79-531: Cofton Hackett is a village and civil parish in the Bromsgrove District of north east Worcestershire , England. It is 10 + 1 ⁄ 4 miles (16.5 kilometres) southwest of the city centre of Birmingham and 16 miles (26 km) northeast of Worcester . In 2011, the village had a population of 1,893 but with housing development on the former Austin Rover site, this is expected to double over
158-522: A London borough . (Since the new county was beforehand a mixture of metropolitan boroughs , municipal boroughs and urban districts, no extant parish councils were abolished.) In 1974, the Local Government Act 1972 retained rural parishes, but abolished most urban parishes, as well as the urban districts and boroughs which had administered them. Provision was made for smaller urban districts and boroughs to become successor parishes , with
237-590: A "chapel" at Cofton is mentioned in a Papal Bull of 1182. The present building certainly dates back to the 14th century and was probably built in 1330 by Robert de Leycester as a chapel for the Manor House. It was a chapel annexed to Northfield until 1866. Between 1917 and the early 1960s Cofton Hackett was the location of the Austin Aero Company's aircraft factory that produced military aircraft during both World Wars and civilian aircraft during
316-515: A Special Expense, to residents of the unparished area to fund those activities. If the district council does not opt to make a Special Expenses charge, there is an element of double taxation of residents of parished areas, because services provided to residents of the unparished area are funded by council tax paid by residents of the whole district, rather than only by residents of the unparished area. Parish councils comprise volunteer councillors who are elected to serve for four years. Decisions of
395-576: A boundary coterminous with an existing urban district or borough or, if divided by a new district boundary, as much as was comprised in a single district. There were 300 such successor parishes established. In urban areas that were considered too large to be single parishes, the parishes were simply abolished, and they became unparished areas . The distinction between types of parish was no longer made; whether parishes continued by virtue of being retained rural parishes or were created as successor parishes, they were all simply termed parishes. The 1972 act allowed
474-477: A city council (though most cities are not parishes but principal areas, or in England specifically metropolitan boroughs or non-metropolitan districts ). The chairman of a town council will have the title "town mayor" and that of a parish council which is a city will usually have the title of mayor . When a city or town has been abolished as a borough, and it is considered desirable to maintain continuity of
553-462: A city council. According to the Department for Communities and Local Government , in England in 2011 there were 9,946 parishes. Since 1997 around 100 new civil parishes have been created, in some cases by splitting existing civil parishes, but mostly by creating new ones from unparished areas. Parish or town councils have very few statutory duties (things they are required to do by law) but have
632-559: A city was Hereford , whose city council was merged in 1998 to form a unitary Herefordshire . The area of the city of Hereford remained unparished until 2000 when a parish council was created for the city. As another example, the charter trustees for the City of Bath make up the majority of the councillors on Bath and North East Somerset Council. Civil parishes cover 35% of England's population, with one in Greater London and few in
711-440: A civil parish is usually an elected parish council (which can decide to call itself a town, village, community or neighbourhood council, or a city council if the parish has city status). Alternatively, in parishes with small populations (typically fewer than 150 electors) governance may be by a parish meeting which all electors may attend; alternatively, parishes with small populations may be grouped with one or more neighbours under
790-481: A civil parish which has no parish council, the parish meeting may levy a council tax precept for expenditure relating to specific functions, powers and rights which have been conferred on it by legislation. In places where there is no civil parish ( unparished areas ), the administration of the activities normally undertaken by the parish becomes the responsibility of the district or borough council. The district council may make an additional council tax charge, known as
869-586: A common parish council. Wales was also divided into civil parishes until 1974, when they were replaced by communities , which are similar to English parishes in the way they operate. Civil parishes in Scotland were abolished for local government purposes by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 ; the Scottish equivalent of English civil parishes are the community council areas established by
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#1732780964801948-534: A farm) belonged successively to the Costons (until c.1300), but passed to Lucy wife of Alexander de Hodington by 1327. It was held by her heirs by 1428, John Walsingham apparently being its lord. It remained in his family until William Child, the lord of Coston Hackett, bought it before 1594. Coston Hackett passed down the Hacket family the late 13th century, when it passed by marriage to Robert Leicester. In 1409 it
1027-426: A favourite of Charles I , who accompanied him to the scaffold. His descendant another Thomas Joliffe died childless in 1758, leaving his estate to his niece Rebecca Lowe for life and then to Michael Biddulph, who inherited it in 1791. His grandson sold it in 1812 to Other Windsor, 6th Earl of Plymouth . The oldest buildings in the village are the church and the late 14th century Cofton Hall . King Charles I spent
1106-529: A new code. In either case the code must comply with the Nolan Principles of Public Life . A parish can be granted city status by the Crown . As of 2020 , eight parishes in England have city status, each having a long-established Anglican cathedral: Chichester , Ely , Hereford , Lichfield , Ripon , Salisbury , Truro and Wells . The council of an ungrouped parish may pass a resolution giving
1185-431: A new smaller manor, there was a means of making a chapel which, if generating or endowed with enough funds, would generally justify foundation of a parish, with its own parish priest (and in latter centuries vestry ). This consistency was a result of canon law which prized the status quo in issues between local churches and so made boundary changes and sub-division difficult. The consistency of these boundaries until
1264-683: A parish (a "detached part") was in a different county . In other cases, counties surrounded a whole parish meaning it was in an unconnected, "alien" county. These anomalies resulted in a highly localised difference in applicable representatives on the national level , justices of the peace , sheriffs, bailiffs with inconvenience to the inhabitants. If a parish was split then churchwardens, highway wardens and constables would also spend more time or money travelling large distances. Some parishes straddled two or more counties, such as Todmorden in Lancashire and Yorkshire. Cofton Hall Cofton Hall
1343-416: A parish council, and instead will only have a parish meeting : an example of direct democracy . Alternatively several small parishes can be grouped together and share a common parish council, or even a common parish meeting. A parish council may decide to call itself a town council, village council, community council, neighbourhood council, or if the parish has city status, the parish council may call itself
1422-503: A population of between 100 and 300 could request their county council to establish a parish council. Provision was also made for a grouped parish council to be established covering two or more rural parishes. In such groups, each parish retained its own parish meeting which could vote to leave the group, but otherwise the grouped parish council acted across the combined area of the parishes included. Urban civil parishes were not given their own parish councils, but were directly administered by
1501-1079: A range of discretionary powers which they may exercise voluntarily. These powers have been defined by various pieces of legislation. The role they play can vary significantly depending on the size, resources and ability of the council, but their activities can include any of the following: Parish councils have powers to provide and manage various local facilities; these can include allotments , cemeteries, parks, playgrounds, playing fields and village greens , village halls or community centres , bus shelters, street lighting, roadside verges, car parks, footpaths, litter bins and war memorials. Larger parish councils may also be involved in running markets , public toilets and public clocks, museums and leisure centres . Parish councils may spend money on various things they deem to be beneficial to their communities, such as providing grants to local community groups or local projects, or fund things such as public events, crime prevention measures, community transport schemes, traffic calming or tourism promotion. Parish councils have
1580-409: A role in the planning system; they have a statutory right to be consulted on any planning applications in their areas. They may also produce a neighbourhood plan to influence local development. The Localism Act 2011 allowed eligible parish councils to be granted a " general power of competence " which allows them within certain limits the freedom to do anything an individual can do provided it
1659-598: A set number of guardians for each parish, hence a final purpose of urban civil parishes. With the abolition of the Poor Law system in 1930, urban parishes became a geographical division only with no administrative power; that was exercised at the urban district or borough council level. In 1965 civil parishes in London were formally abolished when Greater London was created, as the legislative framework for Greater London did not make provision for any local government body below
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#17327809648011738-943: A small village or town ward to a large tract of mostly uninhabited moorland in the Cheviots, Pennines or Dartmoor. The two largest as at December 2023 are Stanhope (County Durham) at 98.6 square miles (255 km ), and Dartmoor Forest (Devon) at 79.07 square miles (204.8 km ). The two smallest are parcels of shared rural land: Lands Common to Axminster and Kilmington (Devon) at 0.012 square miles (0.031 km ; 3.1 ha; 7.7 acres), and Lands Common to Brancepeth and Brandon and Byshottles (County Durham) at 0.0165 square miles (0.043 km ; 4.3 ha; 10.6 acres). The next two smallest are parishes in built up areas: Chester Castle (Cheshire) at 0.0168 square miles (0.044 km ; 4.4 ha; 10.8 acres) (no recorded population) and Hamilton Lea (Leicestershire) at 0.07 square miles (0.18 km ; 18 ha; 45 acres) (1,021 residents at
1817-521: A spur to the creation of new parishes in some larger towns which were previously unparished, in order to retain a local tier of government; examples include Shrewsbury (2009), Salisbury (2009), Crewe (2013) and Weymouth (2019). In 2003 seven new parish councils were set up for Burton upon Trent , and in 2001 the Milton Keynes urban area became entirely parished, with ten new parishes being created. Parishes can also be abolished where there
1896-529: Is a country house on the Lickey Hills near Cofton Hackett , in the Bromsgrove District of north east Worcestershire , England. It is a Grade II* listed building . Most of the original 14th century building has been destroyed, by a deliberate fire during the English Civil War after a visit by King Charles I , however the hall with a hammer-beam roof survives. The rest of the building
1975-439: Is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes , which for centuries were the principal unit of secular and religious administration in most of England and Wales. Civil and religious parishes were formally split into two types in the 19th century and are now entirely separate. Civil parishes in their modern form came into being through
2054-433: Is also attended by some of the local children. Cofton Hackett had a youth club which had reopened since being closed in 1951, and young people also meet at West Heath Village Hall, where they can participate in regular activities including drama, sports and reading, and attend talks by visiting speakers. Civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government . It
2133-507: Is at present the only part of England where civil parishes cannot be created. If enough electors in the area of a proposed new parish (ranging from 50% in an area with less than 500 electors to 10% in one with more than 2,500) sign a petition demanding its creation, then the local district council or unitary authority must consider the proposal. Since the beginning of the 21st century, numerous parish councils have been created, including some relatively large urban ones. The main driver has been
2212-539: Is evidence that this is in response to "justified, clear and sustained local support" from the area's inhabitants. Examples are Birtley , which was abolished in 2006, and Southsea , abolished in 2010. Every civil parish has a parish meeting, which all the electors of the parish are entitled to attend. Generally a meeting is held once a year. A civil parish may have a parish council which exercises various local responsibilities prescribed by statute. Parishes with fewer than 200 electors are usually deemed too small to have
2291-405: Is not prohibited by other legislation, as opposed to being limited to the powers explicitly granted to them by law. To be eligible for this, a parish council must meet certain conditions such as having a clerk with suitable qualifications. Parish councils receive funding by levying a " precept " on the council tax paid by the residents of the parish (or parishes) served by the parish council. In
2370-512: Is recorded that Ralph Ardern granted land at a Crofton Hackett to a John Richards. Coston Hackett belonged to John Walsingham's descendants until after the death of William Leicester in 1525, who left it to his nephew John More. The manor was then divided among his daughters. A major share was settled in 1573 on James Dineley, whose daughter Mary married John Child. They sold the manor in 1594 to Edward Skinner of Ledbury, clothier, on whose death in 1633 it passed to his son-in-law Thomas Joliffe,
2449-705: Is usually recorded as such from the 11th century and well into the early 20th. The final permanent change to Cofton appears to have taken place sometime between 1913 and 1930 based on direct comparisons between the Ordnance Survey maps of those dates. Historically, Cofton Hackett was part of the upper division of Halfshire Hundred that also contained Bromsgrove , Dodderhill , Doverdale , Droitwich , Elmbridge , Feckenham , Hadsor , Hampton Lovett , Kington , Kings Norton , Northfield , Salwarpe , Tardebigge and Upton Warren . Cofton contained two manors, Cofton Hackett and Cofton Richards. The latter (now only
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2528-504: The 'Standards Board regime' with local monitoring by district, unitary or equivalent authorities. Under new regulations which came into effect in 2012 all parish councils in England are required to adopt a code of conduct with which parish councillors must comply, and to promote and maintain high standards. A new criminal offence of failing to comply with statutory requirements was introduced. More than one 'model code' has been published, and councils are free to modify an existing code or adopt
2607-761: The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 , which have fewer powers than their English and Welsh counterparts. There are no equivalent units in Northern Ireland . The parish system in Europe was established between the 8th and 12th centuries, and an early form was long established in England by the time of the Norman Conquest . These areas were originally based on the territory of manors , which, in some cases, derived their bounds from Roman or Iron Age estates; some large manors were sub-divided into several parishes. Initially, churches and their priests were
2686-1010: The Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) to become the smallest geographical area for local government in rural areas. The act abolished the civil (non-ecclesiastical) duties of vestries . Parishes which straddled county boundaries or sanitary districts had to be split so that the part in each urban or rural sanitary district became a separate parish (see List of county exclaves in England and Wales 1844–1974 ). The sanitary districts were then reconstituted as urban districts and rural districts , with parishes that fell within urban districts classed as urban parishes, and parishes that fell within rural districts were classed as rural parishes. The 1894 act established elected civil parish councils as to all rural parishes with more than 300 electors, and established annual parish meetings in all rural parishes. Civil parishes were grouped to form either rural or urban districts which are thereafter classified as either type. The parish meetings for parishes with
2765-411: The Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73), which established elected parish councils to take on the secular functions of the parish vestry . A civil parish can range in size from a sparsely populated rural area with fewer than a hundred inhabitants, to a large town with a population in excess of 100,000 . This scope is similar to that of municipalities in continental Europe, such as
2844-472: The break with Rome , parishes managed ecclesiastical matters, while the manor was the principal unit of local administration and justice. Later, the church replaced the manor court as the rural administrative centre, and levied a local tax on produce known as a tithe . In the medieval period, responsibilities such as relief of the poor passed increasingly from the lord of the manor to the parish's rector , who in practice would delegate tasks among his vestry or
2923-692: The communes of France . However, unlike their continental European counterparts, parish councils are not principal authorities , and in most cases have a relatively minor role in local government. As of September 2023 , there are 10,464 parishes in England, and in 2020 they covered approximately 40% of the English population. For historical reasons, civil parishes predominantly cover rural areas and smaller urban areas, with most larger urban areas being wholly or partly unparished ; but since 1997 it has been possible for civil parishes to be created within unparished areas if demanded by local residents . In 2007
3002-442: The minster of St Peter, Bredon in 780. The bounds for this estate probably covered the parishes of Alvechurch and Cofton. The spelling of the name has varied over the centuries: for many centuries, the usual spelling was Coston. However, the old form of the letter "S" in the middle of words, ‹ ſ ›, was only at some point in the last hundred years misread as a lower case "F", thus turning ‹Co ſ ton› (Coston) into
3081-470: The (often well-endowed) monasteries. After the dissolution of the monasteries , the power to levy a rate to fund relief of the poor was conferred on the parish authorities by the Poor Relief Act 1601 . Both before and after this optional social change, local (vestry-administered) charities are well-documented. The parish authorities were known as vestries and consisted of all the ratepayers of
3160-522: The 1960s. A new engine assembly plant was constructed in its place to build E-Series Engines and transmissions for the Austin Maxi . With the demise of the Rover group in the 1990s the land is to be developed for housing. With new employment opportunities at the Austin works, expansion took place in the late 1930s on the northern edge of the hamlet close to the boundary with Cofton Park which became
3239-564: The 19th century is useful to historians, and is also of cultural significance in terms of shaping local identities; reinforced by the use of grouped parish boundaries, often, by successive local authority areas; and in a very rough, operations-geared way by most postcode districts. There was (and is) wide disparity in parish size. Writtle , Essex traditionally measures 13,568 acres (21 sq mi) – two parishes neighbouring are Shellow Bowells at 469 acres (0.7 sq mi), and Chignall Smealy at 476 acres (0.7 sq mi) Until
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3318-591: The 2011 census, Newland with Woodhouse Moor and Beaumont Chase reported inhabitants, and there were no new deserted parishes recorded. Nearly all instances of detached parts of civil parishes (areas not contiguous with the main part of the parish) and of those straddling counties have been ended. 14 examples remain in England as at 2022, including Barnby Moor and Wallingwells , both in Nottinghamshire. Direct predecessors of civil parishes are most often known as "ancient parishes", although many date only from
3397-511: The 2021 census). The 2001 census recorded several parishes with no inhabitants. These were Chester Castle (in the middle of Chester city centre), Newland with Woodhouse Moor , Beaumont Chase , Martinsthorpe , Meering , Stanground North (subsequently abolished), Sturston , Tottington , and Tyneham (subsequently merged). The lands of the last three were taken over by the Armed Forces during World War II and remain deserted. In
3476-750: The Cadbury family. In 1919 it was recorded that as many as 20,000 visitors to the hills had been counted on an August Bank Holiday. The current country park was established with the support of the Countryside Commission . Most children in the village attend the nearby Lickey Hills Primary School in Lickey. The school provides nursery and primary facilities for approximately 440 children aged between 3 and 11. Following their primary education most local children move on to Waseley Hills High School in adjacent Rubery . St Thomas Aquinas Catholic School
3555-546: The County Councillor is Peter McDonald – Labour Party. The village nestles at the feet of the three hilltops geographically comprising The Lickeys – Rednal Hill , Bilberry Hill and Cofton Hill – are the summits of the Lickey Ridge , a formation of hard quartzite which gives a good view of Birmingham. The Lickey Hills Country Park is one-half mile (0.80 km) west of the village with Bilberry Hill
3634-738: The administration of the poor laws was the main civil function of parishes, the Poor Law Amendment Act 1866 , which received royal assent on 10 August 1866, declared all areas that levied a separate rate or had their own overseer of the poor to be parishes. This included the Church of England parishes (until then simply known as "parishes"), extra-parochial areas , townships and chapelries . To have collected rates this means these beforehand had their own vestries, boards or equivalent bodies. Parishes using this definition subsequently became known as "civil parishes" to distinguish them from
3713-399: The charter, the charter may be transferred to a parish council for its area. Where there is no such parish council, the district council may appoint charter trustees to whom the charter and the arms of the former borough will belong. The charter trustees (who consist of the councillor or councillors for the area of the former borough) maintain traditions such as mayoralty . An example of such
3792-649: The city. With the closing of the Longbridge Motor Factory employment opportunities in the immediate area were reduced and the village is now reverting to its former rural character from before the modernisations of the 20th century. Cofton Hackett falls within the Bromsgrove constituency , which is represented by Sajid Javid MP , Conservative since 2010. The district ward is represented by two councillors to Bromsgrove District Council , Richard Deeming – Conservative and Ann Doyle – Independent, and
3871-537: The council are carried out by a paid officer, typically known as a parish clerk. Councils may employ additional people (including bodies corporate, provided where necessary, by tender) to carry out specific tasks dictated by the council. Some councils have chosen to pay their elected members an allowance, as permitted under part 5 of the Local Authorities (Members' Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003. The number of councillors varies roughly in proportion to
3950-464: The council of the urban district or borough in which they were contained. Many urban parishes were coterminous (geographically identical) with the urban district or municipal borough in which they lay. Towns which included multiple urban parishes often consolidated the urban parishes into one. The urban parishes continued to be used as an electoral area for electing guardians to the poor law unions . The unions took in areas in multiple parishes and had
4029-466: The council will an election be held. However, sometimes there are fewer candidates than seats. When this happens, the vacant seats have to be filled by co-option by the council. If a vacancy arises for a seat mid-term, an election is only held if a certain number (usually ten) of parish residents request an election. Otherwise the council will co-opt someone to be the replacement councillor. The Localism Act 2011 introduced new arrangements which replaced
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#17327809648014108-459: The creation of town and parish councils is encouraged in unparished areas . The Local Government and Rating Act 1997 created a procedure which gave residents in unparished areas the right to demand that a new parish and parish council be created. This right was extended to London boroughs by the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 – with this, the City of London
4187-463: The desire to have a more local tier of government when new larger authorities have been created, which are felt to be remote from local concerns and identity. A number of parishes have been created in places which used to have their own borough or district council; examples include Daventry (2003), Folkestone (2004), Kidderminster (2015) and Sutton Coldfield (2016). The trend towards the creation of geographically large unitary authorities has been
4266-439: The ecclesiastical parishes. The Church of England parishes, which cover more than 99% of England, have become officially (and to avoid ambiguity) termed ecclesiastical parishes . The limits of many of these have diverged; most greatly through changes in population and church attendance (these factors can cause churches to be opened or closed). Since 1921, each has been the responsibility of its own parochial church council . In
4345-534: The established English Church, which for a few years after Henry VIII alternated between the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England , before settling on the latter on the accession of Elizabeth I in 1558. By the 18th century, religious membership was becoming more fractured in some places, due in part to the progress of Methodism . The legitimacy of the parish vestry came into question, and
4424-405: The five years to 2023. The village is served by two main bus services, these being the 20 (Cofton Hackett – Queen Elizabeth Hospital ) and 145/145A ( Longbridge – Droitwich ) operated by National Express and Diamond Bus respectively. Cofton Hackett is an ancient settlement mentioned in historical documents dating back to 780 AD. Co ſ tune (Costune) was among places granted by King Offa to
4503-574: The form of a 80 ft (24 m) obelisk, is situated behind the trees bordering the old Birmingham road directly opposite the petrol station in Lickey . The inscription reads: To commend to imitation the exemplary private virtues of Other Archer 6th Earl of Plymouth The Lickey Hills Country Park was preserved as a public open space between 1887 and 1933 by the generosity of a number of public-spirited persons, including T Grosvenor Lee, Ivor Windsor-Clive, 2nd Earl of Plymouth , and several members of
4582-645: The gift and continued patronage (benefaction) of the lord of the manor , but not all were willing and able to provide, so residents would be expected to attend the church of the nearest manor with a church. Later, the churches and priests became to a greater extent the responsibility of the Catholic Church thus this was formalised; the grouping of manors into one parish was recorded, as was a manor-parish existing in its own right. Boundaries changed little, and for centuries after 1180 'froze', despite changes to manors' extents. However, by subinfeudation , making
4661-455: The government at the time of the Local Government Act 1972 discouraged their creation for large towns or their suburbs, but there is generally nothing to stop their establishment. For example, Birmingham has two parishes ( New Frankley and Sutton Coldfield ), Oxford has four, and the Milton Keynes urban area has 24. Parishes could not however be established in London until the law was changed in 2007. A civil parish can range in area from
4740-503: The hands of the Parliamentarian Army . Only the great hall survived. The three-storey six- bay building has a tiled roof. The entrance has a portico with two doric columns. The west wing encloses the hall with a hammer-beam roof. The old hall is 38 feet (12 m) long and 21 feet (6.4 m) wide. The roof has nine hammer-beams with spandrel brackets. These rest on octagonal corbels of wood. Each side of
4819-681: The inter-war years. Cofton Hackett's largest structure was the now demolished aircraft factory, known as the Longbridge East Works, that produced both aero engines and complete military aircraft during both the First World War and Second World War . To allow the aircraft to be flown out of Cofton after production, an airfield was built in 1917 and used in both world wars. It was designed with four crossing tarmac runways allowing aircraft to take off in any direction. The Cofton Hackett factory constructed over 3,000 aircraft during
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#17327809648014898-476: The late 19th century, most of the "ancient" (a legal term equivalent to time immemorial ) irregularities inherited by the civil parish system were cleaned up, and the majority of exclaves were abolished. The census of 1911 noted that 8,322 (58%) of "parishes" in England and Wales were not geographically identical when comparing the civil to the ecclesiastical form. In 1894, civil parishes were reformed by
4977-530: The major centre of population. With the village spread over several separate locations the actual centre of Cofton Hackett is no longer clearly defined. The old tram terminus and the newsagent 's, the Post Office in Parsonage Drive, and the village hall all have central importance. Cofton Hackett developed from the opening of the Austin motor works at Longbridge in 1905 and most of the shops are on
5056-465: The mid 19th century. Using a longer historical lens the better terms are "pre-separation (civil and ecclesiastical) parish", "original medieval parishes" and "new parishes". The Victoria County History , a landmark collaborative work mostly written in the 20th century (although incomplete), summarises the history of each English "parish", roughly meaning late medieval parish. A minority of these had exclaves , which could be: In some cases an exclave of
5135-667: The nearest peak. The Upper Bittell reservoir, a flooded gravel pit and a feeder of the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, is partly in Cofton parish, and there is also a smaller reservoir which lies to the east of Bilberry Hill and from which the water is conveyed by the little River Arrow to the Lower Bittell reservoir in Alvechurch parish. A monument to 6th Earl of Plymouth (who owned extensive lands at nearby Tardebigge ), in
5214-465: The new district councils (outside London) to review their parishes, and many areas left unparished in 1972 have since been made parishes, either in whole or part. For example, Hinckley , whilst entirely unparished in 1974, now has four civil parishes, which together cover part of its area, whilst the central part of the town remains unparished. Some parishes were sub-divided into smaller territories known as hamlets , tithings or townships . Nowadays
5293-514: The night of 14 May 1645 at Cofton Hall as guest of his devoted supporter Thomas Jolliffe. The following day, before marching to Chester on 15 May, the Royalist soldiers set the Hall ablaze to prevent it falling into the hands of the Parliamentarian Army . St Michael and All Angels' Church, Cofton Hackett is located on Cofton Church Lane. A church may have existed on the site in the 12th century, as
5372-661: The northern edge of the village that was transferred from Kings Norton to Cofton Hackett in 1911 together the extension of the City of Birmingham to the northern boundary of the village. The transfer of parts of Rednal to Cofton parish and the breakup of the Earl of Plymouth's estate released more land for development in 1919, and the extension of the Birmingham tramlines to the Rednal terminus in 1924 placed it within commuting distance from
5451-488: The other conurbations. Civil parishes vary greatly in population: some have populations below 100 and have no settlement larger than a hamlet , while others cover towns with populations of tens of thousands. Weston-super-Mare , with a population of 71,758, is the most populous civil parish. In many cases small settlements, today popularly termed villages , localities or suburbs, are in a single parish which originally had one church. Large urban areas are mostly unparished, as
5530-401: The parish the status of a town, at which point the council becomes a town council . Around 400 parish councils are called town councils. Under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 , a civil parish may be given one of the following alternative styles: As a result, a parish council can be called a town council, a community council, a village council or occasionally
5609-404: The parish. As the number of ratepayers of some parishes grew, it became increasingly difficult to convene meetings as an open vestry. In some, mostly built-up, areas the select vestry took over responsibility from the entire body of ratepayers. This innovation improved efficiency, but allowed governance by a self-perpetuating elite. The administration of the parish system relied on the monopoly of
5688-562: The parish; the church rate ceased to be levied in many parishes and became voluntary from 1868. During the 17th century it was found that the 1601 Poor Law did not work well for very large parishes, which were particularly common in northern England. Such parishes were typically subdivided into multiple townships , which levied their rates separately. The Poor Relief Act 1662 therefore directed that for poor law purposes 'parish' meant any place which maintained its own poor, thereby converting many townships into separate 'poor law parishes'. As
5767-499: The perceived inefficiency and corruption inherent in the system became a source for concern in some places. For this reason, during the early 19th century the parish progressively lost its powers to ad hoc boards and other organisations, such as the boards of guardians given responsibility for poor relief through the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 . Sanitary districts covered England in 1875 and Ireland three years later. The replacement boards were each entitled to levy their own rate in
5846-411: The population of the parish. Most rural parish councillors are elected to represent the entire parish, though in parishes with larger populations or those that cover larger areas, the parish can be divided into wards. Each of these wards then returns councillors to the parish council (the numbers depending on their population). Only if there are more candidates standing for election than there are seats on
5925-484: The present-day ‹Co f ton›. William de Haket is known to have held ‹Co ſ a› (Cosa) in 1166. His family name was later added to ‹co ſ a tun›, which in Anglo-Saxon meant 'cosy farm'. In modern parlance the word 'cove' has a similar derivation and is generally used to describe a sheltered coastal feature, but equally referred to any sheltered spot. The name of the manor transformed over the centuries into Coston Hackett and
6004-438: The right to create civil parishes was extended to London boroughs , although only one, Queen's Park , has so far been created. Eight parishes also have city status (a status granted by the monarch ). A civil parish may be equally known as and confirmed as a town, village, neighbourhood or community by resolution of its parish council, a right not conferred on other units of English local government. The governing body of
6083-406: The roof has three compartments divided by purlins . Beneath the house, and extending beyond their walls are a series of corridors and chambers, totalling more than 200 feet (61 m). This includes a series of "streams", one brick wide and one brick high, which provide a cooling system to three of the chambers. These drain into a sump about 100 yards (91 m) from the house. The area around
6162-558: The war years and thousands of engines and wings for other marques of aircraft. After the war, the factory was converted for the production of military vehicles by Austin, who had won a contract for the production of the 1/4 ton truck from the War Department's CombaT (CT) range of vehicles, popularly known as the Austin Champ . Production of some 13,750 vehicles took place between September 1951 – May 1956. The factory closed in
6241-476: Was constructed in the 18th century. The 14th century Hall was originally a timber framed house. The stone walls were added in the Victorian era . King Charles I stayed at the hall on the night of 14 May 1645 as guest of the owner, Thomas Jolliffe, during the English Civil War . The following day, before marching to Chester on 15 May, the Royalist soldiers set the Hall ablaze to prevent it falling into
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