# Civil parishes in Greater Manchester

A civil parish is a country subdivision, forming the lowest unit of local government in England. There are 14 civil parishes in the ceremonial county of Greater Manchester, most of the county being unparished; Bury, Rochdale, Salford and Stockport are completely unparished. At the 2001 census, there were 129,325 people living in the civil parishes, accounting for 5.2% 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 rural districts.
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 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73), 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

| Name | Status | Population | District | Former local authority | Refs |
| Blackrod | Town | 5,300 | Bolton | Blackrod Urban District | [12] [13] |
| Bolton | Unparished area | 142,249 | Bolton | Bolton County Borough | [14] [15] |
| Farnworth | Unparished area | 24,062 | Bolton | Farnworth Municipal Borough | [16] [17] |
| Horwich | Town | 19,312 | Bolton | Horwich Urban District | [18] [13] |
| Kearsley | Unparished area | 11,747 | Bolton | Kearsley Urban District | [19] [20] |
| Little Lever | Unparished area | 10,712 | Bolton | Little Lever Urban District | [21] [22] |
| South Turton | Unparished area | 24,599 | Bolton | Turton Urban District | [23] [24] |
| Westhoughton | Town | 23,056 | Bolton | Westhoughton Urban District | [25] [13] |
| Bury | Unparished area | 64,534 | Bury | Bury County Borough | [26] [27] |
| Prestwich | Unparished area | 33,446 | Bury | Prestwich Municipal Borough | [28] [29] |
| Radcliffe | Unparished area | 33,994 | Bury | Radcliffe Municipal Borough | [30] [31] |
| Ramsbottom | Unparished area | 14,635 | Bury | Ramsbottom Urban District | [32] [33] |
| Tottington | Unparished area | 12,511 | Bury | Tottington Urban District | [34] [35] |
| Whitefield | Unparished area | 21,488 | Bury | Whitefield Urban District | [36] [37] |
| Manchester | Unparished area | 392,713 | Manchester | Manchester County Borough | [38] [39] |
| Ringway | Civil parish | 106 | Manchester | Bucklow Rural District | [40] [41] |
| Chadderton | Unparished area | 31,114 | Oldham | Chadderton Urban District | [42] [43] |
| Failsworth | Unparished area | 20,555 | Oldham | Failsworth Urban District | [44] [45] |
| Lees | Unparished area | 4,616 | Oldham | Lees Urban District | [46] [47] |
| Oldham | Unparished area | 93,955 | Oldham | Oldham County Borough | [48] [49] |
| Royton | Unparished area | 20,961 | Oldham | Royton Urban District | [50] [51] |
| Saddleworth | Civil parish | 24,351 | Oldham | Saddleworth Urban District | [52] [53] |
| Shaw and Crompton | Civil parish | 21,721 | Oldham | Crompton Urban District | [54] [53] |
| Heywood | Unparished area | 29,240 | Rochdale | Heywood Municipal Borough | [55] [56] |
| Littleborough | Unparished area | 13,315 | Rochdale | Littleborough Urban District | [57] [58] |
| Middleton | Unparished area | 45,688 | Rochdale | Middleton Municipal Borough | [59] [60] |
| Milnrow | Unparished area | 11,561 | Rochdale | Milnrow Urban District | [61] [62] |
| Rochdale | Unparished area | 97,433 | Rochdale | Rochdale County Borough | [63] [64] |
| Wardle | Unparished area | 8,120 | Rochdale | Wardle Urban District | [65] [58] |
| Eccles | Unparished area | 34,599 | Salford | Eccles Municipal Borough | [66] [67] |
| Irlam | Unparished area | 19,125 | Salford | Irlam Urban District | [68] [69] |
| Salford | Unparished area | 72,721 | Salford | Salford County Borough | [70] [71] |
| Swinton and Pendlebury | Unparished area | 36,928 | Salford | Swinton and Pendlebury Municipal Borough | [72] [73] |
| Worsley | Unparished area | 52,730 | Salford | Worsley Urban District | [74] [75] |
| Bredbury and Romiley | Unparished area | 28,829 | Stockport | Bredbury and Romiley Urban District | [76] [77] |
| Cheadle and Gatley | Unparished area | 57,224 | Stockport | Cheadle and Gatley Urban District | [78] [79] |
| Hazel Grove and Bramhall | Unparished area | 41,202 | Stockport | Hazel Grove and Bramhall Urban District | [80] [81] |
| Marple | Unparished area | 23,480 | Stockport | Marple Urban District | [82] [83] |
| Stockport | Unparished area | 133,793 | Stockport | Stockport County Borough | [84] [85] |
| Ashton under Lyne | Unparished area | 43,526 | Tameside | Ashton under Lyne Municipal Borough | [86] [87] |
| Audenshaw | Unparished area | 12,790 | Tameside | Audenshaw Urban District | [88] [89] |
| Denton | Unparished area | 34,280 | Tameside | Denton Urban District | [90] [91] |
| Droylsden | Unparished area | 23,172 | Tameside | Droylsden Urban District | [92] [93] |
| Dukinfield | Unparished area | 19,278 | Tameside | Dukinfield Municipal Borough | [94] [95] |
| Hyde | Unparished area | 34,602 | Tameside | Hyde Municipal Borough | [96] [97] |
| Longdendale | Unparished area | 9,733 | Tameside | Longdendale Urban District | [98] [99] |
| Mossley | Town | 9,856 | Tameside | Mossley Municipal Borough | [100] [101] |
| Stalybridge | Unparished area | 25,806 | Tameside | Stalybridge Municipal Borough | [102] [103] |
| Altrincham | Unparished area | 40,376 | Trafford | Altrincham Municipal Borough | [104] [105] |
| Bowdon | Unparished area | 6,079 | Trafford | Bowdon Urban District | [106] [107] |
| Carrington | Civil parish | 396 | Trafford | Bucklow Rural District | [40] [108] |
| Dunham Massey | Civil parish | 475 | Trafford | Bucklow Rural District | [40] [108] |
| Hale | Unparished area | 15,316 | Trafford | Hale Urban District | [109] [110] |
| Partington | Civil parish | 7,327 | Trafford | Bucklow Rural District | [40] [108] |
| Sale | Unparished area | 56,823 | Trafford | Sale Municipal Borough | [111] [112] |
| Stretford | Unparished area | 42,103 | Trafford | Stretford Municipal Borough | [113] [114] |
| Urmston | Unparished area | 40,964 | Trafford | Urmston Urban District | [115] [116] |
| Warburton | Civil parish | 286 | Trafford | Bucklow Rural District | [40] [108] |
| Abram | Unparished area | 13,706 | Wigan | Abram Urban District | [117] [118] |
| Ashton in Makerfield | Unparished area | 23,431 | Wigan | Ashton in Makerfield Urban District | [119] [120] |
| Aspull | Unparished area | 5,522 | Wigan | Aspull Urban District | [121] [122] |
| Atherton | Unparished area | 18,876 | Wigan | Atherton Urban District | [123] [124] |
| Billinge Higher End and Winstanley | Unparished area | 6,731 | Wigan | Billinge and Winstanley Urban District | [125] [126] |
| Golborne | Unparished area | 23,214 | Wigan | Golborne Urban District | [127] [128] |
| Haigh | Civil parish | 594 | Wigan | Wigan Rural District | [129] [130] |
| Hindley | Unparished area | 22,769 | Wigan | Hindley Urban District | [131] [132] |
| Ince in Makerfield | Unparished area | 10,184 | Wigan | Ince in Makerfield Urban District | [133] [134] |
| Leigh | Unparished area | 44,436 | Wigan | Leigh Municipal Borough | [135] [136] |
| Orrell | Unparished area | 11,988 | Wigan | Orrell Urban District | [137] [126] |
| Shevington | Civil parish | 9,786 | Wigan | Wigan Rural District | [129] [130] |
| Standish with Langtree | Unparished area | 13,309 | Wigan | Standish with Langtree Urban District | [138] [139] |
| Tyldesley | Unparished area | 24,371 | Wigan | Tyldesley Urban District | [140] [141] |
| Wigan | Unparished area | 72,363 | Wigan | Wigan County Borough | [142] [143] |
| Worthington | Civil parish | 135 | Wigan | Wigan Rural District | [129] [130] |