socken

thumb|Ekers socken in Närke on a map of Örebro hundred

Socken ( or ) is the name used for a part of a county in Sweden. In Denmark, similar areas are known as , in Norway or and in Finland or . A is a rural area formed around a church, typically in the Middle Ages. A socken originally served as a parish. Later, until the Swedish municipal reforms of 1862, it also served as a civil parish or an administrative parish, and became a predecessor to today's municipalities of Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark. Today it is a traditional area with frozen borders, in Sweden typically identical to those of the early 20th century rural parishes. The socken also served as a registration unit for buildings, in Sweden recently replaced by identical registration districts as registration unit. A socken consists of several villages and industry localities (company towns), and is typically named after the main village and the original church.