Over half, then, were under 20 years of age and a third were under 10 years. They made up one hundred and forty-seven distinct families occupying one hundred and nine houses. There were no unoccupied houses but John Shelley was building a new house on the Dicker, an area in the south of the parish which had once been a thousand acres of common waste and woodland but by 1821 had become totally enclosed as private property; and at Burgh Hill, Thomas Day was rebuilding his house.

Thomas Day is the only person in all of Chiddingly’s population to whom Richard Lower has given the courtesy title “Esquire”. He was Chiddingly’s only “gentleman”. Just what this description meant is difficult to determine. Folk in 1821 knew who was, and who was not, a gentlemen, but it would sometimes have been hard to define just why. Was it chivalrous manners that made a gentleman, or good breeding, education, social position, wealth or the time to devote to leisurely pursuits? Perhaps the last was most important, for in general a gentleman never dirtied his hand with manual work, which makes it unfortunate that on the 1821 Census Day, Thomas Day was rebuilding his house, not living in it. As a consequence, the Census List contains no details of his family and servants. The Tithe Schedule of 1839, however, shows that he owned more land in Chiddingly than anyone else and although this Schedule – also drawn up by Richard Lower – dates from eighteen years after the 1821 Census, few changes in land ownership and tenancy had taken place in the interim. It is therefore reasonable to infer that in 1821, Thomas Day rented out 203 acres of his land to farmer Edward Dray and “occupied” the remaining 366 acres himself.