The National Census 19th century Ashton Court

Every ten years since 1801, a census has been taken in England and Wales.  The 1841 census was the first to list the names of every individual in a household within a parish, on a particular date.  More information was collected in later census years. We thank the Bristol Central Library for help the census details shown here.

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Census details of the Ashton Court Estate properties are not easy to identify as they can be randomly located within the wider landscape and property names have changed over time. Not all census details are accurately transcribed from documents where handwriting is hard to follow e.g. Carters Lodge is possibly Gardeners Lodge.

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The properties were used to house estate workers who could be moved from place to place depending on their circumstances. It is possible to see some family names at different addresses. 

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The census can reveal surprises e.g. the head of the household was often but not always the oldest male and in Lower lodge (now Ashton Gatehouse), on the night of the 1851 census, the ‘head’ was only 15. There were 4 others there, 3 with different family names including a 2 & a 3 year old.

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Was that a typical evening and what was happening there? It is possible that it was just one half of Lower Lodge which was subdivided at some point in its history and may have been functioning as a foster home or a creche, with the adults living adjacent.

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The Mansion census for 1851 show the Smyths were away in Bath with some of their retinue and would have been recorded there. Less than half the remaining mansion staff were originally from the Bristol region.

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Further Research. The findings are unfinished, if anyone wants to follow up on the above, please get in touch or just turn up with your new research & we will add it to this resource.