Journey 4
William Cobbett
Avon Valley
Was the population really rising in Cobbett’s day?
The government claimed Britain’s population was booming in the 1800s. In the first two decades,
they estimated it rose from 10 million to 14 million.
Cobbett disagreed, vehemently.
He felt these claims were part of a conspiracy to justify low wages and enclosure. Riding round the Avon Valley, he argued that the astonishing number and size of churches compared to people proved the population must have declined.
Visiting the same churches as Cobbett, Nick finds his claims for their capacity fairly exaggerated. Nor did Cobbett acknowledge the influence of local prosperity, and a medieval belief that building as big as you could afford was good for your soul.
But was the population really declining? Was Cobbett right?
In some ways he was. Some of the villages he visited do show dips, according to parish records of the time. But they’re rarely significant falls. The truth was double-edged: the population was rising, but people were being forced to leave villages to look for work elsewhere.