During the Civil Wars and the Protectorate, few parochial registers were
kept with any degree of accuracy; indeed, in many parishes they are
altogether defective at that period, owing to the temporary expulsion of
the clergy from their benefices. It is not improbable, therefore, that
the remarkable decrease of baptismal entries in the register book of
Chart next Sutton Valence may have arisen partly from imperfect
registration, as well as from the other causes suggested. But the
trifling increase observable after the Restoration undoubtedly points to
the conclusion arrived at by your corespondent--that a great diminution
had taken place in the population of the parish: and Mr. Rickman's
estimate above referred to gives a result for the entire county, which,
if it does not fully establish the supposed decrease, shows at least
that the registers of other Kentish parishes were affected in a similar
manner. The following is the estimated population of Kent, deduced from
the baptisms, burials, and marriages, by Mr. Rickman:--

A.D. Population
1570 136,710
1600 161,236
1630 189,212
1670 167,398
1700 157,833
1750 181,267

The population enumerated in 1801 was 307,624, which had increased to
548,337 in 1841.

Applying the average of England to the parish {443} of Chart, the 120
baptisms in the years 1640-1659, if representing the actual births,