Appendix

In the following table is given the population of 45 parishes in the Royston district, viz., of the Royston and Buntingford Poor-law Unions, situated in the counties of Herts., Cambs., and Essex, for each decade from 1801 to 1891. In them the reader will be able to trace the growth of the rural population during the middle of the century, and its remarkable decline during the last twenty years, the economic effects of which have led to the cry for bringing back the labourer on to the land, instead of his drifting away to aggravate the social problem in London and other populous centres.

ROYSTON SUB-DISTRICT.

	1801	1811	1821	1831	1841	1851	1861	1871	1881	1891
Ashwell	715	754	915	1072	1235	1425	1507	1576	1568	1556
Barkway	699	686	771	859	1002	986	940	932	782	761
Barley	494	593	695	704	789	870	808	714	614	574
Chishill, Great	309	298	353	371	466	532	473	432	129	140
Chishill, Little	71	55	71	106	96	105	110	110	129	140
Heydon	246	272	272	259	324	368	270	265	257	221
Hinxworth	228	243	247	295	328	347	320	313	297	289
Kelshall	179	180	208	251	276	326	318	286	249	241
Morden, Guilden	428	489	570	675	808	931	906	1059	959	819
Morden, Steeple	430	483	614	645	788	889	912	1018	981	810
Nuthampstead	152	172	222	249	289	302	281	254	217	207
Reed	164	158	214	232	260	277	224	224	189	206
Royston, Herts.	975	1309	1474	1272	1431	1529	1387	1348	1272	1262
Royston, Cambs.	356	*	*	485	566	532	495	453	440	439
Therfield	707	692	872	974	1224	1335	1222	1237	1175	996

* In the Census of 1801 and 1811 Royston, Cambs., was taken with Royston, Herts.

MELBOURN SUB-DISTRICT.

Abington Pigotts	177	201	233	259	232	238	228	197	180	169
Barrington	348	343	483	485	533	596	563	727	621	583
*Bassingbourn	828	878	1042	1255	1419	1919	1933	2239	2121	1828
Fowlmere	420	448	541	547	609	597	560	603	542	543
Foxton	322	304	368	408	452	459	405	413	415	436
Kneesworth	120	104	171	191	191	229	280	491	596	801
Litlington	350	418	505	622	722	790	693	768	674	568
*Melbourn	819	972	1179	1474	1724	1931	1637	1759	1803	1649
Meldreth	444	452	643	643	723	776	735	757	781	713
Shepreth	202	253	320	..	353	321	339	376	373	375
Shingay	42	50	86	112	137	142	128	118	90	74
Thriplow	334	319	371	417	477	521	502	522	463	442
Wendy	109	111	134	125	151	154	128	136	136	127
Whaddon	221	213	318	339	345	340	319	384	348	341

* Parts of these parishes are in the township of Royston.

BUNTINGFORD UNION.

	1801	1811	1821	1831	1841	1851	1861	1871	1881	1891
Austey	387	371	440	417		465	473	412	391	*
Ardeley	484	563	617	599		630	574	563	495	464
Aspeden	364	367	455	560		539	577	671	613	658
Broadfield	31	26	23	10		8	19	26	19	**
Buckland	300	288	343	373		384	385	362	358	367
Cottered	339	343	410	436		437	470	456	379	357
Hormead, Great	467	513	564	576		601	660	631	519	431
Hormead, Little	103	94	112	107		87	103	143	127	116
Layston	799	907	1014	1093		1220	998	1086	1071	889
Meesden	122	138	164	158		185	163	181	189	*
Rushden	253	287	333	342		321	291	276	270	225
Sandon	595	580	646	716		770	771	809	763	728
Throcking	58	45	69	76		54	97	63	74	**
Wakeley	7	8	9	7		9	4	4	10	***
Wallington	224	219	210	213		254	238	250	191	133
Westmill	328	365	415	418		380	353	337	361	348
Wyddial	181	175	225	243		245	213	199	202	289

* in the Census of 1891, Anstey and Meesden were taken together, and had a population of 574, or 6 less than the two parishes together in 1881.

** Throcking and Broadfield were also taken together, giving a population of 73, or 20 less than in 1881.

*** Wakeley has ceased to be a separate parish.

The population of the town of Royston can only be arrived at by adding together the number of the parts of surrounding parishes making up the township of Royston. At the last two Censuses these parts have been enumerated separately, but not in the earlier decades, with the exception of 1801 and 1831, particulars of which are given below.

1801.	Houses.	Houses empty.	Persons.
Royston, Herts.	193	13	975
″ Cambs.	77	3	356
Bassingbourn	25	0	120
Kneesworth	3	0	9
Therfield	4	1	24
Totals	302	17	1484

There were no inhabitants in Melbourn parish, Royston, at the above Census of ninety years ago, and it will be seen that all the inhabitants within 153 were in Royston parish proper.

1811.—The Census of this period showed very little difference from the figures for 1801, and of that of 1821, I have only the particulars for the two parishes of Royston, Herts., and Cambs., which gave 1,479 persons against 1,331 for these two parishes in 1801.

The most interesting and complete Census of the town was that of the year

		Houses	Houses
1831.	Houses.	empty.	building.	Persons.
Royston, Herts.	244	3	4	1272
″ Cambs.	102	4	0	485
Bassingbourn	35	1	0	157
Kneesworth	6	1	0	49
Therfield	9	0	0	44
Melbourn	1	0	0	1
Totals	397	9	4	2008

The following are the Census returns for the township of Royston for 1881 and 1891.

	1881.	1891.	Increase.	Decrease.
Royston, Herts.	1272	1262	--	10
″ Cambs.	440	439	--	1
Bassingbourn part	445	472	27	--
The Workhouse	145	101	--	44
Kneesworth part	461	682	221	--
Melbourn part	190	213	23	--
Therfield part	183	150	--	33
Totals	3136	3319	183	--

The interest of the foregoing figures lies in the fact that there was during the first thirty years of the century a great increase in the Hertfordshire part of the town, and scarcely any increase in the Cambridgeshire part, whereas the tendency has now been reversed in so remarkable a manner that against only 9 persons in Kneesworth parish, Royston, in 1801, there are now 682.

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