Parish is a word that often appears when one uses English records dealing with history, genealogy, religion, or social customs. There are also many terms that are associated with the word "parish" that are unfamiliar to the average person. A parish consists of an area of land with officers to govern the people living within that area. The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary defines parish as:

1. In the United Kingdom, the name of a subdivision of a county. A township or cluster of townships having its own church and clergyman, to whom its tithes and ecclesiastical dues are paid.
2. A district, often identical with an original parish constituted for purposes of civil government.

Parishes came into existence long before the Christian era. The very beginnings were with the great land owners who were required to provide a type of religious service for their tenants and would usually hire someone to take care of this duty. Later, separate buildings were provided by the land owners to hold these services. The exact beginning of parishes cannot be pinpointed but many parishes were in existence by 1095, and the numbers increased greatly by 1291. Then from 1291 to 1836 there was not much change in the parishes. After 1836, many new parishes were formed.

Parishes came into existence in several different ways: founded by a bishop, a land owner, the lord of an estate, or a monastery. The founder of the parish often is referred to as the patron. Each parish had its own source of income (endowment) which consisted of tithes, rents from glebe land (a portion of the land connected with the parish), and offerings. The founder of the parish could either be a priest or a layman (a non-ecclesiastical officer). If the person was a layman, he would lease part of the endowment to a priest to handle the spiritual welfare of the parish.

There are several different types of parishes: a rectory, a vicarage, a perpetual curacy, and a benefice. The type of parish was determined by the tithe that is paid and to whom it is paid.

A rectory is created when an individual (the rector) leases the whole of the parish and its endowment from the founder, and cares for both the physical and spiritual welfare of the parish. A vicarage is created when the priest (the vicar) who cares for the spiritual welfare of the parish received a smaller part of the tithes than the rector, or he leases part of the parish and its endowment from the rector who is a layman. In a perpetual curacy, the founder is required to present the minister to the bishop for approval, and only the bishop can release the minister from his duty. A benefice is an ecclesiastical estate consisting largely of tithes and glebe land given to the incumbent (the current minister) as a reward for services rendered.

The term "curate" now refers to an assistant of the incumbent instead of the actual incumbent as it did in earlier times. Besides the incumbent who had charge of the physical as well as the spiritual part of the parish, there were other officers. These officers, who helped with duties such as caring for the poor, the roads, orphans, etc., were the churchwardens, the overseers, and the clerk. These officers were members of the parish and were called upon to give of their time freely for one year.

In early times, there were no marked boundaries for the parishes. The boundaries of the manors often determined the boundaries of the parish. Later, these unofficial boundaries became the accepted official boundaries. From very early times, the civil government used the parish as the means for governing the people; thus, the term "civil parish".

Each parish had a church. The church was dedicated to a saint, e.g., Nottingham, St. Mary. In a large city where more than one parish exists, the parishes are referred to by their saint name, e.g., Nottingham, St. Mary; Nottingham, St. Nicholas; Nottingham, St. Peter.

Often the ecclesiastical parish was large and the parish church was difficult for many of the inhabitants of the parish to reach. For convenience, branches to these parishes were formed. They were called "chapelries". Chapelries were dependent on the main parish, which was called the "mother church". The chapelries varied greatly in the services they offered. They at times were administered by a vicar, a rector, or a curate, and sometimes by the minister of the main parish. Many remained dependent upon the mother church, but some grew and became independent parishes.

One type of chapelry is called a "chapel of ease". These were set up when the mother church was too far away or the travel was dangerous and/or difficult. These chapels were only for prayers and preaching, but no baptisms, marriages, or burials could be performed. The chapel of ease often tried to become an independent parish, but the process was slow, due to opposition from the mother church and because dependent chapels were forced to help pay the support of the mother church.

A "parochial chapelry" is much the same as a chapel of ease, except that it had the rights of christenings and burials, but no other sacraments. A "chapel royal" was a chapel attached to a royal palace in which divine service was performed daily for the residents of the palace. A "private chapel" or "oratory" was a chapel built by a nobleman on his estate, for his family, servants, and neighbors. The founder was in the position of rector, but had to obtain permission from the bishop before holding services or appointing a minister.

A "free chapel" was free from all ordinary jurisdiction. It was generally a chapel set up on a manor or large estate for use of the King. When the land was no longer held by the crown, the chapel stayed with the crown and continued having its special rights. Within the parish, there were other, smaller jurisdictions that had no governing authority: villages, hamlets, and tithings.

Another term often used with parish is "extra-parochial", which means that it was outside of the church parish or church parish obligations. These parishes did not have parish registers. The inhabitants would go to one of the surrounding parishes for performance of the ordinances or sacraments.

A meeting called a vestry was held within the parish to handle the problems of the parish, such as caring for the poor, the orphans, the highways and roads, as well as ecclesiastical duties. Small crimes that were committed in the parish also came under the jurisdiction of the vestry.

Up until the 19th century, the parish was the very center of an individual's social and religious life. In the 1830's, the government began to take more direct control over the people and the influence of the parish began to wane.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Onions, C.T., ed., The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1959, 3rd ed.

Purvis, J.S., Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Terms, Thomas Nelson and Sons, Ltd., Edinburgh, 1962.

Tate, W.E., The Parish Chest, The University Press, Cambridge, 1946.

Webb, Sidney and Beatrice, "The Parish and the County", English Local Government, Frank Cass and Co., Ltd., London, 1963, Vol.1