The parish is the smallest unit of ecclesiastical and administrative organization in England. In the 7th and 8th centuries regional churches ('minsters') were founded, staffed by teams of priests who served large 'parochiae' covering the area of perhaps five to 15 later parishes. These were broken up during the 10th to 12th centuries as landowners founded local churches for themselves and their tenants, though it was only in the 12th century that the territories which these served crystallized into a formal parochial system.

1. A district under the religious care of a priest. Parishes in England date from at least the 7th century. Initially they were often coterminous with the estate of a lord, who controlled the appointment of a priest (see advowson) and was sometimes entitled to the ecclesiastical income of the parish, chiefly tithes. Following the Lateran Council (1179), however, the bishops had greater control over the parishes in their dioceses. The creation of new parishes, in response to the growth of population and changes in its distribution, is the responsibility of the Church Commissioners.
2. The smallest unit of local government. Parishes became units of civil administration in the 16th century, when they were made responsible for the highways and for administering the poor law. The boundaries of civil and ecclesiastical parishes, at first corresponding, increasingly diverged with the growing complexity of local government, especially in the 19th century. The powers of the parish councils are now limited to such matters as maintaining bus shelters and footpaths. The ancient custom of `beating the bounds' (or marking the boundaries) on 25 April and the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Ascension Day (the Rogation Days) is still practiced in some parishes. 

advowson 

The right of presentation to a benefice by a bishop or layman. Lay patronage dates from the 8th century, when laymen began to build churches on their land. Advowsons still exist as property rights tenable by British citizens who are not Roman Catholics.

tithe 

The payment of one-tenth of the earnings or produce of an inhabitant of a parish for the upkeep of the church. 

Originally voluntary, tithes were first enforced in the mid-10th century, and they became an important item in the income of parish priests (see vicar). The payment of tithes was widely resented and became a political issue during the Interregnum, when Barebones Parliament (1653) sought to abolish them. They were also bitterly resented by the Roman Catholic majority in Ireland and formed one of the grievances of the Whiteboys. A series of Tithe Acts (1836-91) replaced tithes with rent charges dependent on corn prices; these charges were abolished in 1936. Similar acts were later passed for Scotland and Ireland.

Church Commissioners 

The body that manages the temporal affairs of the Church of England. 

Created in 1948 by the amalgamation of the former Ecclesiastical Commissioners (first appointed in 1836) and the commissioners of Queen Anne's Bounty, the Church Commissioners are responsible for the administration of church properties and finances and for the reorganization, when necessary, of parishes.

poor laws 

The laws designed to provide relief for the poor. 

An act of 1536 provided relief for the `impotent poor' but compelled `sturdy beggars' to work. Relief was funded by voluntary subscription and administered by the parish. In 1552 parish registers of the poor were introduced, and in 1563 and 1597 justices of the peace were given powers to raise compulsory funds. Administration was regularized by the Poor Law Act (1601), which introduced a poor relief rate on property owners. The Act of Settlement (1662) permitted parish overseers to send vagrants back to their native parishes. From 1723 the Workhouse Test Act obliged the poor to enter workhouses to obtain relief, but Gilbert's Act (1782) excluded the able-bodied poor from the workhouse and forced parishes to provide work or outdoor relief for them. After 1795 the Speenhamland system was widely adopted. Increased hardship among agricultural workers and heavy expenditure on outdoor relief in the early 19th century resulted in the Poor Law Amendment Act (1834). The act created 600 unions of parishes, managed by boards of guardians elected by ratepayers. Outdoor relief ceased, all paupers being forced into the workhouse, in which conditions were deliberately harsh. New attitudes to poverty in the 20th century resulted in the introduction of insurance schemes (see national insurance), which provided a comprehensive social security network that replaced the poor laws.

Rogation Days

Days of prayer, and formerly also of fasting, instituted by the Church to appease God's anger at man's transgressions, to ask protection in calamities, and to obtain a good and bountiful harvest, known in England as "Gang Days" and "Cross Week", and in Germany as Bittage, Bittwoche, Kreuzwoche. The Rogation Days were highly esteemed in England and King Alfred's laws considered a theft committed on these days equal to one committed on Sunday or a higher Church Holy Day. Their celebration continued even to the thirteenth year of Elizabeth, 1571, when one of the ministers of the Established Church inveighed against the Rogation processions, or Gang Days, of Cross Week.