The population of this border area changed throughout the Victorian period as people moved about to earn a living. Information about the local population was recorded in the censuses which were taken every ten years. Men were employed to travel round the district recording who lived in which house and what they did. The population figures are taken from these records.

Britain was divided into parishes (shown on the map) and the figures record how many people lived in the parish. The parish usually consists of the village around the parish church and the area around it. Some parishes contain several small
communities.