Extract from "The Cheshire Township of Kelsall 1841-1891": An Example of Demographic Change

Tithe Maps & Other Primary Sources

The next step was to benchmark Kelsall by obtaining a list of the inhabitants from as close as possible to 1841, and the Tithe Apportionment Records (1838) provided a list of property owners and tenants. These detailed the owners & occupiers of individual land parcels identified on the tithe map. The data extracted from the Tithe Apportionment and the Wesleyan Chapel Treasurer's Accounts (1815 - 1855) were used in assessing both the pre-1841 social and residential statuses of inhabitants. These documents provided rich lists to determine social stratification, the "landowners" and those who were tenants, craftsmen and labourers. They also provided valuable data to support demographic analysis, listing disbursement charges, daily labour rates etc. and to whom they were paid.

Baptismal, marriage and death registers for Kelsall were also extremely useful in supporting demographic and migratory analysis for the latter part of the 19^th century.

Historical Sources:

To support name linkage, data derived from directories (Bagshaw 1850), the Post Office Directories (Kelly 1857), and others such as Morris (1874), Ormerod (1882) and Kelly (1896) are of mixed usefulness. Some editions carried advertisements (Figure 4) that provided additional information, and name lists used for correlation, especially in the periods' in-between census years. Directories mostly followed the same format by giving an alphabetical list of farmers, trades-persons and craftsmen. Addresses were not provided except for the larger farms and the more affluent householder.

Schools form an important aspect of the village, but sadly the original records for the schools in Kelsall for this period are not available, though both CEBs and trade directories identify the schoolmaster and schoolmistress'. Elrington reports that many establishments were day nurseries rather than schools and took children, often the merest babies, all day while their mothers worked, charging about 2s 6d a week. This perhaps explains why on census returns so many infants were enumerated as "scholar"

Copyright D G Dickson 1998