Township (England)
In England, a township (Latin: villa) is a local division or district of a large parish containing a village or small town usually having its own church. A township may or may not be coterminous with a chapelry, manor, or any other minor area of local administration.
The township is to be distinguished from the following:
- Vill: traditionally, amongst legal historians, a vill referred to the tract of land of a rural community, whereas 'township' was referred to when the tax and legal administration of a rural community was meant.
- Chapelry: the 'parish' of a chapel (a church without full parochial functions).
- Tithing: the basic unit of the medieval Frankpledge system.
'Township' is, however, sometimes loosely used loosely for one of the above.
Read more about Township (England): History, Modern Use
Famous quotes containing the word township:
“A township where one primitive forest waves above while another primitive forest rots below,—such a town is fitted to raise not only corn and potatoes, but poets and philosophers for the coming ages. In such a soil grew Homer and Confucius and the rest, and out of such a wilderness comes the Reformer eating locusts and wild honey.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)