The Census in the UK began in 1841 and has been taken every ten years except 1941 since then.
Originally, the Census was taken by appointed “Enumerators”, who walked the route, house by house, recording the details of each household as they went.
They did not always start at the same place, so the order the citizens appear changes decade by decade. The census was a handwritten document. This is reflected in the number of errors that ended up on the final document. The way that some properties are described (ie Cottage in the lane) limits our ability to indentify specific houses. Where possible corrections have been made to make the final census returns more understandable.
At the moment the census returns available are for 1851 and 1881 other versions will be added in due course.