the 1801, 1811, 1821 and 1831 census returns were carried out by the ecclesiastical authoriries and only recorded the very basic details of people, and these were mainly just naming householders with numbers in each house, sometimes divided up into males and females and in 1821 into age groupings. some actually name all inhabitants and include extra details like relationships, occupations and ages. only in ireland in 1821 and 1831 were full details of all inhabitantas required .in the rest of britain, compilers, which were the overseers of the poor, teachers and clergy, were not instructed to give any names at all.
rough drafts of local returns were put into the local parish chest whilst the statistics only were sent to the census office.
earlier forms of taxation can be classed as census retuns in many respects, in 1694 a tax was introduced on births marriages burials bachelors over 25 and childless widiwers in england and wales, this was after the Mattiage Duties Act or mattiage tax.it was repealed in 1705/6
some of these early returns survive in full or in part, and depending on the county and diocese they can be looked at. what county are you researching in?
Don't forget the land Tax Assessments (1780 - 1825) are a very good way of locating the heads of house too. these should be in the CRO