Inhabitants

The 1841 census tells about Residents of Stanton St. Gabriel at the time:

County of Dorset, Bridport D.W., Hundred of Whitechurch Canonicorum, Parochial Chap. of Stanton St. Gabriel
No. of Enumeration District: 4, Worked by: J. Smith, Checked by G. Hutchuirns
Houses:
Inhabited 20
Uninhabited: Nil
Males: 52
Females: 54
Total of persons: 106

Note the servants at Westhay Farm, Norchard Farm, Shedbush Farm and Ship Farm. Those farms contrast sharply with the large families crammed into the labourers' cottages elsewhere in the parish. Note also that Henry Bartlett still prefers to be called a yeoman, rather than a farmer.

Continuity is complicated. All but a handful of these people were born in the county and many of these names have long roots in the neighbourhood. For example, a John Hountsell is listed in the Subsidy Roll for Stanton St. Gabriel of 1525. There are Hodders and Bowditches still living nearby and Powells farmed on Stonebarrow until recently. On the other hand, the 1861 census shows only one of these families (the Browns at Ship Farm) still there twenty years later. There are Hodders, Fooks and Orchards farming in Whitchurch (the next parish) in 1861, but they are all working different land. By 1861 Ridge Farm is empty. So there is much mobility within the region, but little mobility between West Dorset and other regions.