History
The village's name describes what it originally was - the green to which the people of what was then the borough of Wrotham went for recreation. There is also a view that "borough", which predates any borough council in the area, relates to barrow, possibly referring to the Roman remains near the station site. Its location at a crossroads (the old route from Gravesend to Hastings crossed here) meant that inns were gradually opened:
- 1586 Red Lion ( now closed )
- 1592 "Black Bull", later the Black Horse now known as "Black Horse and Hoodens"
- 1753 The Bull
- 1837 Fox & Hounds (now private houses)
- 1860 The Rock (also now private houses)
- 1878 The Railway Hotel now known as The Henry Simmonds
Great Comp, an early 17th-century house, is located in the parish of St Mary's Platt, one mile to the east of the village. Its gardens, administered by a charitable trust, are open to the public.
The London, Chatham and Dover Railway opened its line to Maidstone on 1 June 1874, and a station named Wrotham and Borough Green was built. Later the names were reversed to Borough Green & Wrotham reflecting the fact that the station was in Borough Green, whereas Wrotham is some miles to the north. The reversal also reflected Borough Green's size, having now outgrown Wrotham.
The River Bourne flows through the southern part of the parish, and formerly powered a paper mill at Basted.
Read more about this topic: Borough Green
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