The first record of the name of WROTHAM is in a Charter by which King Offa of Mercia granted Addington, Trottiscliffe, and Stansted to Rochester in AD788. In the earliest days of Christianity, when the two great cathedral cities of Winchester and Canterbury were being built, it was a custom of the Monks to make pilgrimages from one Cathedral to another, and the Pilgrims Way came into being. Houses where the Monks could stop were erected along the route, and these were nearly always at the intersection of roads, near hamlets, so that the dangers of molestation and robbery were lessened. Even before pilgrim days this route was used as a trade route, and would have led to the coastal beaches of Kent.
As you approach WROTHAM from Borough Green you will see THE OLD VICARAGE. This 17th Century house, originally a Hall House with later additions, was once the home of Lord Hardinge of Lahore born during his father’s curacy. On the bend in the High Street you notice WEST HOUSE a beautiful Queen Anne house which has a fire mark on the wall – this insured good attention by the fire brigade in the last Century.