Parish Council Records

The parish council was created in 1894 and deals with the administration of the civil parish, the smallest unit of authority. It may deal with many types of local issues including housing and highways.

Nottinghamshire Archives holds records for 120 parish councils throughout the county. Many parish council records are closed to public inspection. Contact us for more information.

Main groups of documents

Main groups of documents include:

Parish council minutes

Coverage: 19th century - 20th century
Minutes of the meetings of the parish council.

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Committee minute books

Coverage: 19th century - 20th century
Minutes of the meetings of various committees. There were committees on a wide range of issues, including lighting, allotments and playing fields.

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Account books

Coverage: 19th century - 20th century
Records giving the financial details of the parish council, including income and expenditure.

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Rate books

Coverage: 20th century
The parish council was responsible for collecting the local rate or tax, which funded the council's activities. Rate books list all the properties in the parish, the names of the owner and the occupier, a description of the property, its size, any rent owed on it, the amount of rate due to be paid and the amount of rate actually paid.

The range of rate books available varies between parish council.

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Correspondence

Coverage: 19th century - 20th century
Correspondence files on a variety of different subjects. These can include discussions of councillors taking office, official circulars, and letters about such concerns as sewage, bus stops, litter bins, school managers, ambulance services and war-time matters.

The range of correspondence varies between individual parish councils.

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How to find the document you want

Parish council records are arranged according to each individual parish council, so all the documents relating to East Leake, for example, are found together. The variety and extent of documentation varies between councils.

There is a catalogue in the archive search room detailing all the records for each individual parish council.

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