Rural district
In the
British Isles rural districts were a historic type of
local government district which covered predominantly
rural areas. They were sub-divisions of
administrative counties.
In
England and Wales they were created in
1894 (by the
Local Government Act 1894) along with
urban districts. They replaced the earlier system of
sanitary districts (themselves based on
Poor Law Unions, but not replacing them).
Rural districts had elected
Rural District Councils (RDCs), which inherited the functions of the earlier sanitary districts, but also had wider authority over matters such as local planning,
council housing, and playgrounds and cemeteries. Matters such as
education and
roads were the responsibility of
county councils.
Until 1930 the rural district councillors were also
poor law guardians for the
unions of which they formed part. Each
parish was represented by one or more councillors.
Originally there were 787 rural districts in England and Wales, as they were based directly upon the sanitary districts and poor law unions which had preceded them. However many rural districts proved to be too small or poor to be viable, and following the passing of the
Local Government Act 1929, 236 rural districts were abolished and merged and amalgamated into larger units. Further mergers took place over following decades and by
1965 their numbers had been reduced to 473.
The typical shape of a rural district was a doughnut shaped ring around a town (which would be either an
urban district or a
municipal borough). A good example of this is
Melton and Belvoir Rural District map. They would often be, or become fragmentary, consisting of a number of
detached parts, such as
Wigan Rural District map. Some rural districts had a more rounded shape and had a small town or village as the administrative centre.
A few rural districts consisted of only one parish (for example,
Tintwistle Rural District,
Alston with Garrigill Rural District,
South Mimms Rural District,
King's Lynn Rural District,
Disley Rural District and
Crowland Rural District). In such districts there was no separate parish council, and the rural district council exercised its functions.
All rural districts in England and Wales were abolished in
1974 (by the
Local Government Act 1972) and were typically merged with nearby urban districts or boroughs to form a uniform pattern of
districts, which contained urban and rural areas.
See
List of Rural Districts in England and Wales 1894 - 1930 for the districts created in
1894;
List of rural and urban districts in England, and
List of rural and urban districts in Wales for a list of rural districts at abolition in
1974.
In what is now the
Republic of Ireland (then a part of the
United Kingdom) rural districts were created in
1898 by the
Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898. They were subdivided into
District Electoral Divisions.
They were abolished in the early days of the
Irish Free State in
1925, by the
Local Government Act 1925, amid widespread accusations of
corruption, and their functions transferred to the county councils. [
1] They were retained in
County Dublin only until 1930. [
2]
Rural districts continued in use in the Republic into the
1970s for statistical purposes and for defining constituencies. [
3] [
4].
In
Northern Ireland they were abolished (along with all other local government of the old pattern), in
1973 and replaced with a system of unitary
districts.
See:
List of rural and urban districts in Northern Ireland.
In
Germany an equivalent of the rural district, the
Landkreise still exists, see
Districts of Germany.
