 The vestry, whether a joint board (with the whole parish) or dedicated in each chapelry, was empowered under an Act of Parliament in the reign of Henry VIII to collect rates to improve the roads, other general purposes, and administer the Poor Law (e.g.indoor and outdoor relief, the Speenhamland system and other wages systems) until the establishment of Poor Law Unions in the 19th century.The Poor Law Amendment Act 1867 declared that all areas that levied a separate rate should become civil parishes thus their number approximately equalled the sum of ecclesiastical parishes and chapelries.