Up to 1961 almost all population totals, from parishes up to national totals, are computed from the census parish tables; details are in 'Source Info View'. We very carefully checked these tables both for internal consistency and against district-level totals in age structure tables. This work both eliminated almost all computerisation errors and showed that the original tables had been carefully checked before publication. However, adding the data to our system meant matching up unit names in the census table with names in our core gazetteer — the information on our 'Relationships' pages. Because of variations in naming, not all of the most detailed data are currently linked in. This usually results in a simple gap in the population time series, but very occasionally the original tables gave separate population figures for the parts of a parish. If some but not all of the names match there will be an erroneously low population total. We are working to eliminate these.

Year	Population 10 years earlier	Current Total Population
1801		12,389
1811	12,389	16,917
1821	16,917	22,043
1831	22,043	29,345
1841	29,345	32,443
1851	32,443	36,705
1861	36,705
1921		171,709
1931	171,709	164,256
1941	164,256	182,467
1951	182,467	200,679
1961	200,679	205,969
1971	205,969	211,259
1981	211,259	199,770
1991	199,770	214,699
2001	214,699	212,125