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106-406: Holkham is a small village and civil parish in north Norfolk , England, which includes a stately home and estate, Holkham Hall , and a beach, Holkham Gap, at the centre of Holkham National Nature Reserve . The parish has an area of 23.92 km (9.24 sq mi) and in the 2001 census had a population of 236 in 104 households. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within

212-522: 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

318-515: 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

424-576: 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

530-477: 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

636-462: 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

742-559: 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

848-440: 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

954-481: 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

1060-586: 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

1166-691: A half miles (18.5 km) by sea. The bay is made up of multiple estuaries, marshland, deep water channels (in particular the Boston and Lynn Deeps), shifting shallow water channels which are all surrounded by multiple sandbanks. There are several large settlements near its coastline, the largest is the town of King's Lynn in Norfolk followed by the two slightly smaller towns of Boston in Lincolnshire and Wisbech in Cambridgeshire . These are

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1272-470: A hollow'. Medieval manuscripts concerning Holkham have been edited by William Hassall and Jacques Beauroy. Holkham Studio Pottery was set up at Holkham Hall in 1951, making it the first stately home to produce pottery on-site to sell in the gift shop . At its peak, it employed 100 people and sold its distinctive pottery around the world. The company, which produced earthenwares , became Holkham Pottery Ltd in 1961 and closed in 2007. Holkham parish church

1378-469: A hotel ('The Victoria Inn') and art gallery. Holkham Hall is one of the principal Palladian houses of England, built for an ancestor of Thomas Coke , noted agricultural innovator and later 1st Earl of Leicester of Holkham . The hall, now the home of the 8th Earl , is surrounded by an attractive park, with herds of red and fallow deer , a lake that was once a tidal creek , several monuments and drives, and its own church. Both hall and park are open to

1484-529: 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

1590-431: 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

1696-681: 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. The Wash The coastline

1802-416: 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

1908-503: 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

2014-533: A port during the first part of the 20th century leaving only very small craft being able to use this route. A re-survey of the coastline of the Wash carried out by the Ordnance Survey in 2011 revealed that an estimated additional 3,000 acres (1,200 hectares) on its coastline had been created by accretion since previous surveys between 1960 and 1980. The Wash varies enormously in water temperature throughout

2120-1079: 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

2226-409: 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

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2332-598: 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

2438-943: 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

2544-521: 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

2650-439: 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

2756-604: Is also a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I, a National Nature Reserve , a Ramsar site , a Special Area of Conservation and a Special Protection Area . It is in the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and part of it is the Snettisham Royal Society for the Protection of Birds nature reserve. The four most distinctive man-made landmarks that can be seen from

2862-681: Is also the regional boundary between the East Midlands and the East of England ) meeting just beyond this point before it continues eastwards to Ongar Hill where it meets the mouth of the River Great Ouse . The eastern coast of the Wash is entirely within Norfolk, and initially extends from the mouth of the River Great Ouse just north of the town of King's Lynn north eastwards towards the small village of Wolferton close to

2968-507: 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

3074-441: Is clearly identifiable as Old English , "village, manor, home." The Holk- remains unidentified. A suggestion has been made that it comes from *hoelig, "holy", in honour of the saint, but it would not have been named that before she was one. The guidebook of the parish church (which is dedicated to Saint Withburga) says the area was originally called 'Wihtburgstowe' but later 'holc-ham' which the church guide translates as 'homestead in

3180-578: Is evidence that his regalia were intact after the journey. The accident was said to have occurred somewhere near Sutton Bridge on the River Nene . John may have left his jewels in Lynn as security for a loan and arranged for their "loss". But that is considered an apocryphal account. He was recorded as staying the following night, 12–13 October 1216, at Swineshead Abbey , moving on to Newark-on-Trent , and dying of his illness on 19 October. The name of

3286-539: 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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3392-515: Is just south of the coast road, hidden in the trees of the Holkham Estate. It stands on a tall circular mound, which archaeologists suggest might be man-made and possibly pre-Saxon. Holkham parish church is dedicated to Saint Withburga. This dedication to a Saxon saint often implies a church has Saxon origins. Excavations at Holkham have found Saxon remains near the west end which may be a tower. Norman remains have been found incorporated into

3498-469: Is known as Wells Woods. Holkham Freshmarsh is a series of wet meadows which sit inland from the pine belt, and north of the A149. They are bisected by Lady Anne's Drive, which gives access to the woods and the beach. The marshes are important for their wintering population of pink-footed geese , and have been designated a National Nature Reserve . The last of the ancient Celts to inhabit East Anglia were

3604-476: Is made up of multiple estuaries, marshland, deep water channels (in particular the Boston and Lynn Deeps), and shifting shallow water channels which are all surrounded by multiple sandbanks. Due to these features, it is claimed to be one of the most challenging and hazardous places for sea navigation in the world. It is fed by the rivers Witham , Welland , Nene and Great Ouse . It is a 620 km (240 sq. mi.) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest . It

3710-516: Is mentioned in the popular dictionary Promptorium parvulorum of about 1440 as a water or a ford ( vadum ). A chronicle states that King Edward VI passed the Wasshes as he visited the town of King's Lynn in 1548. By then, documents began to refer to the Waashe or Wysche , but only for the tidal sands and shoals of the rivers Welland and Nene. Sixteenth-century scholars identified the Wash as

3816-405: 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

3922-697: Is partly in Lincolnshire and partly in Norfolk . The Lincolnshire side forms part of the only coastline of the East Midlands region whilst the Norfolk side forms the north-west corner of the East Anglian region. The coastline stretches from Gibraltar Point just south of the seaside town of Skegness to Gore Point near the village of Holme-next-the-Sea , just east of the seaside town of Hunstanton in Norfolk . These two points are over 75 miles (121 km) from each other by road, but only eleven and

4028-504: 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

4134-677: The Kingdom of England of the Hanseatic League of ports. During the 14th century, Lynn ranked as the most important port in England, when sea trade with Europe was dominated by the League. It still retains two medieval Hanseatic League warehouses: Hanse House built in 1475 and Marriott's Warehouse. King John of England is said to have lost some of his jewels at the Wash in 1216. According to contemporary reports, John travelled from Spalding , Lincolnshire, to Bishop's Lynn , Norfolk, but

4240-473: The Lincolne-Washes in his stage play King John (1616). During the 17th and 18th centuries the name Wash came to be used for the estuary itself. Drainage and reclamation works around the Wash continued until the 1970s. Large areas of salt marsh were progressively enclosed by banks and converted to agricultural land. The Wash is now surrounded by artificial sea defences on all three landward sides. In

4346-761: 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

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4452-1010: 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

4558-411: 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

4664-618: The Royal Greenwich Observatory and by the Bidston Observatory in Birkenhead that the tide had actually been going out, and by further studying the lay of the now reclaimed land, he ascertained that the cause had been a reverse tidal surge, whereby the outgoing tide suddenly sped up at a certain point. However, scholars cannot agree on whether the king's jewels were in the baggage train, and there

4770-587: The Sandringham estate before heading northwards from Snettisham to the low lands of Heacham , the town of Hunstanton, and the village of Old Hunstanton , before reaching its northern extremity at Gore Point near Holme-next-the-Sea , where the Norfolk coast turns eastwards. Inland from the Wash the land is flat, low-lying and often marshy: these are the Fens of Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk. Deposits of sediment and land reclamation have altered

4876-642: The Silver Pit is one of many. This process gave the Silver Pit its depth and narrowness. When the tunnel valley was free of ice and seawater, it was occupied by the river. This kept it free of sediment, unlike most tunnel valleys. Since the sea flooded it, the valley seems to have been kept open by tidal action. During the Ipswichian Stage , the Wash River probably flowed by way of the site of

4982-472: 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

5088-692: 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

5194-465: The district of North Norfolk . The village of Holkham is located on the coast road (the A149 ) between Wells-next-the-Sea and Burnham Overy Staithe . At one time the village was a landing with access to the sea via a tidal creek to the harbour at Wells. The creek succumbed to land reclamation, much of which created the grounds of the estate, starting in 1639 and ending in 1859 when the harbour at Wells

5300-659: The Æstuarium Metuonis ("The Reaping/Mowing/Cutting-Off Estuary") mentioned by Ptolemy in Roman times. They claimed the word was still in occasional use. William Camden characterized The Washes as "a very large arme" of the "German Ocean" (the North Sea ), "at every tide and high sea covered all with water, but when the sea ebbeth, and the tide is past, a man may pass over it as on dry land, but yet not without danger", as King John learned not without his loss (see below). Inspired by Camden's account, William Shakespeare mentioned

5406-470: 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

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5512-484: The 12th century, when drainage and embankment efforts led by monks began to separate the land from the estuarine mudflats, the Wash was a tidal part of the Fens that reached as far as Cambridge and Peterborough . Local people put up fierce resistance against the Normans for some time after the 1066 Conquest . The name Wash may have been derived from Old English wāse meaning mud, slime or ooze. The word Wasche

5618-501: The 1970s, two large circular banks were built in the Terrington Marsh area of the Wash, as part of an abortive attempt to turn the entire estuary into a fresh water reservoir. The plan failed, not least because the banks were built using mud dredged from the salt marsh, which salinated fresh water stored there. From 13th century the market town and seaport of Bishop's Lynn became the first member trading depot ( Kontor ) in

5724-564: 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

5830-591: 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

5936-511: 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

6042-507: The British king, Vortigern , in 455. By about 600 the distribution of cruciform brooches, a diagnostic of Anglo-Jutish society, show that the culture had displaced the Celtic on the east coast of Britain, including coastal East Anglia. A similar displacement was true of Saxon culture in south-east Britain, diagnosed by saucer brooches. Two bands of Saxons penetrated into East Anglia, one down

6148-574: The Coke family plot on the south side of the churchyard. Inside the parish church there are several other memorials to various members of the Coke family of Holkham Hall. During the post medieval period, many Cokes were also buried in St. Mary's Church, Tittleshall . Civil parishes in England In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government . It

6254-592: The North Norfolk Coast Special Protection Area. To the north-west, the Wash extends to Gibraltar Point, another SPA. The partly confined nature of the Wash habitats, combined with ample tidal flows, allows shellfish to breed, especially shrimp , cockles and mussels . Some water birds such as oystercatchers feed on shellfish. It is also a breeding area for common tern , and a feeding area for marsh harriers . Migrating birds such as geese , duck and wading birds come to

6360-598: The Silver Pit, but the tunnel valley would not have been formed at this stage, as its alignment seems inconsistent. In Roman Britain , embankments were built around the Wash's margins to protect agricultural land from flooding. However, they fell into disrepair after the Roman withdrawal in 407 CE. From 865 to about 1066, the Wash was used by the Vikings as a major route to invade East Anglia and Middle England . Danes established themselves in Cambridge in 875. Before

6466-611: The Wash in large numbers to spend the winter, with an average total of around 400,000 birds present at any one time. It has been estimated that some two million birds a year use the Wash for feeding and roosting during their annual migrations. The Wash is recognised as being internationally important for 17 species of bird. They include pink-footed goose , dark-bellied brent goose , shelduck , pintail , oystercatcher , ringed plover , grey plover , golden plover , lapwing , knot , sanderling , dunlin , black-tailed godwit , bar-tailed godwit , curlew , redshank and turnstone . At

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6572-641: The Wash: both via the large channel known as the Lynn Deeps. Each of the three shipping lanes has maritime pilot stations to guide and navigate incoming and outgoing cargo ships. Large boats can now only access the River Welland as far as Fosdyke Bridge since the replacement of the old swing bridge which carries the A17 road over the river with a fixed bridge in 1990 following the decline of Spalding as

6678-738: 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

6784-566: The bay are: The Outer Trial Bank , a remnant of a 1970s experiment, lies some two miles (three kilometres) off the Lincolnshire coast near the mouth of the River Nene. The most notable nature feature is Hunstanton Cliffs , comprising strata of orange, red and white chalk . In 1934 a proposal was made, supported by racing driver Malcolm Campbell , to build a 15-mile-long (24-kilometre) race track on reclaimed land from Boston to Gibraltar Point , near Skegness . It would have been used as

6890-443: The belfry windows. The belfry itself is Decorated (14th century) while the battlements and pinnacles are Perpendicular (15th to 16th century). During restoration work at least six 12th and 13th century coffin lids with foliated crosses were found on site and are now on show inside the church. The north aisle and north transept are thought to have been added later than the 13th century as burials and parts of coffin lids were found under

6996-399: 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

7102-447: The coastline of the Wash markedly in historical times. Several towns once on the coast of the Wash (notably King's Lynn) are now some distance inland. Much of the Wash itself is very shallow, with several large sandbanks, such as Breast Sand, Bulldog Sand, Roger Sand and Old South Sand, which are exposed at low tide, especially along the south coast. These form hazards to navigation. Three commercial shipping lane channels lead inland from

7208-537: 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

7314-464: 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

7420-466: 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

7526-459: 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

7632-414: The death of the 1st Earl in 1759. A major renovation of the church was completed in 1869 at the expense of Juliana, the wife of the 2nd Earl of Leicester . This cost £9,000. She died the following year and has a striking sculpted memorial in the north chapel of the church. The unusual mausoleum in the west wall of the churchyard was built for Juliana in the 1870s, but her body was transferred in 1905 to

7738-463: 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

7844-439: 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

7950-462: The end of the latest glaciation , and while the sea level remained lower than it is today, the rivers Witham, Welland, Glen , Nene and Great Ouse joined into a large river. The deep valley of the Wash was formed, not by an interglacial river, but by ice of the Wolstonian and Devensian stages flowing southwards up the slope represented by the modern coast and forming tunnel valleys , of which

8056-534: 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

8162-480: The foundations. The church is known to have been enlarged in the 14th century and many of the internal arches are Decorated period. By the early 18th century the church had fallen into decay but the development of Holkham Estate by the Coke family led to renewed interest in the church. In 1767 the Countess Dowager of Leicester put up £1,000 for its repair. She had overseen the completion of Holkham Hall after

8268-645: 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

8374-455: 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

8480-429: The importance of the natural marshes has increased in the 21st century, the seawall at Freiston has been breached in three places to increase the salt-marsh area and provide extra habitat for birds , particularly waders , and as a natural flood-prevention measure. The extensive creeks in the salt marsh and the vegetation that grows there help to dissipate wave energy, so enhancing the protection afforded to land behind

8586-476: 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

8692-465: 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

8798-482: The mouth of the River Welland just north east of the village of Fosdyke , and is entirely within Lincolnshire. The southern coast from Fosdyke to King's Lynn runs roughly north-west to south-east, connecting these two river mouths, and is punctuated by the mouth of a third river, the River Nene, which flows into the Wash just north of Sutton Bridge with the county boundary between Lincolnshire and Norfolk (which

8904-465: 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

9010-488: 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

9116-401: 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

9222-404: 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

9328-562: 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

9434-499: 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

9540-411: 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

9646-511: The present building which implies that the Normans expanded the Saxon building – as they did at other churches. In turn this Norman church made way for an Early English building (13th century). The tower and the western part of the south aisle date from this period. The church guidebook notes that the tower gets progressively younger as it goes up. The lower section is Early English up to the sill of

9752-401: The public. From the main coast road Lady Anne's Drive, a toll road owned by the Holkham Estate, crosses the reclaimed salt marshes to Holkham Gap. This is a gap in pine -fringed sand dunes which form the outer coastline. From here, an uninterrupted sandy beach runs both ways to Wells and Burnham Overy Staithe . To the west of the gap is a nudist section of beach. Holkham railway station

9858-438: 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

9964-518: The river changed as a result of redirection of the Great Ouse in the 17th century. Bishop's Lynn was renamed as King's Lynn in the 16th century as a result of King Henry VIII 's establishment of the Church of England . A Ministry of Defence weapons Range Danger Area lies along a small region of the Wash coastline, reserved for Royal Air Force , Army Air Corps and NATO-allied bombing and air weapons training. RAF Holbeach , active since 1926,

10070-537: The rivers that empty into the Wash and the other into the centre. In the 7th century the Germanic kings of these regions were being converted to Christianity. The Anglisc or Englisc of East Anglia may already by that time have been divided into the "North Folk" and the "South Folk." In 654 the Christian king of East Anglia, Anna of East Anglia , was killed in battle against the last pagan king of Mercia . So great

10176-571: The saint. The existence of the saint is attested by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , which for the year 798 records that the body of Wihtburga, sister of St. Aethelthryth , was found to be uncorrupted at Dereham 55 years after her death. The Chronicle and the historian, Bede , do not state the name of Holkham. It does appear as that in the Domesday Book , 1086, which means that it must precede Middle English . The element -ham

10282-529: The salt marsh. This is an example of the recent exploration of the possibilities of sustainable coastal management by adopting soft engineering techniques, rather than with dykes and drainage. The same scheme includes new brackish lagoon habitat. On the eastern side of the Wash, low chalk cliffs, with a noted stratum of red chalk, are found at Hunstanton. The gravel pits (lagoons) found at Snettisham RSPB reserve are an important roost for waders at high tide. This Special Protection Area (SPA) borders onto

10388-457: The three main inland ports in the Wash area; a fourth smaller port is also available for shipping on the River Nene at Sutton Bridge and a small marina for pleasure craft is also accessible on the tidal River Welland at Fosdyke Bridge . Nearby, on either side of the Wash at almost opposite ends to each other, are the seaside towns of Skegness which is located on the top of the Lincolnshire side just north of Gibraltar Point and Hunstanton on

10494-443: The top of the Norfolk side north of the nearby royal estate of Sandringham . The Wash makes a large indentation in the coastline of Eastern England that separates Lincolnshire from the curved coast of East Anglia . It is a large bay with three roughly straight sides meeting at right angles, each about 15 miles (25 kilometres) in length. The western coast, which is roughly parallel to the east coast, runs from Gibraltar Point to

10600-524: The tribe of the Iceni . They are believed responsible for the earthworks of the Roman Iron Age visible in the marsh. A Roman road runs along the west side of the estate. Their provincial capital under Roman occupation was Venta Icenorum near Norwich . The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the years 449–454 records the arrival of large numbers of Angles and Jutes under Hengist and Horsa , defeating

10706-512: The year. Winter temperatures are brought near freezing by the cold North Sea flows. Summer water temperatures can reach 20–23 °C (68–73 °F) after prolonged high ambient air temperature and sun. This effect, which typically happens in the shallow areas around beaches and often only in pockets of water, is exaggerated by the large sheltered tidal reach . The Wash is made up of extensive salt marshes , major inter-tidal banks of sand and mud, shallow waters and deep channels. As understanding of

10812-448: Was edged with a sea wall. The land west of the wall was subsequently turned to agricultural uses. Aerial photographs show traces of the creek in the topsoil, and the lake to the west of the hall appears to be based on a remnant of it. Now the village serves principally as the main entrance to the hall and deer park, and to Lady Anne's Drive which leads to the beach. Among the houses of the village are several estate-owned businesses, including

10918-408: Was his Christian affirmation that his four daughters renounced the world and became saints. Numerous lives of the saints relate that the youngest, Saint Withburga , was brought up at Holkham. She later founded a Benedictine nunnery at East Dereham and was eventually buried at Ely in 743. This is the first reference to Holkham. A church on the grounds of the estate, still used for worship, commemorates

11024-533: Was historically originally part of the former RAF Sutton Bridge station. Another air-weapons training range located on the Wash ;– RAF Wainfleet , operating from 1938, was decommissioned in 2010. Sailing from out of the South Lincolnshire Fens into the Wash, especially for shell-fishing, is traditionally known locally as "going down below". The origin of the phrase is unclear. The bay

11130-474: Was located about halfway along Lady Anne's Drive (to the east). The railway line through to Holkham was built in 1864. The line made up part of the Great Eastern Railway network, which ran from Wells-next-the-Sea , through Holkham and on to Burnham Market . The line was closed in 1952. Holkham Pines is the large belt of pine trees which runs west to east inland from the beach; the eastern end

11236-475: Was taken ill and decided to return. While he took the longer route by way of Wisbech , he sent his baggage train , comprising horse-drawn wagons, along the causeway and ford across the mouth of the Wellstream, a route usable only at low tide. The wagons moved too slowly to escape the incoming tide and many were lost. However, the treasure hunter and researcher Alan Marshall has proven from data supplied him by

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