Today Denton has a population of a little under 800 and there are only a handful of surnames shared by more than half a dozen residents – and it is quite likely they are not closely related to each other.

Contrast this with the situation over 150 years ago in 1851 when Denton’s population totalled 595 but within this number certain family names dominated.

There were 71 Whites including 7 Sarahs, 8 Elizabeths and 8 Marys. Then there were the Robinsons who totalled 64 including another 10 Elizabeths! Even what might be thought of as the slightly unusual surname of Sparrow had no fewer than 47 family members – only 4 Elizabeths this time.

So in all nearly one third of all Dentonians had one of these names which must have caused bit of confusion in school in particular! Whilst obviously not all who shared a surname were from directly related families the statistics do reflect how in those days people tended to stay in the same village where they were born and their children did the same. Even those born outside Denton tended to come from one of the other villages very close by – Yardley Hastings, Castle Ashby, Brafield etc.

Inevitably as transport became more readily available and people worked in nearby towns rather than in the village families began to disperse. By 1901 the population had actually dropped to 439 and the Whites were much decreased at only 14 still living in Denton with 36 Robinsons and 15 Sparrows – so the 3 families were now totalling just one in six residents.

By 1936 there were just 16 Whites, Robinsons and Sparrow left. The era of communities being dominated by a few family names had long gone.