Preston Candover School pupils in 1897. Headteacher Miss Street is pictured far left

JOHN Thorp certainly needed time to take the weight off his feet one Sunday evening in March 1851.

The butcher had spent the week working as an enumerator, compiling the census for Preston Candover.

He had given out forms to every household in the village, which had to be filled in that very evening.

During the following week, he collected the forms, copied the details into a special book and duly delivered it to the registrar in Basingstoke. The details were subsequently sent to Somerset House, in London.

Previous censuses had been compiled, but the 1851 version was the first that was really detailed and reliable, giving an accurate snapshot of the village, including the likes of the local squire Charles Rumbold, his family and staff at Preston House, and his guests, including the Reverend William Barnard, who was the local curate.

It included the Allen family, who lived in a house behind the grocer's shop, and farmer John Lunn, at Manor Farm.

Some people were not home, such as an errand boy who worked at the Black Boy tavern, in Church Street, now called Senso, while Harriet Goodyear was a patient in the county hospital in Winchester, and Henry Martin was a prisoner in the county gaol - there for poaching.

The census gave a valuable picture of the state of Victorian Britain and has been used by Philip Sheail for the basis of his book A Downland Village - The story of a Hampshire parish in the 1850s.

Moses Mills, born 1826. Pic courtesy of Hampshire Record Office

He also used data from the 1841 and 1861 census as well as other records.

This was a time of great change that saw Britain grow into a mighty industrial power.

Up until then, the country had largely been an agricultural and mercantile nation and the community, which Mr Thorp recorded at Preston Candover, was disappearing forever.

The book is the second version of the title first published by Mr Sheail in 1979.

Now living in Hertford, Mr Sheail and his brother used to visit Preston Candover every summer during the 1950s, staying with their grandfather, Walter Murphy, who was the village blacksmith.

Having both read geography at university, and with a keen interest in historical geography, they had to produce original research and started delving into the history of the Candover Valley.

The latest book, with some amendments and alterations, looks at the wealthy, such as the Jervoise family, who were important landowners in the area.

It also focuses on the farmers and labourers, crafts and tradespeople - like John Thorp.

The Thorps were the most long-established of the tradesmen's families, with their forebears having lived in the village since the 16th century.

Mr Sheail describes Mr Thorp as a large man with white hair, weighing 28 stone, on account of having suffered rheumatic fever.

He was born in 1788, and had, at one time, been the tenant at Preston Manor Farm, but by 1803 he had decided to become a butcher, while farming as a sideline.

At the time of the census, he was aged 63 and was a widower. That year, he had decided to share out his business and property between his sons.

His eldest, George, left the village and became a farmer and maltster in Cliddesden, with John Thorp junior taking over the butcher business.

Martin also became a maltster, while Sidney initially worked as a butcher and then tried several enterprises, including a grocer's shop and bakehouse attached to Little Axford Farm.

Meanwhile, Alfred proved to be a highly eccentric character, who was a butcher and farmer by trade.

He was a tall man and of slow, deliberate speech and could quote whole sections of the Bible by heart. He did not marry, and his leisure time was spent travelling between churches of the district attending funerals.

He kept donkeys in the top half of a meadow because "Our Lord had ridden on one into Jerusalem". In the lower half, he would build a hay rick each year. The hay came from church land, which he rented, and he reckoned he could sell it for about £100. He then invested this money in buying up cottages to let.

Evidently he did this with a fair amount of success as, on his death in 1879, at the age of 57, he was worth £1,300, although he died in semi-starvation.

Mr Sheail's book makes for a fascinating read about a delightful, yet typical, Victorian village.

Details about the book, published by Molewood Hawthorn Publishing, can be found at www.molewoodhawthorn.co.uk.

It costs £5 and can be ordered by calling Mr Sheail on 01992 584060 or writing to him, enclosing a cheque for £6, which includes £1 for postage, to 41 Cowper Crescent, Hertford, SG14 3DZ.

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