Wrotham
Encyclopedia
Wrotham (ˈ) is a village situated on the Pilgrims' Way
Pilgrims' Way
The Pilgrims' Way is the historic route supposed to have been taken by pilgrims from Winchester in Hampshire, England, to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury in Kent...

 in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

, at the foot of the North Downs
North Downs
The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. The North Downs lie within two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty , the Surrey Hills and the Kent Downs...

. It is located one mile north of Borough Green
Borough Green
Borough Green is a large village and civil parish in the Tonbridge and Malling District of Kent, England. The main village is situated on the A25 road between Maidstone and Sevenoaks in Kent.-History:...

 and approximately five miles east of Sevenoaks
Sevenoaks
Sevenoaks is a commuter town situated on the London fringe of west Kent, England, some 20 miles south-east of Charing Cross, on one of the principal commuter rail lines from the capital...

. It is within the junction of the M20
M20 motorway
The M20 is a motorway in Kent, England. It runs from the M25 motorway to Folkestone, providing a link to the Channel Tunnel and the ports at Dover. It is long...

 and M26
M26 motorway
The M26 is a motorway in Kent, England. It provides a short link between the M25/A21 at Sevenoaks and the M20 near Wrotham.-Route:The motorway starts at junction 3 of the M20 and heads west, encountering almost immediately the single junction along its length where it has an interchange with the A20...

 motorways.

The village has a high number of pubs
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...

; there are three within a hundred yards of each other. They are The Rose and Crown, The George and Dragon and The Bull Inn..

There is a separate village called Wrotham Heath
Wrotham Heath
Wrotham Heath is a settlement in Tonbridge and Malling Borough in Kent, England. It is part of the civil parish of Wrotham, and is located approximately two miles south east of the latter, seven miles east of Sevenoaks and seven miles west of Maidstone. It is located on the A20 road, close to...

 about two miles to the south-east.

Close by is the Wrotham transmitting station, which was the first transmitter in the UK to broadcast on FM
FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...

 in 1955, and now carries the main national FM radio frequencies for most of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

.

Wrotham shows extensive signs of occupation by the Romans, and it has been claimed that the Wrotham Pinot, a disease-resistant variety of the Pinot noir grape found in Wrotham churchyard, is descended from vines brought by the Romans.

Governance

Wrotham is in the parliamentary constituency of Tonbridge and Malling
Tonbridge and Malling (UK Parliament constituency)
Tonbridge and Malling is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.It was created in 1974 from parts of the seats of Sevenoaks & Tonbridge...

. Since the constituency's creation in 1974, its Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 has been Sir John Stanley of the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

. The village is within the local government district of Tonbridge and Malling
Tonbridge and Malling
Tonbridge and Malling is a local government district and borough in the English county of Kent.Tonbridge and Malling borough covers an area from the North Downs at Burham and Snodland in the north to the town of Tonbridge in the south...

, and comprises the local government ward of Wrotham. This ward has 1 of the 53 seats on the Tonbridge & Malling District Borough Council. As of November 2007, the seat was held by the Conservative, Martin Coffin. Tonbridge & Malling District Borough Council is responsible for running local services, such as recreation, refuse collection and council housing
Council house
A council house, otherwise known as a local authority house, is a form of public or social housing. The term is used primarily in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Council houses were built and operated by local councils to supply uncrowded, well-built homes on secure tenancies at...

; while Kent County Council
Kent County Council
Kent County Council is the county council that governs the majority of the county of Kent in England. It provides the upper tier of local government, below which are 12 district councils, and around 300 town and parish councils. The county council has 84 elected councillors...

 is responsible for education, social services and trading standards. Both councils are involved in town planning and road maintenance.

A 2008 report showed that Wrotham has experienced one of the greatest deteriorations of basic services, losing the most amenities in the previous four years.

Demography

Wrotham compared
Wrotham Tonbridge & Malling district England
Population 1,815 107,561 49,138,831
UK born 95.9% 95.4% 91.8%
White 99% 98% 91%
Asian 0.0% 0.5% 4.6%
Black 0.16% 0.14% 2.3%
Christian 75% 76% 72%
Muslim 0.2% 0.3% 3.1%
Hindu 0.0% 0.2% 1.1%
Source: 2001 UK census
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....


As of the 2001 UK census
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....

, the Wrotham ward had a population of 1,815. The village had 759 households; of which, 42% were married couples, 29% were individuals, 9% were cohabiting
Cohabitation
Cohabitation usually refers to an arrangement whereby two people decide to live together on a long-term or permanent basis in an emotionally and/or sexually intimate relationship. The term is most frequently applied to couples who are not married...

 couples, and 6% were lone parent families. 20% of households had someone at pension
Pension
In general, a pension is an arrangement to provide people with an income when they are no longer earning a regular income from employment. Pensions should not be confused with severance pay; the former is paid in regular installments, while the latter is paid in one lump sum.The terms retirement...

able age living alone.

The ethnicity
Ethnic groups of the United Kingdom
People from various ethnic groups reside in the United Kingdom. Migration from what are now the Northern European states has been happening for millennia, with other groups such as British Jews also well established...

 of the village was given as 99.2% white, 0.66% mixed race
Multiracial
The terms multiracial and mixed-race describe people whose ancestries come from multiple races. Unlike the term biracial, which often is only used to refer to having parents or grandparents of two different races, the term multiracial may encompass biracial people but can also include people with...

, and 0.16% Black. The place of birth of the town's residents was 95.9% United Kingdom (92.0% England), 0.4% Republic of Ireland, 0.8% other Western Europe, 0.4% Eastern Europe, 1.0% Africa, 0.8% Asia, 0.4% North America and 0.3% elsewhere.

Religion was recorded as 74.81% Christian, 0.44% Jewish, 0.22% Buddhist, 0.17% Muslim and 0.17% Sikh. 15.46% were recorded as having no religion, 0.33% had an alternative religion, and 8.42% did not state their religion.

Economy

As of the 2001 UK census, 39.5% of the village's residents aged 16–74 were employed full-time, 12.9% employed part-time, 14.1% self-employed and 1.6% unemployed, while 1.9% were students with jobs, 3.4% students without jobs, 14.3% retired, 8.0% looking after home or family, 2.5% permanently sick or disabled and 1.9% economically inactive for other reasons. Compared to national figures, the village had a low rate of unemployment, and a high proportion of self-employed workers.

Employment by industry was 16% retail; 14% real estate; 13% manufacturing; 10% construction; 8% health and social work
Social work
Social Work is a professional and academic discipline that seeks to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of an individual, group, or community by intervening through research, policy, community organizing, direct practice, and teaching on behalf of those afflicted with poverty or any real or...

; 8% education; 7% transport and communication
Communication
Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...

s; 5% finance; 5% hotels and restaurants; 3% public administration
Public administration
Public Administration houses the implementation of government policy and an academic discipline that studies this implementation and that prepares civil servants for this work. As a "field of inquiry with a diverse scope" its "fundamental goal.....

; 3% agriculture; 1% energy and water supply; and 6% other. Compared to national figures, Wrotham had a high percentage of workers in agriculture; energy and water supply; hotels and restaurants; and construction. It had a low percentage in health and social work; and public administration.

According to Office for National Statistics
Office for National Statistics
The Office for National Statistics is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom.- Overview :...

estimates, the average gross income of households in Wrotham between April 2001 and March 2002 was £770 per week (£40,000 per year).
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK