Under provisions of the Poor Relief Act 1662, townships replaced civil parishes as the main units of local administration in Lancashire.[2] Blackrod became one of the eighteen autonomous townships of the civil parish of Bolton le Moors.[3][1] The township appointed overseers of the poor who levied a rate to fund the Poor Law. Highway surveyors were also appointed and funded from the rate to maintain the roads. In 1866, Blackrod's status was elevated from a township to a civil parish.[4][5]
A resolution for the adoption of the Local Government Act 1858 was passed on 9 May 1872 by the owners and ratepayers of the civil parish of Blackrod,[6] and resulted a local board was created to provide for the water supply and drainage of the town.[1][7] After the Public Health Act 1875 was passed by Parliament in that year, Blackrod Local Board assumed extra duties as an urban sanitary district, although the Local Board's title did not change.[8]
Each year the Town Council elects one of the Town Councillors to become the Town Mayor who represents the town over the municipal year. It is a ceremonial position, and some of the holders have held the position more than once.[11]
^Great Britain Historical GIS Project. "Status details for Civil Parish". A Vision of Britain through Time. University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
