Wrotham

infobox UK place|static_

country = England
latitude=51.30825
longitude=0.30846
official_name= Wrotham
population =1,815 (2001)
shire_district= Tonbridge & Malling
shire_county = Kent
region= South East England

constituency_westminster=Tonbridge and Malling
post_town= SEVENOAKS
postcode_district = TN15
postcode_area= TN
dial_code= 01732 88
os_grid_reference= TQ610591

Wrotham (pronEng|ˈruːtəm) is a village situated on the Pilgrims' Way in Kent, at the foot of the North Downs. It is located one mile north of Borough Green and approximately five miles east of Sevenoaks. It is within the junction of the M20 and M26 motorways.

The village has a high number of pubs; there are four within a hundred yards of each other. They are The Rose & Crown, The George & Dragon, The Bull Inn, and The Three Post Boys.

There is a separate village called Wrotham Heath 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 in 1955, and now carries the main national FM radio frequencies for most of London.

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. Since the constituency's creation in 1974, its Member of Parliament has been Sir John Stanley of the Conservative Party. [cite web | title = Rt Hon Sir John Stanley MP | publisher = Conservatives.com| url =http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=people.person.page&personID=4576| accessdate = 2007-11-23] The village is within the local government district of Tonbridge and Malling, and comprises the local government ward of Wrotham. [cite web | title = Election Maps | publisher = Ordnance Survey| url = http://www.election-maps.co.uk/formFrame.htm| accessdate = 2007-11-23 |date =] 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. [cite web | title = Member and Committee Information | publisher = Tonbridge & Malling District Borough Council| url = http://egenda.tmbc.gov.uk/akstonbridge/users/public/admin/main.pl?op=ListCurrentMembers| accessdate = 2007-11-25 ] Tonbridge & Malling District Borough Council is responsible for running local services, such as recreation, refuse collection and council housing; [cite web | title = Council Services | publisher = Tonbridge & Malling District Borough Council | url = http://www.tmbc.gov.uk/cgi-bin/buildpage.pl?mysql=245 | accessdate = 2007-11-25 ] while Kent County Council 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.cite web | url = http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/14/nrural214.xml| publisher = Daily Telegraph| title = Rural decline: Case study | accessdate = 2008-04-16]

Demography

As of the 2001 UK census, 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 couples, and 6% were lone parent families. 20% of households had someone at pensionable age living alone.cite web | title = Wrotham (Ward)| publisher = Statistics.gov.uk | url = http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadAreaSearch.do?a=3&i=1001&m=0&s=1195925993665&enc=1&areaSearchText=Wrotham&areaSearchType=14&extendedList=false&searchAreas=Search | accessdate = 2007-11-23 ]

The ethnicity of the village was given as 99.2% white, 0.66% mixed race, 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 relatively low rate of unemployment, and a relatively high proportion of self-employed workers.

Employment by industry was 16% retail; 14% real estate; 13% manufacturing; 10% construction; 8% health and social work; 8% education; 7% transport and communications; 5% finance; 5% hotels and restaurants; 3% public administration; 3% agriculture; 1% energy and water supply; and 6% other. Compared to national figures, Wrotham had a relatively high percentage of workers in agriculture; energy and water supply; hotels and restaurants; and construction. It had a relatively low percentage in health and social work; and public administration.

According to Office for National Statistics estimates, the average gross income of households in Wrotham between April 2001 and March 2002 was £770 per week (£40,000 per year).

References