1851 Census

The 1851 Census of the Parish of Norland shows that the population of the village at that time was much greater than the present day, with 1706 names listed. Most of the place names and addresses have changed very little since that time and there are many surnames that are still familiar today. This early census recorded names, ages, position in the household (eg head, wife, husband, son, daughter, servant, lodger), status (eg married, unmarried, widow(er)), place of birth, occupation and address, but unfortunately without exact details such as house numbers.  Sometimes this isn't a problem when the address is a specific building such as Norland Hall, but in some cases there are over 100 people listed under entries such as New Longley and Pickwood Scar. Perhaps house numbers were still not in general use at this time. 

A village full of young people

One of the most remarkable differences between the village then and now is the age profile. In 1851 Norland had a very young population. 26% were below the age of 10 and 22% were aged between 10 and 19. This means that almost half the population of the village at that time was made up of either children or teenagers. Some quite large families were recorded, most of them living in very cramped conditions in small cottages. You also have to remember that infant mortality was high, so these figures would have been greater if more young children had survived.

Young adults between the ages of 21 and 39 accounted for another 29%, meaning that only 23% of the population of the parish was over the age of 40.

At the top end of the age scale, only 6 residents of the parish had lived to be over 80 - probably the equivalent of living to be 100 or 110 today. The oldest was Norland born Joseph Hallawell of Watt Ing, who had achieved a remarkable 92 years. His wife Elizabeth was a mere 82. The other village elders were Aaron Wood (87) of Kitty Moor,  John Radcliff (86) of Upper Sparkhouse, Betty Dearnley (83) of Binn Royd, and Mary Tatersall (82) of Scarr Head. There were a further 32 residents between the ages of 70-79. The percentage of the population over the age of 70 was just over 2%.

Little social mobility

Social mobility at that time was not great. The canals in the valley provided a trade route both to the east (since 1770) and the west (since 1804)  but were not a significant factor in population movement. The railways were still very new, the Lancashire & Yorkshire line having opened only 10 years earlier. They would greatly increase social mobility in the coming years, but in 1851 they had as yet had little effect. There was just a handful of people living in Norland who had been born much further afield; two from Gloucestershire, two from East Anglia, and one each from Surrey, Leicestershire, Birmingham, Argyle, Barrow, Chester and Stockton. Given the young population, most (approx. 60%) had been born in Norland, often to parents born in Norland. Another 30% had been born locally in places just a short distance away from the village, such as Barkisland, Sowerby, Stainland, Ripponden, Halifax, Elland etc. The remaining  small group was comprised of people born in the wider region of Yorkshire or Lancashire.

Who lived here?

With little social mobility, it is not surprising that a small group of surnames accounts for about 40% of people in the village. Surnames with at least 20 residents listed in the census are Broadley (20),  Greenwood (20), Hallawell (in various spellings) (20), Wid(d)up (20), Stancliffe (21), Howarth (22), Leach (22), Smith (22), Holroyde (24), Normin(g)ton (24), Priestl(e)y (24), Dyson (25), Maude (25), Radcliff(e) (26), and Briggs (28).  Slightly larger groups were Whitehead (31), Crowther (35), Berry (36), Shaw (37), Lumb (40), Mitchel(l) (43), Hoyle (45) and Fle(e)ming (46). But the most common surnames in the village were Binns (54) and Broadbent (58).  The Binns family owned Pickwood House throughout most of the 19th century and (I assume) built the terraced houses below the scar. 19 people with the surname Binns are recorded as living on Pickwood Scar, possibly all related. Another concentration of Binns was to be found at New Longley.

Occupations

Still working on this - come back later!