Parishes of Barbados

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Constitution

The country of Barbados is divided into sub-regions known as parishes.

Terminology

They are legally styled as the "Parish of ("Parish name") as opposed to the American naming convention with the name "Parish" coming after the name.[1][2] The use of the term "parish" derives from the island's religious Anglican history under the Church of England.

History

This system of parish churches was based on the system that of the Church of England and was the visible expression forming the basis of the parliamentary representation in Barbados. The differing size and shape of each parish were primarily influenced by the large plantation estates of cotton, sugar cane and tobacco that existed during the colonial years of Barbados. As various chaples of ease were created during the 17th century across the island, some local churches were elevated to parish church status, leading to the formation of new parishes surrounding those freshly created vestries.

By 1629, the English settlers after landing at James Town formed six original parishes on the island which were:[3]

By 1645, the land holding of Barbados increased and the shape of the original six were reconfigured giving way to an additional five parishes[3] Some prior churches of the state within the existing parishes were elevated to the level of Parish Church and as a consequence they formed new parishes around those new vestries:

Thus Barbados was converted into the current eleven parishes of today. As was common under the British system, each Parish had a single main parishional church (or cathedral in the case of Bridgetown having been elevated to city status), which acted as a sort of capital for each parish.[4][5] The parishes each held their own Local Government Councils until these were abolished in 1959, following a brief administrative districting experiment within Barbados until 1967.[4]

Today

The nation's capital Bridgetown, which is located within the parish of Saint Michael, may one day be made into its own district.

Within the country, travel is unrestricted to everyone in moving about from parish-to-parish. With the rise of urban sprawl and new construction projects across the country many neighbourhoods and even parishional border-lines today are ill defined.

The eleven parishes are:

Nr.Parish (short name) Official (long name) Capitals Land Area
(km²) 		Population
(Census 2010) 		Density
km−2 		Historic vestry
1Christ ChurchThe Parish of Christ Church[6]Oistins5754,336868.4
Lead church of the Parish.
2St. AndrewThe Parish of Saint Andrew[7]Greenland365,139145.9
Lead church of the Parish.
3St. GeorgeThe Parish of Saint GeorgeBulkeley4419,767406.1
4St. JamesThe Parish of Saint James[7]Holetown3128,498733.6
5St. JohnThe Parish of Saint JohnFour Roads348,963261.0
Lead church of the Parish.
6St. JosephThe Parish of Saint Joseph[7]Bathsheba266,620261.7
Lead church of the Parish.
7St. LucyThe Parish of Saint Lucy[7]Crab Hill369,758259.1
8St. MichaelThe Parish of Saint Michael[7]Bridgetown3988,5292,145.7
9St. PeterThe Parish of Saint PeterSpeightstown3411,300314.7
Lead church of the Parish.
10St. PhilipThe Parish of Saint Philip[7]Crane6030,662342.3
11St. ThomasThe Parish of Saint ThomasHillaby3414,249340.9
 Barbados Bridgetown432277,821580.1 ♦

See also

References

  1. ↑ Laws of Barbados, Volume 2, p.573, 286
  2. ↑ Barbados Cultural Association of British Columbia - History of Barbados Archived June 12, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
  3. 1 2 "The Barbados Parliament – Parliament History". Barbados Parliament website. Archived from the original on May 23, 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-01.
  4. 1 2 Carrington, Sean; Fraser, Henry (2007). "Vestry". A~Z of Barbados Heritage. Macmillan Caribbean - Macmillan Publishers Limited Press. ISBN 0-333-92068-6.
  5. ↑ Alleyne, Warren (1978). Historic Bridgetown. Barbados: The Barbados National Trust.
  6. ↑ Laws of Barbados, Volume 2, p.573
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Laws of Barbados, Volume 2, p.586

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