Welsh Journals

command and the degree of deference attaching to particular occupa- tions. In short, within each major industrial or occupational group some followings or jobs carried more prestige and social esteem than others and this is reflected in terms of status. Although not entirely satisfactory the census returns as to occupation and the number of servants /employees can be used to pinpoint salient differences of social status amongst house-holders by means of standardized rules. As the Appendix indicates, in practical terms five major social classes can be recognized: these range from the highest status groups (larger employers and the more prestigeous professionals) to the most humble of circumstances amongst those householders in partly- or un- skilled occupations. It is important to note that, because of its nature, this particular social status classification relates only to heads of house- holds and not to individual members of the population. In order to derive broad comparisons for the purposes of this study the five basic social classes have been reduced further by amalgamation into three categories: Class I-II represents a single high-status group of house- holders; Class IV-V & R comprise householders at the opposite (lower) end of the social spectrum; Class III remains as a single broad category of middle status householders (see the Appendix). On this basis Figure 2 indicates the distribution of householders by social class throughout the town of Llanfair in 1851 and in this table the seven social areas have been ranked according to the proportion of high status (Class I-II) houeholds enumerated.2 In the town as a whole only 20 per cent of households occurred in Class I-II compared with 41 per cent in social Class III and 39 per cent in the lowest status group (Class IV-V & R). Considerable variations occur, however, among the seven social areas: central locations such as Bridge Street, High Street, Broad Street and around the Market Square all record a higher proportion of high status households than in the town generally. With the exception of the somewhat anomalous Dolgoch and Pool Road area, this same trend is clearly evident in the distribution of Class III households. In effect this pattern clearly indicates a distinctive feature of the embryonic town on which we have commented in our previous paper: namely, the strong tendency for high status households to be found in the centre where the principal trading functions occur with 2 For the definition of these social areas which have been adopted as statistical units see our previous paper in Mont. Colls., 67 (1979), p. 70.