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80-607: Grayshott is a village and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire , England. It is on the Hampshire / Surrey border 4 miles (6.4 km) northwest of Haslemere by road, and 46 miles (74 km) southwest of central London. The nearest rail link is Haslemere railway station . The present village consists of houses and shops on either side of the B3002 Headley Road, which leads from

160-522: 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

240-515: 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

320-576: 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

400-477: 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

480-462: 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

560-559: 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

640-440: 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

720-481: 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

800-586: 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

880-557: A great many spiders and butterflies, including silver-studded blue , grayling and green hairstreak . Adders , grass snakes and sand lizards also inhabit the common. Rabbits are widespread and roe deer may occasionally be seen. The most common trees are Scots pine and silver birch , with some oak. While much of the common is heather and gorse scrub on a fine sandy soil, there was an elevated stand of mature Scots pine trees with little or no undergrowth known locally as "the cathedral" or "cathedral pines". Many had been removed by

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960-529: 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

1040-431: 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

1120-690: 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. Ludshott Common Ludshott Common

1200-416: 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

1280-503: 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

1360-1079: 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

1440-409: 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

1520-598: 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

1600-943: 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

1680-521: 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

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1760-505: 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 the 19th century and are now entirely separate. Civil parishes in their modern form came into being through

1840-557: Is Grayshott Pottery (formally known as Surrey Ceramics), which has been making English stoneware since 1956. It now incorporates Dartington Pottery which originated in Devon. There is one public house in the village, the Fox and Pelican . It was opened in 1899 by shareholders of the Grayshott & District Refreshment Association, one of whom was George Bernard Shaw, under the guidelines of

1920-487: Is a popular pursuit, as is nature rambling and birdwatching. The stream that emerges from the pond furthest to the south-west is called Cooper's Stream. The house situated at the bottom of the ponds is Summerden and is a private residence of the National Trust warden of the area. Near it is a wishing well, mentioned by Flora Thompson in her writings of the locality, and recorded by a National Trust plaque as being

2000-507: 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

2080-539: 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

2160-405: 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

2240-483: Is one of the largest remaining areas of heathland in East Hampshire . It lies parallel to and south of the B3002 road between Headley Down to the west and Grayshott to the east. It covers 285 hectares (700 acres) and is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Special Protection Area (SPA) due to the number of endangered species, including woodlark , nightjar and Dartford warbler . There are also

2320-492: Is part of East Hampshire District. The earliest reference to Grayshott found by Jack Hayden Smith, a Grayshott inhabitant and local historian, is in Winchester Bishopric records as Gravesetta (1185) and Graveschete (1200). In 1533 it was called Graveshotte, and the named changed to its current spelling probably in the 18th century. J H Smith's book was republished in 2002 by John Owen Smith. A detailed survey of

2400-612: Is popular with walkers, including nearby Waggoners Wells . Ludshott Common , one mile to the west, is an area of heathland and woodland and part of the East Hampshire Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty; one mile to the east is Hindhead and the Devil's Punch Bowl , a site of special scientific interest , and to the north is the Golden Valley, a densely wooded valley between the B3002 and A287 roads. In School Road

2480-498: Is set amongst woodland in a steep valley situated between Ludshott Common to the north west and Bramshott Common to the south east. The original name of the series of ponds was Wakeners' Wells. They were created in the 17th century by the Hooke family of Bramshott.  They were possibly originally intended as hammer ponds, that is, to serve the local iron industry, but they appear never to have been so used. The woodland surrounding

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2560-452: Is the birthplace of actor Colin Firth , best known for his appearances in films such as Bridget Jones's Diary , Mamma Mia! , A Single Man and The King's Speech . Musician Alexander O’Connor, known professionally as Rex Orange County is from Grayshott. Former England table tennis player Alison Broe resides in Grayshott. Civil parish In England, a civil parish is

2640-504: 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

2720-526: The A333 at Hindhead to Headley Down , Headley and Bordon , and Crossways Road which runs south east from the centre of the village. East of the village centre, joining these two roads, is Boundary Road, which marks the boundary between Hampshire and Surrey. Originally, the name referred to a hamlet a mile west of the present village. Grayshott was part of Headley parish until 1901 ( ecclesiastical parish ) and 1902 ( civil parish ). The present civil parish

2800-761: 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

2880-1010: 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

2960-411: 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

3040-472: 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

3120-692: 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

3200-470: 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

3280-564: 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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3360-591: 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

3440-511: 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

3520-473: The 695 acres (2.81 km ) were burnt by a fire fanned by high winds. Residents of roads in Headley Down which bordered the common were evacuated. Firefighters brought the fire under control in just over seven hours at 19:55. Relief crews remained on site overnight controlling small outbreaks of fire and damping down, with further relief crews taking over at 06:00 the following morning. Waggoners Wells

3600-610: The Canadian Rifles stationed at Bramshott Camp ) at Codere's billet in Crossways Road. Codere was found guilty and sentenced to hang, but the sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment on the grounds of insanity. St. Luke's Church, whose tower and spire (added in 1910) combined are 100 feet tall, was begun in 1898 and consecrated in 1900. It is a part of the Guildford diocese . St Joseph's Roman Catholic Church

3680-549: The Royal Naval Sailors' Rests, lived in Crossways Road for a number of years. The Anglo-Dutch performer and silent film actress Margie Morris (1892–1983) died in Grayshott. Towards Headley Down is the health farm Grayshott Spa. This building, known as Grayshott Hall, is on the site of a small farm which Alfred Tennyson and his family rented in 1867 while he had Aldworth built nearby in Haslemere . Grayshott

3760-738: 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

3840-477: The area made in the reign of Edward VI (1547–53) used the name Graueshot and describes large areas of "waste". The shott suffix in local names refers to springs flowing from the sandstone rock strata. The village is mentioned in the Headley Parish Register of 1564 as Grashott, and as Grayshott in 1584. At this time the name applied to a hamlet about a mile to the west of the present village;

3920-513: The beginning of the 20th century. The land was acquired by the National Trust in 1908 in response to the growing pressure from housing development in Headley Down. During the Second World War in the 1940s, Ludshott Common was used as a tank manoeuvres training ground, and the heather was largely turned to mud. The heather recovered, and was managed from the 1970s onwards. A camp (named Superior Camp) for Canadian troops, one of several in

4000-399: 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

4080-537: 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

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4160-464: 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

4240-466: 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

4320-459: 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

4400-463: 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

4480-439: 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

4560-536: The end of 2020, owing to their roots having been damaged by fires. In 2013 consultations were underway with a view to seeking permission to resume grazing on 550 acres of the common. Ludshott Common constituted half of the ancient Manor of Ludshott, in the Hundred of Neatham , dating back to Saxon times. It is described as being under the lordship of Hugh de Port in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it

4640-534: 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

4720-645: 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

4800-455: 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

4880-470: The largest in the county, and the village has its own retained fire station. A village square and two village greens are close to the centre. To the west of the village there is a recreation ground with cricket pavilion, football club, skate park and tennis club. There is a long history of amateur drama in the village, beginning before World War 1 and continuing to the present day. The Grayshott Stagers have held this mantle since 1951. The Grayshott area

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4960-476: 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

5040-403: The latter, apart from a few isolated dwellings, did not begin to develop until the 19th century when wealthy incomers began to settle there and encourage development. Previously, the area had a reputation for lawlessness. At the earliest census, 1841, Grayshott had 114 inhabitants, increasing gradually over the rest of the century and then more than doubling between 1891 (238) and 1901 (666). This

5120-465: 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

5200-559: The national Refreshment House Association, a temperance -based organisation. In 1914 the landlord was James Ashbrooke Holme, a lay reader from Bishopstoke, Hampshire. His wife Charlotte had been one of the survivors of the Titanic sinking. The pub was taken over by Gales Brewery in the 1950s. The Grayshott Village Archive website has a page on notable former village residents with biographical and historical detail. From 1898 to 1900 Flora Thompson , author of Lark Rise to Candleford ,

5280-465: 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

5360-488: 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

5440-401: 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

5520-404: 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

5600-562: 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

5680-499: 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

5760-582: The place at which Alfred, Lord Tennyson was inspired to compose his short poem Flower in the Crannied Wall . The stream flowing from Waggoners Wells runs west to Standford , around the west of Headley , and eventually into the River Wey . The stream powered many mills that worked ironworks, including Headley Mill . Paper mills were also run along the water that flowed from Waggoners Wells. The gatefold photo of Fleetwood Mac 's 1973 album Penguin

5840-409: The ponds is notable for its mature beech trees. Vehicular access is via Waggoners Wells Lane from Grayshott as far as the ford and a small car park beyond; the lane originally continued south-eastwards to Kingswood Lane, and thence to the London to Portsmouth road ( A3 ), but today only a footpath through the woodland remains. Catch and release fishing for carp, roach, tench, perch and other species

5920-411: 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

6000-438: 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

6080-541: The vicinity, was built at the eastern corner of the common. Evidence of the layout can be seen even though it was demolished in the 1950s/1960s. Periodically, fires would break out on the common. In 1962, 200 acres (0.81 km ) were burnt and, in 1965, 400 acres (1.6 km ). Further serious fires occurred in 1969 and 1976, the latter being the worst ever known in Hampshire, spreading rapidly and burning 600 acres (2.4 km ), lasting eight days. On 12 May 1980, 600 of

6160-539: Was assistant postmistress in Grayshott and lived in The Avenue. Among her customers were Arthur Conan Doyle , who lived at Undershaw (which became the Undershaw Hotel, now a school for pupils with special needs) next to Hindhead crossroads, and George Bernard Shaw , who lived at Blen Cathra, Boundary Road, now St Edmund's School, Hindhead . Dame Agnes Weston (1840–1918), philanthropist and founder of

6240-455: Was built in 1911. Grayshott CE Primary School traces its origins to the 19th century. The National School was founded in 1871 on land provided by the architect Edward I'Anson , who had moved to the village ten years earlier. His descendants maintained a close connection to the area (his son made funds available for the construction of the church) and many of these are buried and memorialised in its churchyard. Grayshott Village Hall claims to be

6320-475: Was listed as comprising 10 households; in 1066 the overlord had been King Edward the Confessor . Court baron rolls go back to about 1400. Ludshott Common owes its present state to the traditional use made of common land by local people: to graze their cattle, pigs, sheep, and ponies and to collect gorse, heather, wood, and bracken for fuel, and for animal bedding and winter fodder. Such uses ceased around

6400-529: Was the result of the growing popularity of the Hindhead area's healthy climate, the accessibility afforded by the railway coming to Haslemere in 1859 and the subsequent rise in trade to accommodate this popularity. Two notable murders took place in the early 20th century. In 1901, postmaster Walter Chapman stabbed to death his wife Emily and was found guilty but insane and committed to Broadmoor Hospital . In 1915 Lieutenant Codere murdered Sergeant Ozanne (both of

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