Parishes of Barbados

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

Terminology

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

History

The system of parish churches was originally based on the system 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 chapels 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:

The Parish of Christ Church,
The Parish of St. James,
The Parish of St. Lucy,
The Parish of St. Michael,
The Parish of St. Peter, and
The Parish of St. Thomas

By 1645, the land holding of Barbados increased and the shape of the original six was reconfigured giving way to an additional five parishes. 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:

The Parish of St. Andrew,
The Parish of St. George,
The Parish of St. John,
The Parish of St. Joseph, and
The Parish of St. Philip.

Thus Barbados was converted into the current eleven parishes of today corresponding to the earlier church parishes. As was common under the British system, each parish had a single main parishional church, which acted as a sort of capital for each parish. 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.

List

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

Short name	Long name	Land area	Population	Density	Historic vestry
Christ Church	The Parish of Christ Church		54,336
St. Andrew	The Parish of Saint Andrew		5,139
St. George	The Parish of Saint George		19,767
St. James	The Parish of Saint James		28,498
St. John	The Parish of Saint John		8,963
St. Joseph	The Parish of Saint Joseph		6,620
St. Lucy	The Parish of Saint Lucy		9,758
St. Michael	The Parish of Saint Michael		88,529
St. Peter	The Parish of Saint Peter		11,300
St. Philip	The Parish of Saint Philip		30,662
St. Thomas	The Parish of Saint Thomas		14,249