Photo: Mike Searle · CC BY-SA 2.0Older than 97% of UK towns: half of Holwell is over 55.7
Households in detached houses make up 77%, against 21% across England’s towns. Locally, 22% of households are one person living alone. Compared with other places, married adults and civil partners are common here: 62%, more than in 99% of UK towns. Holwell is home to 404 residents in 172 households, by the 2021 Census.
Holwell: 33% of residents are 65 or over, above 94% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Where just over one in ten residents are aged 15 to 24 across England’s towns, Holwell has 8.2%. The usual figure: 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
49% women, 51% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
3.5% of adults are full-time students, fewer than in 94% of UK towns
What adults did at the 2021 Census (the ONS’s NS-SEC classes), and where residents lived a year earlier.
Adults by occupation class · residents 16 and over
Address a year before the Census
Residents who lived somewhere else a year earlier. The bar runs to 25%.
Here 8% of residents lived at another address a year earlier, where the figure across England’s towns is 11%. The comparison figure for full-time students is 7.9% across England’s towns.
Holwell ranks below 92% of UK towns on households with dependent children: 21%
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Dorset’s towns and England’s towns
People per household
England’s towns.
Nothing unusual on shared households of unrelated adults: 5.2%, close to the figure across England’s towns. For comparison, 29% of households have dependent children across England’s towns. Each household has 2.4 people on average.
A lower share of households in flats than 97% of UK towns, at 1.8%
Accommodation type and cars or vans per household, Census 2021. Owning and renting are on Cost of living.
Type of home
Cars or vans · share of households
The share of households in terraced houses is 7.2%, against 24% across England’s towns. The wider picture: 23% of households live in a flat or apartment across England’s towns. Here, 6.6% of households have no car or van.
Residents whose main language is English: 98%, a higher share than 62% of UK towns
Country of birth, year of arrival and main language, Census 2021.
Born outside the UK, by region · share of all residents; the bar runs to 25%
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Across England’s towns, the share of residents born outside the UK is 18%; Holwell has 6.7%. The comparison figure for residents whose main language is English is 90% across England’s towns. Residents born abroad were most often born in Africa (2%), then in EU countries (1.7%).
35% said they have no religion, fewer than in 81% of UK towns
How residents described themselves at the 2021 Census. Lines join the lowest and highest of the three figures.
Ethnic groups other than White British · all residents
White British, not charted: 94% of Holwell · Dorset’s towns 87% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Across England’s towns, the share of residents who describe themselves as Christian is 46%; Holwell has 51%. The village has more residents who describe themselves as White British than 62% of UK towns, at 94%. Residents with no religion make up 37% across England’s towns. Besides White British, the main groups are Other White (2.7%), Mixed or multiple (2.2%) and African (0.5%).
Only 21% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership in Holwell
Legal partnership status (residents 16 and over) and unpaid care (residents 5 and over), Census 2021.
Partnership status · residents 16 and over
Unpaid care given · share of residents 5 and over
Unpaid care takes 50 hours a week or more for 6 people. Across England’s towns, nearly two in five adults have never married or formed a civil partnership. Holwell has fewer unpaid carers than 73% of UK towns, at 8.5%.
33% of adults hold a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
In Holwell, 33% of adults hold a degree-level qualification, against 34% across England’s towns, while 15% have no qualification at all (18%).
Holwell sits below 1 of its 7 closest neighbours on median age
Nearby built-up areas coloured by median age, Census 2021. Tap a town for its page.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Homes with children |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Holwell | 404 | — | 55.7 | 33% | 21% |
| Stalbridge | 2,367 | 4.8 mi | 55.6 | 35% | 20% |
| Milborne Port | 3,207 | 5.4 mi | 47.8 | 26% | 24% |
| Henstridge | 1,579 | 5.6 mi | 48.9 | 27% | 24% |
| Sherborne | 10,359 | 5.6 mi | 50.2 | 32% | 20% |
| Sturminster Newton | 3,565 | 5.9 mi | 48.2 | 28% | 24% |
| Marnhull | 1,466 | 7.1 mi | 59.5 | 40% | 16% |
| Templecombe | 1,657 | 7.1 mi | 46.9 | 25% | 24% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- “Dorset’s towns” and “England’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Dorset (or England), summed the same way as Holwell’s figures, so households in open countryside are left out.
- Small counts are blurred. The ONS adds small random changes to Census counts to protect privacy, so the same total differs a little between tables, and the shares of a small town can move by a point or two.
Questions about Holwell’s residents
What is the population of Holwell?
The 2021 Census counted 404 people in Holwell’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Holwell?
The median age was 55.7 at the 2021 Census. 8.2% of residents were 15 to 24 and 33% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Holwell?
94% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 87% across Dorset’s towns. 6.7% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Holwell?
35% said they had no religion and 51% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 1% were Muslim and 11% didn’t answer.
Is Holwell good for families?
21% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Holwell’s schools page.
Sources: ONS Census 2021, output areas summed to the ONS 2022 built-up area (TS002, TS003, TS004, TS007A, TS008, TS015, TS017, TS019, TS021, TS029, TS030, TS039, TS044, TS045, TS062, TS067). All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.