Census Piece/Folio numbers

[Chris Nilsen]

I am seeking some advice about census records.
I know that I can search on some websites by entering just the Hundred/Piece/Folio/Book etc.
Either as a name of district or a number.
Allowing you to search a village without entering a surname.

What I am hoping is that there is a list somewhere of all these numbers (I'm guessing there's thousands).

Occasionally I like to see who is living in my villages of interest in various census years, but without going through all the images in a district, I cannot see how to narrow this down.

Has somebody gone to the trouble of listing all these numbers and made it available to people to use?

Thanks,
Chris.

[PaulineJ]

There's the historical streets project, BUT it wasn't compiled for smaller (under 40,000 persons?) census pieces.

https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/+/http://yourarchives.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php?title=Your_Archives:Historical_Streets_Project

Reading the piece or district enumerator's route description may assist.

Pauline

[Gadget]

There's this that allows  you to enter various values - as many as you want. Adjust the heading for the census year.

https://stevemorse.org/census/uk.html

I've not used it but came across it  a while ago.

[arthurk]

I hadn't come across Steve Morse's site, but it seems to take you to results at Ancestry.

If all you want is the piece number (to use on other sites, perhaps) you can get this from the National Archives advanced search at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/advanced-search

Put the name of the place you want in the top box, then in the reference box enter the first part of the reference relating to the census year: 1841 & 1851 are HO107; 1861 - RG9; 1871 - RG10 etc up to 1911 - RG14. (You can use the date box to narrow down the HO107 results.)

The results give you all piece numbers relating to that place, and usually include a brief list of the smaller localities in each one.

[Mean_genie]

The National Archives guide explains census piece, folio and page numbers. You can identify the piece number for most parishes by means of an advanced search in their catalogue, Discovery. If you are searching on Ancestry or Findmypast you can use the piece number as a filter when you are searching. https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/census-records/#11-the-national-archives-references-for-censuses

[Chris Nilsen]

Thank you everyone for your help.
I can now see what the numbers mean and understand it a bit better.
It should help me search for villages in the future.
It does seem though there's not one central database for the entire census, understandably, this would be a very large database.
Regards,
Chris.

[Maiden Stone]

Reply 3 arthurk. The National Archives advanced search form is easy to use following your instructions.