Parish (country subdivision)

administrative, non-ecclesiastical, division

A parish is a type of area used by some countries for administrative reasons. It's different from a church parish, so in some places, they call it a civil parish.

Here's a list of countries that use this type of division:

Country or territory Local name Notes
Andorra Parròquia
Antigua and Barbuda Parish
Australia Parish Official use of parishes is done on a state-by-state basis

Qld: Before Queensland's land records were digitized and renumbered, parishes were mentioned in title documents. Even though they were never formally removed, they aren't used anymore except in history-related matters.[1]

NSW: Used.[2]

Vic: Used.[3]

Tas: Used until the 20th century, when they were renamed land districts.

SA: Uses hundreds instead[4]

NT: Uses hundreds instead

WA: Not used.

ACT: Not used since the creation of the Territory

Barbados Parish
Bermuda Parish
Canada New Brunswick Parish
Prince Edward Island Parish
Quebec Parish municipality
China Macau Freguesia / 堂區
Dominica Parish
Ecuador Parroquia
Estonia Vald
Georgia მუნიციპალიტეტი
Grenada Parish
Guernsey Parish
Ireland Civil parish In Ireland, civil parishes still exist, but only for legal reasons.
Jamaica Parish
Jersey Parish
Latvia Pagasts
Isle of Man Parish
Montserrat Parish
(Nordic countries) Municipality In Nordic countries, a rural administrative parish is like what they used to call 'socken' or 'sogn'. These were early versions of today's municipalities in Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Denmark.
Portugal Freguesia
Russia Приход
Saint Kitts and Nevis Parish
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Parish
Spain (Asturias, Galicia) Parroquia
Ukraine район
United Kingdom England Civil parish In most of the British Isles except Scotland and Wales, it's called a civil parish to separate it from the church parish. In England, a civil parish council can change its name to a town council or a community council. In Northern Ireland, civil parishes are still around but only for legal reasons.
Northern Ireland Civil parish
Scotland (formerly) Civil parish
Scotland Community
Wales Community
United States Louisiana Parish In 48 U.S. states, they use the term 'county.' But in Louisiana, they have something similar called 'parishes,' and in Alaska, they use 'boroughs' instead.
South Carolina (formerly) Parish Until the late 19th century, the South Carolina Lowcountry was split into parishes. Today, all of South Carolina is divided into counties.[5]
Venezuela Parroquia

References

change
  1. "Parishes and historical land administration". Government of Queensland. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
  2. "Parish and historical maps". Land & Property Information. Government of New South Wales. 2012. Archived from the original on 5 January 2015. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
  3. "Victorian county, parish & township plans".
  4. "Hundreds". Data.SA. 2023-05-05 [2016-03-23]. Retrieved 2023-06-02.
  5. The Newberry Library (2009). "South Carolina: Individual County Chronologies, South Carolina Atlas of Historical County Boundaries". publications.newberry.org. Chicago, Illinois, US. Archived from the original on January 3, 2017. Retrieved June 5, 2018.