List Of Civil Parishes In Somerset
The ceremonial county of Somerset, England is divided into 417 areas known as civil parishes, which are subnational entities forming the lowest unit of local government in England. Parishes arose from Church of England divisions, and were given their current powers and responsibilities by the Local Government Act 1894. The Local Government Act 1972 retained civil parishes in rural areas. Many former urban districts and municipal boroughs were replaced by new successor parishes; urban areas that were considered too large to be single parishes became unparished areas.
The county of Somerset consists of a non-metropolitan county administered by Somerset County Council, divided into five districts and two unitary authorities. The districts of Somerset are West Somerset, South Somerset, Taunton Deane, Mendip and Sedgemoor. The two administratively independent unitary authorities, which were established on 1 April 1996 following the break-up of the county of Avon, are North Somerset and Bath and North East Somerset. These unitary authorities include areas that were part of Somerset before the creation of Avon in 1974.
The city of Bath is the largest centre of population in Bath and North East Somerset. Areas of the city that were formerly within the Bath County Borough are now unparished, but the rest of the authority is divided into 49 parishes. In terms of population, based on the census of 2001, the smallest is St Catherine with 69 residents, and the largest is the town of Norton Radstock with 21,325. All of North Somerset, the other unitary authority, is covered by its 39 parishes ranging from the village Loxton with a population of 202, to the town of Weston-super-Mare with 71,758 inhabitants.
South Somerset is the largest of Somerset's five districts, covering an area of 958 square kilometres (370 sq mi) from the borders with Devon and Dorset to the edge of the Somerset Levels. It has a population of about 158,000, living in 121 parishes. The largest settlement in the district is Yeovil, with a population of 28,000, and the smallest is Cricket St Thomas with just 50. Part of Taunton formerly within Taunton Municipal Borough is unparished, but the rest of Taunton Deane is divided into 49 parishes. Tolland has just 81 residents, compared to the town of Wellington which has 12,979. West Somerset is a largely rural area, with a population of 35,075 in an area of 740 square kilometres (290 sq mi). According to figures released by the Office for National Statistics in 2009, the population of West Somerset has the oldest average age of any district in the United Kingdom at 52, living in 43 parishes. Treborough has just 51 residents, compared to the 10,330 living in its most populous town, Minehead. Sedgemoor has 54 parishes ranging in population from Greinton with 71 to Bridgwater with 33,698. The Mendip district covers a largely rural area of 738 square kilometres (285 sq mi), ranging from the Mendip Hills through on to the Somerset Levels. It has a population of about 110,000, living in 62 parishes, the largest of which, Frome has 24,510 residents; the smallest, Sharpham has a population of 71.
Read more about List Of Civil Parishes In Somerset: History, Current Position, Bath and North East Somerset, Mendip, North Somerset, Sedgemoor, South Somerset, Taunton Deane, West Somerset
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