CHILVERS COTON IN 1851
At the time of the 1851 census there were 2622 people (1352 female, 1270 male) living in the village. Of these only 1485 gave their birthplace as Chilvers Coton which shows a surprising level of mobility. There were 566 households (or more correctly people claiming to be heads of household) so the average household size was about 4.6. The age distribution of the inhabitants shows a youthful population:
0-10 11-20 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 61-70 70+
649 544 381 311 219 232 146 133
The range of occupations was very broad of those specifying an occupation (1577), 702 were weavers of which 424 were ribbon weavers (more may have been ribbon weavers but gave their occupation in related ways eg silk weaver). Agriculture employed only 114 so the village could clearly be classed as industrial rather than agricultural and this is further seen in the 242 employed in various extractive industries, most notably coal mining. The high numbers of paupers presumably reflects the Workhouse in the village.
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