Hitchin 1801 & 1807 census
Valerie Holland says her husband Steve is the verger at St. Mary's, Hitchin. Virtually all the parish records have been sent to HALS and Val is putting together some resources at the church for visitors to look at easily - they are usually short on time. I am photocopying and enlarging the marriage transcripts but need more. I had been in contact with Penny Causer (of Hitchin) who says that the library here in Hitchin has the photocopied 1851 census. Val is producing an alphabetical index and has discovered that HALS has copies of censuses from 1801 and 1807.
She has a copy of the 1807 census so she can answer visitors questions and says "I think the census was done be Hitchin town as a count of the people and an inspection of the houses. It lists the houses under streets and the name of the head of the household, occupation and the number of people in the family. There is also an observation column and most houses have a C in it and sometimes a 2 but I don't know what these mean. Sometimes there is a comment like "husband gone away" "miserable dirty cottage" - we have lost a few comments in the photocopying. There is a running total of the people at the end of each page.
The streets are - Tilehouse Street, Workhouse, Market Place, Cock Street, Churchyard, Almshouses, Biggin, Biggin Lane, Sun Street, Bridge Street, Dead Street, Lisles Row, Back Street, Back of Hollow Lane, Hollow Lane, Mill Lane, Bancroft, Almshouses, Stevenage Road, Charlton, Preston, Langley, Walsworth, Bearton, Brick Kiln - Total 3536 people.
Thanks for this valuable information, Val. Visitors to parish churches are often disappointed that that there are no early records - and your efforts will be greatly appreciated. I am also sure that visitors to this web site will find news of these interesting early census survivals and would love to know if their ancestors are included.