Inbreeding and ecological change: An isonymic analysis of secular trends in a tyneside parish over three centuries

Abstract

Marriage entries in the parish records of Whickham, near Newcastle in the North of England, are analyzed by isonomy. Over the three centuries (1566–1866), a period including the arrival of the industrial revolution in the region, secular changes occur in the level of inbreeding. There is a general relationship of inbreeding level with demographic change and particularly with socioeconomic pattern.