Churchwardens' Manual

ber of Overseers may be appointed to replace the Churchwardens, and reference in any Act to the Churchwardens and Overseers, shall, as respects any rural parish (except so far as those references relate to the affairs of the Church), be construed as references to the Overseers, and the legal interest in all property vested either in the Overseer of a rural parish (other than a property connected with the affairs of the Church, or held for an Ecclesiastical Charity), shall, if there is a Parish Council, vest in that Council.--V. 2, (a), (b), (c).

The Poor Relief Act, 1819, i.e., 59 Geo. III, cap. 12, enabled Churchwardens and Overseers of a parish to acquire lands, &c., and they were made a Corporation for that special purpose alone, and for the specific purposes mentioned in the Act. Such lands, as regards rural parishes having a Parish Council, now come under the management of the Parish Council.

The Churchwardens of every rural parish are now only concer