107-411: Yatton is a village and civil parish within the unitary authority of North Somerset , which falls within the ceremonial county of Somerset , England. It is located 11 miles (18 km) south-west of Bristol . Its population in 2011 was 7,552. The parish includes Claverham , a small village which was originally a farming hamlet. The origins of the village and its name are unclear; however, there
214-522: 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
321-417: A civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government . It 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
428-561: A 'batch'), Yatton was a well-established village by Norman times . The remains of an Iron Age hill fort at Cadbury Hill have been discovered, as well as a Roman villa , temple and hoard of coins. Older Christian burial grounds have also been discovered on Cadbury Hill. The parish was part of the Winterstoke Hundred . In the 1840s, the Bristol & Exeter Railway , with Isambard Kingdom Brunel as consulting engineer,
535-484: A Grade I listed building. There is a Methodist chapel on Brinsea Road ( B3133 ) which was constructed in 1878 to seat 150 people. Congresbury has a King George's Field in memorial to King George V . Sporting facilities for the football club, tennis club, and cricket club (formed in 1844), are provided by the umbrella organisation, the Congresbury Recreation Club. The Recreation Club
642-515: 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
749-576: 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
856-477: 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
963-462: 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
1070-559: 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
1177-481: 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
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#17327720150541284-432: A march is held from St Mary's Church to the memorial, where wreaths are laid by villagers and local organisations. The village has continued to increase in size with several new developments planned or currently being constructed north of the railway station near North End Road and Arnold's Way. Development to the south and east of the village has made the villages of Yatton, Claverham and Cleeve almost continuous as far as
1391-529: 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
1498-431: 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
1605-612: A number of thriving local businesses, including Pullin's Bakers, Costain Technology Solutions (formerly Simulation Systems Ltd), Stowell Concrete, Smart Systems, Oxford Instruments, and Bob Martin Petcare . Farming remains an important activity in the area. Fairey Hydraulics was sited in Claverham, becoming Claverham Ltd in 1998. The site closed in 2017, and is today a housing estate. The local education authority
1712-683: 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. Congresbury Congresbury
1819-416: 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
1926-431: A population in excess of 100,000 . This scope is similar to that of municipalities in continental Europe, such as 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
2033-503: 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
2140-578: A quiet sanctuary, the Millennium Green has also played host to a village music festival. Near to the Millennium Green there is a basketball court . The village has many recreational groups, including Cubs , Scouts and Brownies , a bell-ringing club, a youth club and the Congresbury Youth Partnership. In the heart of the village there is also a bowls club, which has an annual competition open to all. There
2247-1079: 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
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#17327720150542354-712: A replacement bus connection (route 66) between Yatton and Clevedon . There is currently no public transport connection to Clevedon. In 1922 the site formerly known as 'The Pound' was purchased and the Yatton Parish War Memorial was erected. The memorial is located at Top Scaur, at the Congresbury end of the High Street, and is inscribed with the names of Yatton villagers who died in the First and Second World Wars . Each year on Remembrance Sunday
2461-409: 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
2568-598: 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
2675-605: A single tier of local government with responsibility for almost all local government functions within its area including local planning and building control , local roads, council housing , environmental health , markets and fairs, refuse collection , recycling , cemeteries , crematoria , leisure services, parks and tourism . It is also responsible for education , social services , libraries , main roads, public transport , trading standards , waste disposal and strategic planning, although fire, police and ambulance services are provided jointly with other authorities through
2782-943: 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
2889-521: 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
2996-434: Is North Somerset Council. Yatton has a pre-school, infant and junior schools. Secondary education is not available in the village, and so many of Yatton's children commute daily to the nearby village of Backwell in order to attend Backwell School . The school is a specialist Arts College , and includes a sixth form and takes pupils from the age of 11 (Year 7) to the age of 18 (Year 13). In November 2008, Backwell School
3103-489: Is North Somerset Council. Congresbury has a pre-school and St Andrews Primary School. Secondary education is not available in the village and so many of Congresbury's children commute daily to the nearby village of Churchill to attend Churchill Academy and Sixth Form . The Anglican Church of St Andrew in Congresbury dates from the 13th century but was extensively altered in the 15th century and has been designated as
3210-607: Is a grade II listed building . Along with churches in Kenn , Cleeve and Kingston Seymour the churches are managed as part of the Yatton Moor Team Ministry. There are active cricket, football and rugby clubs, two parks (Hangstones and Rock Road), a number of public houses , and many other leisure and sporting activities, including the Cleeve Claverham and Yatton Scout Group. Yatton Rugby Club
3317-649: Is a large village and has several public houses with a wide variety of shops and other businesses. Opposite the village cross in the High Street is Broad Street, an unusually wide street suggesting it was a planned arrangement for the weekly market and annual fair. Congresbury also has a medical practice, library and War Memorial Hall constructed in 1920. Congresbury community cafe opened at Bridge House in February 2019. Managed entirely by volunteers, it raises funds to support village activities / organisations and local charities, The local council responsible for education
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3424-632: Is a village and civil parish on the northwestern slopes of the Mendip Hills in North Somerset , England, which in 2011 had a population of 3,497. It lies on the A370 between Junction 21 of the M5 and Bristol Airport , 13 miles (21 km) south of Bristol city centre, and 7 miles (11 km) east of Weston-super-Mare . The Congresbury Yeo river flows through the village. The parish includes
3531-619: Is administered independently of the non-metropolitan county . Its administrative headquarters is in the town hall in Weston-super-Mare . Between 1 April 1974 and 1 April 1996, it was the Woodspring district of the county of Avon . Before 1974 that the parish was part of the Axbridge Rural District . An electoral ward exists in Congresbury. The area and population are the same as shown above. The parish
3638-571: Is also home to several skittles teams and darts teams. The village also offers fishing in purpose built lakes and the River Yeo itself. The hamlet of Brinsea is home to the Mendip Spring Country Club and Golf Course. In the beginning of the 21st century, Congresbury opened a Millennium Green situated next to the River Yeo and a Millennium Bridge spanning the river to join north and south Congresbury. As well as being
3745-441: Is also responsible for education , social services , libraries , main roads, public transport, trading standards, waste disposal and strategic planning, although fire, police and ambulance services are provided jointly with other authorities through Avon Fire and Rescue Service , Avon and Somerset Constabulary and South Western Ambulance Service . North Somerset's area covers part of the ceremonial county of Somerset but it
3852-630: Is an annual village fete held at the primary school. Congresbury lies next to the Strawberry Line , an old railway line now converted to a pathway for walkers and cyclists to enjoy the countryside with views over the North Somerset Levels and reserves on the Congresbury Moors, which is maintained by the local conservation group, YACWAG. Since late 2011, plans have been publicised for a skatepark to be built in
3959-510: Is around 800–900 mm (31–35 in). About 8–15 days of snowfall is typical. November to March have the highest mean wind speeds, with June to August having the lightest; the prevailing wind direction is from the south-west. After the Second World War the size and population of Yatton expanded dramatically. With a railway providing good access to Weston-super-Mare , Bristol and London , and similarly good access by road,
4066-507: 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
4173-462: Is crossed by a myriad of watercourses, providing a habitat for several scarce species. St Mary's Church dates from the 14th century and there are a range of other places of worship. In addition to religious groups, Yatton has several sporting clubs and other community groups. The origin of the name Yatton is uncertain. It may come from the Anglo-Saxon 'gatton' meaning 'village on the track';
4280-448: Is evidence of Iron Age hill fort and a Roman villa in the area. The arrival of the railway in the 19th century and more recent road building have led to expansion of the village with Yatton now acting as a home to many commuters, while also supporting manufacturing industry and commerce. The village is located on the North Somerset Levels , where the low-lying land, a mixture of peat, estuarine alluvium and low hills of sand and gravel,
4387-539: 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
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4494-405: 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
4601-535: Is now in the Museum of Somerset in Taunton . The parish was part of the Winterstoke Hundred . The village cross dates from the 15th century and is a Grade II* listed building and Scheduled monument . A 2.5 metres (8 ft 2 in) high 15th century cross on an octagonal plinth. The head of the cross was replaced in the early 19th century. Urchinwood Manor is a Grade II* listed building , part of which
4708-958: Is represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom as part of the Wells and Mendip Hills . It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. It was also part of the South West England constituency of the European Parliament prior to Britain leaving the European Union in January 2020, which elected seven MEPs using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation . Congresbury
4815-504: 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
4922-574: The A370 . Cadbury House Country Club is being developed to become a 60-room hotel and leisure centre. The hamlet of North End lies to the north of the North End roundabout, just before the junction for Kingston Seymour , and contains around 30 properties, including a number of farms and the Bridge Inn hotel. The parish council , which has 18 members, has responsibility for local issues, including setting an annual precept (local rate) to cover
5029-610: The Avon Fire and Rescue Service , Avon and Somerset Constabulary and the South Western Ambulance Service . North Somerset's area covers part of the ceremonial county of Somerset but it is administered independently of the non-metropolitan county . Its administrative headquarters is in the town hall in Weston-super-Mare . Between 1 April 1974 and 1 April 1996, it was the Woodspring district of
5136-574: The Cadbury hillfort in South Cadbury . It appears to have been constructed in the Iron Age when one or more ramparts, with walls and ditches, were built on the steep slopes of the hill to defend an area covering some 8.5 acres (34,000 m). Biddle Street has been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest where management practices and the variation in the soils has resulted in
5243-512: The Fire Services Act 1947 , when fire service responsibility transferred from national government to local authority control after World War II . The current station was built in 1973. Today, Yatton fire station, which is part of Avon Fire and Rescue Service , runs with two appliances, a water tender ladder and a specialist hose-laying vehicle. The Yatton firefighters work on a retained duty system, which means that they do not work at
5350-1010: 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
5457-524: The Wells and Mendip Hills constituency. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. The area around Yatton and Claverham, which falls within the North Somerset Levels , is a mixture of peat, estuarine alluvium and low hills of sand and gravel with, to the south the limestone ridge of Cadbury Hill, which rises to 250 feet (76 m). On its summit stands an Iron Age hill fort known, in archaeological circles, as Cadbury-Congresbury in order to differentiate it from
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#17327720150545564-545: The Wrington Vale Light Railway (1901) to Blagdon from Congresbury . Although the branch line to Blagdon was closed to passengers in 1932, and the Clevedon and Cheddar / Wells lines were closed during the 1960s, the classically Victorian station designed by Brunel is still in use. From 2001 to 2006 the station was operated by Wessex Trains when, in an echo of 1876, it was again absorbed into
5671-472: 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
5778-571: The county of Avon . Before 1974 that the parish was part of the Long Ashton Rural District . An electoral ward exists with the same name. The ward stretches to the Bristol Channel and therefore includes Kingston Seymour in addition to Yatton . The total ward population taken from the 2011 census was 9,273. The parish is represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom as part of
5885-595: 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
5992-403: 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 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
6099-470: 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
6206-428: The 1870s that was split into separate infant and junior schools in the early 1970s. In September 2009, the two schools were re-joined as one primary school. The parish council has responsibility for local issues, including setting an annual precept (local rate) to cover the council’s operating costs and producing annual accounts for public scrutiny. The parish council evaluates local planning applications and works with
6313-403: The 19th century and are now entirely separate. Civil parishes in their modern form came into being through 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
6420-564: 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
6527-591: 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
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#17327720150546634-511: 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
6741-570: 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 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
6848-534: The High Street, opposite the main shopping precinct. Horsecastle Chapel , an independent evangelical church, is on Horsecastle Farm Road. River of Life Church, (was YCF) affiliated to the Assemblies of God, meets in Yatton Infant School. St Dunstan's, a Roman Catholic chapel of ease to the parish in Clevedon , is on Claverham Road. The church of St. Barnabas in Claverham, dates from 1879 and
6955-496: The UK. Cloud often forms inland, especially near hills, and reduces exposure to sunshine. The average annual sunshine is about 1,600 hours. Rainfall tends to be associated with Atlantic depressions or with convection. In summer, convection caused by solar surface heating sometimes forms shower clouds and a large proportion of the annual precipitation falls from showers and thunderstorms at this time of year. Average rainfall
7062-497: The United Kingdom. January is the coldest month with mean minimum temperatures between 1 °C (34 °F) and 2 °C (36 °F). July and August are the warmest, with mean daily maxima around 21 °C (70 °F). In general, December is the dullest month and June the sunniest. The south-west of England enjoys a favoured location, particularly in summer, when the Azores High extends its influence north-eastwards towards
7169-738: 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
7276-454: The area. The second part of the name is thought to come from burh meaning fortified place. The remains of an Iron Age hill fort at Cadbury Hill have been discovered, as well as a Roman villa , temple and hoard of coins. Christian burial grounds have also been discovered on Cadbury Hill. The archaeologist Mick Aston identified an Anglo-Saxon sculpture of St Congar which is believed to have come from St Andrew's Church , and which
7383-399: 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
7490-404: The coats of arms of local lords of the manor. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building . The Old Rectory was a Prebendary house, built in the 15th century and has been designated as a Grade I listed building . As well as St Mary's ( Church of England ), Yatton has Methodist , Catholic and independent places of worship. Yatton Methodist Church is situated on
7597-537: 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
7704-464: 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
7811-466: 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
7918-499: The council's operating costs and producing annual accounts for public scrutiny. The parish council evaluates local planning applications and works with the local police, district council officers, and neighbourhood watch groups on matters of crime, security and traffic. The parish council's role also includes initiating projects for the maintenance and repair of parish facilities, such as the village hall or community centre , playing fields and playgrounds , as well as consulting with
8025-515: The council. The parish falls within the unitary authority of North Somerset which was created in 1996, as established by the Local Government Act 1992 . It provides a single tier of local government with responsibility for almost all local government functions within its area including local planning and building control , local roads, council housing , environmental health , markets and fairs, refuse collection , recycling , cemeteries , crematoria , leisure services, parks, and tourism. It
8132-525: 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
8239-463: 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
8346-417: The district council on the maintenance, repair and improvement of highways, drainage, footpaths, public transport and street cleaning. Conservation matters (including trees and listed buildings) and environmental issues are also of interest to the council. The parish falls within the unitary authority of North Somerset which was created in 1996, as established by the Local Government Act 1992 . It provides
8453-439: 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
8560-534: 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
8667-440: The fire station, but are called to the station when a fire breaks out. They respond to emergencies in a 62 square miles (161 km) area covering Yatton, Cleeve, Kingston Seymour , Congresbury , Wrington and Blagdon , with an average of 130–150 callouts per year. Calls vary from small grass fires to full major alerts and road traffic accidents on the busy A370 main road. The Avon Fire and Rescue Service named Yatton Fire Station
8774-455: 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
8881-499: The hamlet of Brinsea . The nearest railway station is Yatton , with trains provided by Great Western Railway , but Congresbury once had its own railway station on the Cheddar Valley Line from Yatton to Wells . It was also the starting point for the Wrington Vale Light Railway , which went to nearby Wrington and Blagdon . Congresbury is named after St Congar , who is said to have performed three miracles in
8988-476: 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
9095-594: The local police, district council officers, and neighbourhood watch groups on matters of crime, security, and traffic. The parish council's role also includes initiating projects for the maintenance and repair of parish facilities, such as the village hall or community centre , playing fields and playgrounds , as well as consulting with the district council on the maintenance, repair, and improvement of highways, drainage, footpaths, public transport, and street cleaning. Conservation matters (including trees and listed buildings) and environmental issues are also of interest to
9202-465: 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
9309-447: The nationally scarce rootless duckweed (Wolffia arrhiza) and hairlike pondweed (Potamogeton trichoides) . Along with the rest of South West England , Yatton has a temperate climate generally wetter and milder than the rest of England. The annual mean temperature is about 10 °C (50 °F) with seasonal and diurnal variations, but the modifying effect of the sea restricts the range to less than that in most other parts of
9416-551: The new Greater Western Trains Co. It is now possible to walk or cycle along the former route of the Strawberry Line (so called because of the trade in Cheddar's strawberries ) from Yatton to Cheddar. A local group successfully raised funding to establish a community cafe in the old waiting room building at the station, and the cafe opened for business in December 2010. Prior to local authority cutbacks, Bakers Dolphin maintained
9523-465: 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
9630-488: 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
9737-448: 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 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
9844-401: 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
9951-404: 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
10058-562: 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
10165-499: 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
10272-411: 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
10379-617: The track in question is a path of limestone leading from Cadbury Hill . The village has at one time or another been called Jatune, Eaton (from ea [river] and tun i.e. the settlement on the River Yeo and Yatton Blewitt), and is recorded as Lature in the Domesday Book . West Yatton was also known as Yatton-Kaynes in the Elizabethan era. Situated on an area of slightly higher, drained ground surrounded by moorland (locally called
10486-414: The village saw large amounts of new housing development. Today the number of pre-war buildings is much smaller than the number of more recent residential and commercial constructions. According to the 2001 census, Yatton's population was 9,176. Today Yatton is a large village. Page's Court — the village's shopping precinct — includes a supermarket and several local shops and takeaways. There are
10593-480: The village. Potential sites have been identified including the King George IV playing fields, Glebelands and the Millennium Green. By December 2012 campaigners had raised £15,000 of the estimate £100,000 cost, and in 2013 a further donation of £5,000 was made from a police fund. In 2013 Congresbury became the site for The North Somerset Butterfly House, a tropical butterfly house with a remit to work with
10700-438: The watercourses supporting a wide range of aquatic plant communities. Where open water occurs plants such as common water-starwort (Callitriche stagnalis) , European frogbit (Hydrocharis morsusranae) , fan-leaved water-crowfoot (Ranunculus circinatus) . The calcareous influence of the underlying Compton soils also encourages whorled water-milfoil (Myriophyllum verticillatum) and stonewort (Chara sp) . Also present are
10807-666: 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 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
10914-409: Was built around 1620 with additions being made in the 17th century. The house and surrounding estate has been bought and sold many times over the centuries with the estate now being used as an equestrian centre. The Vicarage includes an early 19th-century vicarage and former Priest's House from around 1446. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building . The village had a school founded in
11021-498: 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 the gift and continued patronage (benefaction) of
11128-673: Was founded in 1968 and as of the end of the 2015/16 season, were promoted to the Western Counties North division, having won the Tribute Somerset Premier League for 2015/16. They run three senior sides and have an extensive junior set-up. Claverham (Yatton) Cricket Club was formed in 1905 and provides cricket to all playing levels and ages. The senior teams play in the ECB West of England Premier League . Yatton fire station opened in 1947, after
11235-658: Was named "highest performing retained duty station" for 2010. George Lukins , also known as the Yatton daemoniac, was an individual famous for his alleged demonic possession and the subsequent exorcism that occurred in 1788. Ken Day was born in Yatton in 1919 and played first-class cricket for Somerset County Cricket Club in seven matches between 1950 and 1956. Major Richard Foord , Liberal Democrat MP for Tiverton and Honiton , lived in Yatton for nineteen years. Civil parishes in England In England,
11342-569: Was opened. It was initially leased to the Great Western Railway (GWR) but taken back into full ownership in 1849 and gained its own individuality which lasted until 1876 when all the broad gauge companies in the West Country merged into an enlarged GWR. The station was originally called Clevedon Road and renamed Yatton Junction when the Clevedon branch was built in 1847. Other branches followed, to Cheddar / Wells (1869) and
11449-503: Was rated as outstanding by Ofsted . St Mary's Church , in central Yatton, built around 1400, is often called the "Cathedral of the Moors" since it is so large compared to the village. The tower has three stages with diagonal weathered buttresses with crocketed pinnacles . There is a south-east hexagonal stair turret rising above the parapet with panelled sides to the top, and an open cusped parapet. There are stained glass windows with
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