WICKHAM (WEST), a parish in the hundred of
HUXLEY, lathe of SUTTON at HONE, county of KENT,
2 miles (S. S. W.) from Bromley, containing 555 inhabitants.
The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry
and diocese of Rochester, rated in the king's books
at £11. 10. 10., and in the patronage of the Dowager
Lady Farnaby. The church is dedicated to St. John
the Baptist: the windows of the chancel are beautifully
ornamented with stained glass. There is a place of
worship for Wesleyan Methodists. This was formerly
a market-town; a fair for cattle is held on Easter-
Monday. A National school, for forty children of
each sex, is supported by subscription. The manorhouse
is a curious square structure, with angular towers,
of the time of Henry VII. The learned Gilbert West,
the friend of Gray the poet, long resided in the village,
where he was visited by Lyttleton and Pitt, and
where, according to Dr. Johnson, he received that conviction
which produced the dissertation on the conversion
of St. Paul; he Was buried here.