peterborough)
Molesworth (ancient parish, merged with Brington 1935)
North Royston (1896-1897)
Oakington (ancient parish) and Westwick (created 1866); merged 1985
Offord Cluny and Offord D'Arcy (ancient parishes merged 2010)
Outwell and Upwell (ancient parishes partly in the Isle of Ely until 1889 when they were transferred entirely to Norfolk); so was the parish of Welney from its creation in 1866 until 1889.
Peterborough (ancient parish split 1894 into Peterborough Within and Peterborough Without; recreated 1929 covering a wider area; abolished 1974)
Pilsgate (a parish 1866-1887)
Redmere (formerly extra-parochial; created 1858; transferred from Norfolk to Isle of Ely 1895; merged into Littleport 1933)
Royston was partially in Cambridgeshire from its formation in 1540 until it was transferred wholly to Hertfordshire in 1896. The church was in Hertfordshire.
St Neots Rural (created 1810; split between Abbotsley and St Neots 2009)
Sawtry (St) Judith (a medieval parish; extra-parochial from 1537; a parish from 1858) and Sawtry All Saints & St Andrew (itself an 1886 merger of the ancient parishes of Sawtry All Saints and Sawtry St Andrew) (merged to form Sawtry 1935)
Shingay and Wendy (ancient parishes merged 1957)
Silverley (ancient parish merged into Ashley before 1535)
Southoe (ancient parish) and Midloe (formerly extra-parochial, a parish from 1858); merged 1935
Stamford Baron St Martin (an ancient parish in the Soke of Peterborough, split in 1894 into St Martin's Within (moved to Lincolnshire) and St Martin's Without (see above))
Stanground (ancient parish split into Stanground North and Stanground South 1905)
Stanground North (existed 1905-2004; area now unparished and without inhabitants)
Stow and Quy (ancient parishes merged to form Stow cum Quy by the 13th century)
Swaffham Prior SS Cyriac & Julitta and Swaffham Prior St Mary (ancient parishes merged to form Swaffham Prior 1667)
Swineshead (ancient parish transferred to Bedfordshire 1896)
Thurning (ancient parish fully transferred to Northamptonshire 1895)
Trumpington (ancient parish merged into Cambridge 1934, with some parts going to Haslingfield and Grantchester)
Upton and Coppingford (ancient parishes merged 1935)
Waresley (ancient parish) and Tetworth (created 1810; partly in Bedfordshire until 1844); merged 2010 to form Waresley-cum-Tetworth
Welches Dam (formerly extra-parochial, created 1858, split between Chatteris and Manea 1960)
Whittlesey St Andrew and Whittlesey St Mary were ancient parishes merged to form Whittlesey St Mary and St Andrew by 1801. This was itself split into Whittlesey Urban and Whittlesey Rural in 1894, which were merged to form Whittlesey 1926. Whittlesey was left unparished upon local government reforms in 1974 but the parish was recreated in 1981.
Willingham (near Carlton) (ancient parish merged into Carlton before 1535)
Witcham Gravel (existed 1894-1933)
Woodston (ancient parish split into Woodston Urban and Woodston Rural 1905)
Woolley (ancient parish); merged with Barham 1935

Renamed civil parishes

Ashley (formerly Ashley-cum-Silverley from 1535)
Carlton (formerly Carlton-cum-Willingham from 1535 until 1974)
Croydon (formerly Croydon-cum-Clapton or Clopton, from C16th)
Great Chishill (formerly Great Chishall until 1929)
Newton-in-the-Isle (formerly Newton until 2016)
Rampton and Woodbeck (named Rampton until 2018)
Thriplow and Heathfield (formerly Thriplow until 2021)
Wisbech (formerly Wisbech St Peter)

Ancient parishes and chapelries

This table covers the whole area now covered by the present county of Cambridgeshire and unitary authority of Peterborough, plus any areas of Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire and the Isle of Ely that now lie in other counties. Chapelries are listed in italics. Parishes are listed by hundred.

1now in Lincolnshire 2now in Bedfordshire 3now in Northamptonshire 4a chapelry to Broughton in Hurstingstone hundred 5a chapelry to Exning in Suffolk; now in Suffolk 6no record of a church having ever existed 7now in Suffolk

References

External links