Parish files containing reports and recommendations of the inspectors of returns made by Local Authorities of parishes and boroughs in England and Wales as part of the educational census provided for the Elementary Education Act 1870.

Such reports give details of population throughout England and Wales and of the school accommodation available and required. The files also contain copies of school accommodation notices issued by the Education Department and published in the manner prescribed by Section 80 of the Act above referred to; supply agenda forms and other supply forms; in many cases contain general correspondence and papers concerning accommodation and the provision of new schools, enlargement of some schools and closure of others, election of School Boards, transfers of schools to such boards, sanction of loans to be made by such boards from the Public Works Loan Commissioners; and in some cases contain examination schedules giving names and assessments of pupils.

This particular series contains files for those parishes only in which there was more than one school, or no school, in 1870; many of the file covers have on the back the names and reference numbers of schools in the area, for which there are separate school files in a series begun in 1905. Files for parishes containing one school only were converted into school files in 1905, in the last mentioned series.

The series also includes material which would otherwise be found elsewhere in ED amongst the Records of the Committee of the Privy Council on Education.