WROTHAM, a parish (formerly a market-town) in the hundred of WROTHAM, lathe of AYLESFOHD, county of KENT, 11 miles (W. N. W,) from Maidstone, and 24 (S. E. by E.) from London, containing, with the townships of Hale, Nepicar, Plaxtol, Winfield, and Roughway, 2357 inhabitants. This is a place of very remote antiquity; that it was a town of the ancient Britons is probable from various discoveries of British coins, and fragments of brass armour and military weapons; other circumstances lead to the conclusion that it was afterwards a Roman station, and the ancient military way from Oldborough to Stane-street passed through it. The town is situated near the foot of the chalk hills, and consists principally of two streets crossing each other on the high road from London-to Maidstone; in the centre is the market-place, where is a public well. Some1 paper is manufactured at Basted. The market has been discontinued for many vears there is a fair on the 4th of May. The living comprises a sinecure rectory and a vicarage, in the exempt deanery of Shoreham, and in the peculiar jurisdiction and patronage of the Archbishop of Canterbury; the former, with the perpetual curacy of Stanstead annexed, is rated in the king's books at £50. 8. 1.; and the latter, with the rectory of Woodland annexed, at £22. 5. 10. The church, dedicated to St. George, is an ancient and spacious structure, with a mixture of the various styles, from the Norman to the later English; it contains sixteen stalls. A palace for the Archbishops of Canterbury formerly stood here, of which the terrace and a few offices alone remain. Wrotham hill, immediately above the town, affords one of the finest prospects in England.