Civil parishes in England
The creation of ancient parishes was linked to the manorial system.  The parishes often shared the same boundaries as the manor of the local lord. At first the manor was the main unit of local administration and justice in the early rural economy. Eventually the church replaced the manor court as the rural administrative centre and levied a local tax on produce known as a tithe. Responsibility for things such as relief of the poor passed from the Lord of the Manor to the church, but in practice it was administered by monasteries. After the dissolution of the monasteries, the power to charge (levy) a rate to fund relief of the poor was given to the parish authorities by the 1601 Act for the Relief of the Poor.