Population through time

An very early estimate of Marske’s population going back to the early fourteenth century can be had by examining the “lay subsidy”, a tax levied on moveable goods. This shows 17 taxpayers in Marske at that time. After allowing for women, children, and servants estimated that the population was about 75¹.

The population of Marske parish^2,3 averaged around 260 over the nineteenth century (see table below).  The population was relatively stable until the end of the century when it fell towards 160 to 200 people.  The population was split between three hamlets (Markse, Clints and Skelton) and around two dozen individual farms.  The census makes it possible to follow the occupants of almost all of the individual farms throughout this period. The author has created a small database containing local census records, which is available on request.  A family history website includes a very good history of Orgate Farm and its occupants over time⁴.

During the nineteenth century some emigration took place to industrial parts of England. The page on New Forest tells the story of emigration from Swaledale, including from Marske, to the Upper Mississippi valley.

The Hutton family, the owner of the Marske Estate, are only listed as living at Marske Hall in three of the censuses (and not after 1881) – in other years domestic servants, estate workers and caretakers were typically living there.  The 1891 census is the first which records an individual living in the village as the Estate Bailiff or Estate Agent.  It may be that the reduction in village population in the late nineteenth century was related to changes in the way the Estate was run.  The other big building in the village, the Rectory, was continuously occupied by church Minsters who typically had a large number of domestic helps. 

In Marske the Temperance Hotel appears in the records from 1861 onwards; prior to this there was a record of an innkeeper in 1841 – presumably at the Dormouse Public House which only appears on the 1854 map (see maps pages).  The census for Marske also includes two brick and tile-makers in 1861, and an address in Marske of the “Tile Sheds” appears as late as 1891. An area of working tile pits is marked on the 1854 map (see also glaciation and farming).

The 1841 census does not record the existence of Clints Hall, even though it was known to have still existed at that time – so it can only be presumed that it was vacant.  The Hall had been demolished around 1842.  Part-time Methodist ministers are recorded at Clints in 1881.  More information on Clints is to be found here. The only other buildings that were abandoned in the nineteenth century was “Hazelhaw”: a range of 3 homes on the Reeth road, just north of the prominent Marrick Smelting Mill.  Whilst the occupiers of Hazelhaw were described as farmers one can’t help thinking that the demise of Hazelhaw was linked to the demise of the Smelting Mill (see pages on lead mining).  Signs of these buildings can still be seen – even though they were abandoned shortly after 1861. 

For most of the period employment was dominated by farming, and to a lesser extent game-keeping.  For most of the nineteenth century non-farm related occupations included one or two blacksmiths, masons, carpenters/joiners, dressmakers and tailors (and in the middle of the century there was also miller and a shoemaker). In 1891 there was a grocer, but this occupation is not recorded again; and there two records of a butcher (in 1871 and 1911). By the beginning of the twentieth century several new occupations appear including carters, postmen, road contractors and teachers. By 1939 there was no longer a tailor or dressmaker, but in place of them a police constable and a lorry driver.

In the years 1851 to 1871 only 5 miners are recorded in the Marske censuses.  By contrast, taking 1861 as an example, nearly 60% (79 in number) of the working population of nearby Hurst were involved directly in lead mining. Curiously around half of the non-miners in Hurst described themselves as “stocking knitters” – an occupation never listed in the Marske census returns¹.

Year	Population	Number of buildings (uninhabited in brackets)
1801	239
1811	247
1821	290
1831	290
1841	274
1851	244	49 (2)
1861	263	53 (1)
1871	235
1881	268
1891	222	48 (6)
1901	166	41 (5)
1911	199	38 (1)
1939	228

Return to History pages

1. Fieldhouse, R and Jennings, B. 1978. A History of Richmond and Swaledale. p27.[↩]
2. Find my past (https://www.findmypast.co.uk/). Subscription website – accessed 2023. Census data 1841 to 1939.[↩]
3. Raine, James. 1860. Marske. A Small Contribution Towards Yorkshire Topography[↩]
4. Gins Genes. Orgate Farm in Swaledale Website. Accessed 2024[↩]