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23-555: Beaminster Rural District was a rural district in the administrative county of Dorset , England from 1894 to 1974, covering an area in the west of the county around the small town of Beaminster . The district had its origins in the Beaminster Poor Law Union , which had been created in 1836, covering Beaminster itself and several surrounding parishes. In 1872 sanitary districts were established, giving public health and local government responsibilities for rural areas to

46-566: 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

69-399: A number of rural districts created in 1894 that had small and irregular areas. There were also a few areas where parishes in one county were administered by a rural district council in another. Section 46 of the act provided for a review of districts in each administrative county in England and Wales, with a view to forming more effective areas for administrative purposes. The process involved

92-773: The Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 . They were subdivided into district electoral divisions . In 1921, Ireland was partitioned with Northern Ireland remaining within the United Kingdom, and the rest of the country leaving as the Irish Free State in 1922. In the Irish Free State, rural districts outside of County Dublin were abolished in 1925 under the Local Government Act 1925 amid widespread accusations of corruption . Their functions were transferred to

115-565: The Local Government Act 1972 ) and were typically merged with nearby urban districts or boroughs to form " districts ", which included both urban and rural areas. See Rural districts formed in England and Wales 1894–1974 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. Rural districts were created in Ireland in 1899 under

138-507: The Ministry of Transport . Urban district councils continued to be in charge of unclassified roads in their areas. The 1929 act sought to solve a problem that had arisen in the existing scheme of local government, with administrative counties divided into many small urban and rural districts. Some urban districts had a population of just a few hundred and did not have the resources to deliver modern local government services. Similarly, there were

161-640: The National Assistance Board and the National Health Service . The Metropolitan Asylums Board was also abolished, and the London County Council became responsible for its institutions. County councils gained increased powers as the ultimate highway authority for all roads in the county. They acquired direct responsibility for all roads in the charge of rural district councils , as well as retaining control of roads classified by

184-408: The administrative counties . In England and Wales rural districts were created in 1894 by the Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) along with urban districts . They replaced the earlier system of sanitary districts (themselves based on poor law unions , but not replacing them). Each rural district had an elected rural district council (RDC), which inherited the functions of

207-672: The Beaminster Rural District in 1895, having been one of the few Dorset parishes in the Axminster Rural Sanitary District prior to 1894, which was mostly in Devon . Beaminster Rural District Council held its first meeting on 3 January 1895 at the workhouse. The first chairman was Edward Gapper Legg, who had also been the chairman of the Beaminster Board of Guardians for some years previously. The parishes within

230-527: The Minister of Health, was able to report that the process was nearly completed. The last order, affecting districts in the West Riding of Yorkshire , came into effect on 1 April 1938. In the counties of Radnorshire and Rutland no changes were made to the existing structure. The effects of the review orders made in the period 1932–1938 on the county districts was as follows: The act did not allow for

253-485: The abolition of municipal boroughs , so a number of small boroughs continued in existence. This power was later incorporated in the Local Government Act 1958 . At the same time as reorganising rural districts, many parishes within them were also amalgamated. It was originally envisioned that reviews would be carried out every ten years, but the intervention of the Second World War and legislation in 1945 creating

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276-429: The act all boards of guardians for poor law unions were abolished, with responsibility for public assistance transferred to public assistance committees of county councils and county boroughs . The local authorities took over infirmaries and fever hospitals, while the workhouses became public assistance institutions. Later legislation was to remove these functions from the control of councils to other public bodies:

299-538: The county councils The remaining rural districts in County Dublin were similarly abolished in 1930 by the Local Government (Dublin) Act 1930 . The former boundaries of the rural districts in the Republic of Ireland continue to be used for statistical purposes and defining constituencies. In Northern Ireland, rural districts continued to exist until 1973 when they were abolished (along with all other local government of

322-419: The district were: The council was initially based at the workhouse at Stoke Waters, continuing to meet there until at least the 1930s. It subsequently acquired a building which had previously been The Swan public house at 6 Fleet Street in the centre of Beaminster, renaming it Town Offices. The building then served as the council's meeting place and offices until its abolition in 1974. Beaminster Rural District

345-516: 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 major 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

368-584: The existing boards of guardians of poor law unions. The Beaminster Rural Sanitary District was administered from Beaminster Union Workhouse, which had been completed in 1838 at Stoke Water, about a mile south-west of Beaminster itself, in the neighbouring parish of Stoke Abbott . Under the Local Government Act 1894 , rural sanitary districts became rural districts from 28 December 1894 with their own elected councils. The 1894 Act also specified that boundaries should be adjusted to avoid having districts straddle county boundaries. The Beaminster Rural Sanitary District

391-448: The number of districts 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 , which surrounded the town of Melton Mowbray . Some rural districts were fragmented, consisting of a number of detached parts , such as Wigan Rural District . Some rural districts had

414-638: The old pattern) and replaced with a system of unitary districts . Rural districts also existed in the Canadian province of Newfoundland to govern certain rural communities. Under Newfoundland's Local Government Act , rural districts and towns together formed the province's municipalities. Under the Municipalities Act , effective April 1, 1980, rural districts where abolished and automatically turned into towns. Local Government Act 1929 The Local Government Act 1929 ( 19 & 20 Geo. 5 . c. 17)

437-588: The putting forward of a scheme by the county council to which objections or representations could be made before an order was made by the Minister of Health . All county councils were required to finalise schemes by 1 April 1932, although the period could be extended at the minister's discretion. The final submission was by Cheshire County Council on 1 July 1935. The first orders under the act were made in 1932, and in November 1936 Robert Hudson , Parliamentary Secretary to

460-485: The sanitary districts and poor law unions which had preceded them. Gradual urbanisation over the following decades led to some rural districts being redefined as urban districts or merging with existing urban districts or boroughs. Other rural districts proved to be too small or poor to be viable, and under the Local Government Act 1929 , 236 rural districts were abolished and merged or amalgamated into larger units. Further mergers took place over following decades and by 1965

483-455: Was abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 , with the area becoming part of the new district of West Dorset . Rural district A rural district was a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England , Wales , and Ireland for the administration of predominantly rural areas at a level lower than that of

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506-571: Was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that made changes to the Poor Law and local government in England and Wales . The act abolished the system of poor law unions in England and Wales and their boards of guardians, transferring their powers to local authorities. It also gave county councils increased powers over highways, and made provisions for the restructuring of urban and rural districts as more efficient local government areas. Under

529-630: Was mostly in Dorset but also included the Somerset parishes of Misterton and Seaborough . Misterton was therefore transferred to the Chard Rural District on the day the new rural districts came into force, whilst Seaborough was transferred from Somerset to Dorset in September 1895, such that Beaminster Rural District was thereafter entirely in Dorset. The parish of Thorncombe was similarly transferred into

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