"Numbering the people"
Estimating the proportion of the population which took the oath in 1723 entails treading a cautious path through the pertinent numbers. In order to obtain some re-assurance that the data for Stokenham is not flawed, a broader context has been sought by using seven contiguous parishes as comparators. Detailed information is available for this group of parishes from the protestation returns of 1641/42, the hearth tax returns of 1674 and the first national census undertaken in 1801.34 Table 2 shows the numbers of names recorded in the returns, the numbers of inhabitants recorded in the census and the numbers of oath-takers. Minor adjustments have been made to take account of names lost through damage to some of the hearth tax documents, and the numbers of oath-takers includes those recorded in the 1723 oath rolls unless they had already taken the oath. In addition, recognised
| Parish | 1641-42 | 1674 | 1801 | 1723 | |||
| Protestation returns | Est. population (Multiplier = 2.66) | Hearth tax | Est. population (Multiplier = 4.3) | Census | Oath rolls | % of adults over 18 taking the oath | |
| Blackawton | 283 | 750 | 169 | 730 | 1019 | 65 | 14.2 |
| Chivelstone | 116 | 310 | 90 | 390 | 562 | 41 | 16.8 |
| East Allington | 120 | 320 | 78 | 340 | 468 | 53 | 25.1 |
| Sherford | 120 | 320 | 65 | 280 | 380 | 43 | 24.4 |
| Slapton | 159 | 420 | 74 | 320 | 558 | 44 | 22.0 |
| South Pool | 96 | 260 | 69 | 300 | 412 | 29 | 15.5 |
| Stoke Fleming | 153 | 410 | 93 | 400 | 578 | 39 | 15.5 |
| Stokenham | 393 | 1050 | 238 | 1020 | 1301 | 163 | 25.3 |
| Total | 1440 | 3840 | 876 | 3780 | 5278 | 477 | 20.0 |
multipliers have been used to convert the numbers of males over 18 years of age in 1641-42, and the numbers of households in 1674, into approximate population estimates for each parish, rounding the totals to the nearest ten to avoid the impression of spurious accuracy of 'exact' figures.35 Most of the population figures are consistent with those for the other dates and parishes, allowing a margin of up to ± 10%, except for the 310 calculated for Chivelstone in 1641-42 and the 320 for Slapton in 1674 which, if correct, would imply respectively an increase and a decrease of a quarter between 1641-2 and 1674. A mid-seventeenth century population for Stokenham of about a thousand is a satisfactory figure. Unusually, local affirmation is available for this dull arithmetick. In a response to the Bishop's visitation enquiries in 1665, the churchwardens stated that "in o[u]r parish... ... according to common estimation there are near twelve hundred persons exceeding the age of sixteen years",36 presumably a composite figure including the two chapelries of Chivelstone and Sherford. It compares reasonably well with the corresponding figures of 1,258 derived from the protestation returns and 1,070 from the hearth tax, bearing in mind that the register records heavy mortality in Stokenham in 1671-72 when 97 were buried in twelve months instead of the norm of 28 annually in the 1660s.
In the last column of the table, the estimated proportion of oath-takers has been calculated along the same lines as the estimated proportion for Devon in Simon Dixon's introduction ('The administration of the oaths'). A figure of 37% has been deducted from the estimated population totals for 1674, representing the assumed proportion of the population aged under 18. On this basis, some 20% of the eligible population of the eight parishes took the oath required by the 1723 Act - the same figure as the proportion for the county as a whole. It is worth glancing at a few of the details in Table 2. One wonders why, for instance, the proportion of oath-takers forms a neat pattern so that in four parishes it ranges from about 20% to 25%, while the other four are in the 14% to 17% range. Perhaps Kingsbridge and Moreleigh were, on balance, more accessible to the majority of people from East Allington, Sherford, Slapton and Stokenham (in the 20-25% range) than to those from Blackawton, Chivelstone, Stoke Fleming and South Pool (in the 14-17% range). Such explanations are to some extent conjectural unless supported by similar findings from elsewhere.
The churchwardens' presentment (above) includes another telling response to the Bishop's enquiry in 1665: "The number of such as have absented themselves from the Sacrament of the Lords Supper in o[u]r parish is to[o] great to be expressed in particulars... ... .not above two hundred and fifty or three hundred were communicated at Easter last past but we have reason to hope hereafter they will be more conformable herein." If only a fifth of the parishioners (from the three parishes) attended at Easter, congregations at other times must have been smaller, not only suggesting that the religious convictions of the majority of the population were not strong enough at this time to ensure that they worshipped together regularly, but also creating the opportunities for the dissenters to establish a strong presence in this part of Devon by the end of the century.
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