Into the Nineteenth Century
The development of Troy Town (and Star Hill and New Road) at the end of the eighteenth century would have led to an increase in the population of Rochester. Star Hill However, it is not easy to demonstrate this. There was no counting of the population, at local or national level, at this time. Historians wanting to know the population need to use sources created for other purposes. Lists of taxpayers or ratepayers give the names of householders or the owners or occupiers of land, not of individuals. Star Hill Parish registers list baptisms, marriages and burials. (Nearly) everyone who died in England was buried. Not every one was married, and not every child was brought to church to be baptised. The most complete and easily accessible parish registers in England are those of the Church of England, but by the end of the eighteenth century increasing numbers of people were not members of the Church of England but of one of the dissenting churches, such as the Methodists, or we...