| Description | A committee for the secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish comprised either of members elected by an annual meeting of all householders in the village, or by election by the Vestry itself, and chaired by the parish incumbent. The Vestry elected a number of parish officers (churchwardens, overseers of the poor, surveyors of the highways; parish constables were also parish officers but were chosen by the Manor court or later by magistrates). In 1894 the secular and ecclesiastical aspects of the vestries were separated in local government reforms which created civil parishes. The vestry's remaining secular duties were transferred to newly created parish councils. Their ecclesiastical duties remained until they were abolished and replaced by parochial church councils (PCCs) in 1921. |