Catalogue Item

Wingate Civil Parish

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• Wingate Civil Parish
  • Wingate Parish Council (Ref: CP/WG )
  • Annual meetings (Ref: CP/WG 1)
  • Minutes (Ref: CP/WG 2-6)
  • Financial records (Ref: CP/WG 7-8)
  • Declarations of acceptance of office (Ref: CP/WG 9-10)
  • Deaf Hill and Wheatley Hill Cemeteries (Ref: CP/WG 11-21)
  • War graves (Ref: CP/WG )
  • Registers (Ref: CP/WG 17)
  • Correspondence (Ref: CP/WG 18)
  • Burial fees (Ref: CP/WG/)
  • Registers of fees (Ref: CP/WG 14-15)
  • Tables of fees (Ref: CP/WG 19)
  • Burial grants (Ref: CP/WG 11-13)
  • Memorials (Ref: CP/WG 16)
  • Correspondence (Ref: CP/WG 20)
  • Loans for provision of burial ground (Ref: CP/WG 21)
  • Electoral Divisions (Ref: CP/WG 22)
  • Parish Officers (Ref: CP/WG 23)
  • Lighting and electricity supply (Ref: CP/WG 24)
  • Footpaths (Ref: CP/WG 25)

Catalogue Description

Changes in administration leading towards modern structures in the local government system, as we see them today, began before the Local Government Act 1894 came into life. The Representation of the People Act 1832 initiated the whole system of changes in English administration in the 19th Century. Many ancient parishes were turned into new administrative units following the Poor Law Amendment Act 1866. Generally, ecclesiastical parishes were substituted by civil parishes, which became the smallest administrative units. Urban and Rural districts were also introduced in 1894 and, together with Municipal Boroughs already in existence, created a middle tier in the administrative system, each comprising several civil parishes. Therefore, at the end of the century, there were three main levels in the local government hierarchy: counties, districts and civil parishes.

Civil parishes at first were organised the way the old poor law union and ecclesiastical parishes were. Boundaries of most were identical with ecclesiastical parishes, but with time they changed due to several local government reorganisations.

The 1894 Act introduced elected councils on a parish level, having been established in counties first in 1888. Parishes with a population of over 300 had an obligation to elect a council, and parishes over 200 could decide whether they needed one or not. If they chose not to, then all decisions on their behalf were made by a relevant district council and the same procedure applied to small parishes. Initially, members of the parish council were elected from the local government electors for the parish during the parish annual meeting, but this changed after the Representation of the People Act 1948 came into force, making the election process more clear and transparent.

Parish council functions focus on everyday life of the local community and, as we can see in the records they create, they mainly dealing with matters relating to footpaths, village greens, allotments, bus shelters, lighting, libraries and local entertainment and leisure centres. Occasionally they deal with cases of public order disturbances and rural crime. Some look after closed churchyards and manage burial grounds after burial boards were abolished under the 1894 Act.

Wingate became a civil parish in 1894, and a parish council was established in 1906. From 1894 Wingate was a parish within Easington Rural District. In 1974 the RDC was replaced by Easington District Council, and in 2009, all districts within the county were abolished to create Durham County Council as a single unitary authority.

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