Sacriston Civil Parish
Reference: CP/Sac Catalogue Title: Sacriston Civil Parish Area: Catalogue Category: Local Authority Records Description:
Covering Dates: 1886-1995
Catalogue Index
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- Sacriston Civil Parish
- Sacriston Civil Parish (Ref: CP/Sac)
- Sacriston Parish Council (Ref: CP/Sac )
- Minutes (Ref: CP/Sac Section 1)
- Financial records (Ref: CP/Sac Section 2)
- Cash account books (Ref: CP/Sac )
- Payments to members (Ref: CP/Sac )
- Receipts and payments (Ref: CP/Sac )
- Registers of mortgages (Ref: CP/Sac Section 3)
- Correspondence (Ref: CP/Sac Section 4)
- Allotments (Ref: CP/Sac Section 5)
- Allotment rent ledgers (Ref: CP/Sac )
- Registers of allotments (Ref: CP/Sac )
- Witton Gilbert Vestry (Ref: CP/Sac Section 2)
- Minutes (Ref: CP/Sac )
- Joint Burial Committee (Ref: CP/Sac Section 3)
- Minutes (Ref: CP/Sac Section 1)
- Notices of interment (Ref: CP/Sac Section 2)
- Receipts (Ref: CP/Sac Section 3)
- Permits to erect monuments (Ref: CP/Sac Section 4)
- Applications for approval of additional inscription for a gravestone (Ref: CP/Sac Section 5)
- Declarations for burial of a stillborn child (Ref: CP/Sac Section 6)
- Kimblesworth and Plawsworth Joint Burial Committee (Ref: CP/Sac Section 4)
- Minutes (Ref: CP/Sac )
Catalogue Description
Administrative changes leading towards modern structures in local government, as we see them today, began before the Local Government Act 1894. Many ancient parishes were turned into new administrative units under the Poor Law Amendment Act 1866. This was just one of the changes as a consequence of the Representation of the People Act 1832, which initiated changes to the whole system of English administration in the 19th Century.Urban and Rural districts were introduced in 1894, and civil parishes, which became the smallest administrative units. Together with municipal boroughs already in existence, the UDCs and RDCs created a middle tier in the administrative system, each comprising several civil parishes. So 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 in the same way as the old poor law union and ecclesiastical parishes. Boundaries of most were identical with ecclesiastical parishes, but in time these changed, following several local government reorganisations.
The 1894 Act introduced elected councils on a parish level (they had been established at County level since 1888). Parishes with a population greater than 300 were obliged 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, the parish council was 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 deal 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 vandalism. Some look after closed churchyards and manage burial grounds after burial boards were abolished under the 1894 Act.
From 1894 Sacriston was part of the civil parish of Witton Gilbert, and was in Chester Ward and Chester-le-Street Poor Law Union. On 1 April 1937 (under the County of Durham Review Order, 1937) 908 acres of Witton Gilbert civil parish were divided off and created as Sacriston civil parish, which remained in Chester-le-Street Rural District (although the remainder of Witton Gilbert was transferred to Durham Rural District). In 1974, the RDC was replaced by Chester-le-Street District Council, and in 2009 all districts within the county were abolished to create Durham County Council as a single unitary authority.
When Sacriston civil parish was created many of the records of the old Witton Gilbert council continued in use by the new council and can be found below. Records which relate purely to Witton Gilbert Parish Council can be found at CP/WiG (although they will contain references to the Sacriston part of the parish before 1937).
Catalogue Contents
Numbers CP/Sac 1-8, CP/Sac 9/1/1 and CP/Sac 10/1/1 not used
Minutes (Ref: CP/Sac Section 1)Ref: CP/Sac 9/1/1The Burial Committee appears to have been covered both Witton Gilbert and Sacriston civil parishes from 1937; on 1 April 1951 Witton Gilbert withdrew, but Plawsworth and Kimblesworth civil parishes joined.
Minutes (Ref: CP/Sac Section 1)Ref: CP/Sac 9/4/1