ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author aims to test the practicability of using parish registers to gain additional knowledge about population movements in the eighteenth century. Widespread dissatisfaction exists among historians and demographers concerning the factual basis of the conventional hypotheses. It has, therefore, been suggested in various quarters that a fresh assessment is necessary. As a first step toward fuller analysis of the material a survey was carried out in north Worcestershire by members of the Seminar in Population History and Theory in the University of Birmingham in the spring of 1956. Bromsgrove was chosen as the centre, both because it is convenient to Birmingham and because it is in the centre of an area which has become evenly divided into industrial and agricultural parishes, at least so far as acreage is concerned. At Bromsgrove, the entire marriage register from 1754-1773 is missing. Close investigation revealed various minor gaps.
