Township - United Kingdom

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom the term township is no longer in official use, but the term still has some meaning.

In England, "township" referred to a subdivision used to administer a large parish. This use became obsolete at the end of the 19th century, when local government reform converted many townships that had been subdivisions of ancient parishes into the newer civil parishes in their own right. This formally separated the connection between the ecclesiastical functions of ancient parishes and the civil administrative functions that had been started in the 16th century. Recently, some councils, normally in the north of England, have revived the term. Municipalities as a term lived on longer until the local government reforms of 1974. A municipal council was the name given to a type of local government council administering a Municipal Borough that could contain civil parishes or be unparished.

In Scotland the term is still used for some rural settlements. In parts of north west Scotland (Highlands and Islands), a "township" is a crofting settlement. In the Scottish Highlands generally the term may describe a very small agrarian community, usually a local rural or semi-rural government within a county.

In Jersey, a township is a redundant term, as the only surviving local government level at present are the 12 Parishes of the island.