Yeovil's Virtual Museum

population of yeovil

Rapid twentieth century expansion

 

Firstly, it is important to stress that there is great confusion over the population statistics of Yeovil. The figure usually quoted is 'around 40,000' but the confusion arises over which area this figure applies to. The census figures used here (as provided by the Office for National Statistics) are for the Parish of Yeovil which, a quick glance at the map at left will show, is probably not what you were thinking - missing, for example, is most recent housing at Abbey Manor Park, Brympton, Houndstone, and so forth. On the other hand, statistics used by South Somerset District Council note that in 2008 Yeovil’s population was recorded as 44,906 - based on an all-inclusive population that incorporates the populations of Yeovil Without and Brympton within the urban area for Yeovil. Which is all well and good until you want to compare like-with-like over the past two centuries, as I do here.

So, having said all that, the 2011 census figures indicate that the parish of Yeovil had a total population of 30,378, comprising 14,850 males and 15,528 females.

For centuries the size of the town's population increased very little and occasionally, due to influences such as the plague and a number of devastating fires, actually decreased in size. Gradually, however, the population slowly increased, especially during the latter part of the eighteenth century as the gloving and leather industries took hold in the town. During the nineteenth century, as these expanding industries meant that the town prospered, the population increased even more rapidly, rising from 2,774 persons in 1801 to 11,704 a hundred years later.

Of course this comparatively sudden fourfold increase in Yeovil's population created all manner of problems such as a housing shortage, how to deal with the town's waste, where to bury the dead, the need for road widening (yes, even then) and so on. The urgent need for essential town improvements resulted in the enormous changes to the local governing corporation in the middle of the nineteenth century when Yeovil became a Municipal Borough in 1854. With hindsight it is possible to understand the significant and beneficial changes that were made to the town at this time.

Another concurrent affect on the town's population growth in the middle of the nineteenth century was the arrival of the railways, which revolutionised the town’s transport system and communication with the world beyond, while also changing forever its industry as new markets became viable. Hendford Terminus opened in 1853, Pen Mill Station in 1854, Yeovil Junction Station opened in 1860 and Yeovil Town Station opened in 1861.

 

 

 

E Watts' map of Yeovil of 1806 shows that the only expansion of the town from the medieval up to this time was primarily along Kingston and Reckleford. This was chiefly because ownership of the lands to the immediate north of St John's church and south of South Street were in private ownership and precluded development.

 

Graph showing the rate of growth of Yeovil over the last two centuries. The figures are for the parish of Yeovil and do not include Yeovil Without (for example 7,260 in 2001) or Brympton (5,268 in 2001). No census was undertaken during the Second World War. (Figures tabulated below).

 

Compared with the sudden growth in the population of south Somerset as a whole following the Second World War (when no census was carried out), Yeovil's population expansion for the same period seems sluggish. (Figures tabulated below).

 

When compared to the whole population of south Somerset, it becomes clear that since the Second World War Yeovil's population has steadily decreased in comparison - perhaps caused chiefly by the rapid decline and eventual demise of the leather and gloving industries in Yeovil. (Figures tabulated below).

 

Census Year	Population of Yeovil Parish	Population of South Somerset	Yeovil as %age
1801	2,774	70,769	3.92%
1811	3,118	Unknown	Unknown
1821	4,665	Unknown	Unknown
1831	5,921	Unknown	Unknown
1841	7,043	Unknown	Unknown
1851	7,744	93,075	8.32%
1861	8,486	Unknown	Unknown
1871	9,368	Unknown	Unknown
1881	9,507	Unknown	Unknown
1891	10,953	Unknown	Unknown
1901	11,704	85,080	13.76%
1911	13,759	84,280	16.33%
1921	14,994	85,001	17.64%
1931	19,077	85,729	22.25%
1941	No Census	No Census	Unknown
1951	23,337	99,407	23.48%
1961	24,598	106,462	23.10%
1971	25,503	114,020	22.37%
1981	27,359	129,310	21.16%
1991	28,316	143,395	19.75%
2001	29,612	150,974	19.61%
2011	30,378	163,283	18.60%