Wormshill - Demography

Demography

The record in the Domesday Book does not give the population in 1086, though several people are named. By the late 19th century the village and parish were described as:

WORMSHILL, a parish in Hollingbourn district, Kent; 5 miles S by W of Sittingbourne r. station. It has a post-office under Sittingbourne. Acres, 1,467. Real property, £1,295. Pop., 253. Houses, 46. The property is divided among a few. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury. Value, £260.* Patron, Christ's Hospital, London. The church is plain. Charities, £12.

Wormshill's location remains rural. Because of geography and restrictions on development, building in the village has been scant since the 1960s and 1970s. In 1821, the parish contained only 26 dwellings: by 2001, the total number of houses had risen to 82.

The rural nature of the area is indicated by a population density of approximately 0.4 persons per hectare (1 person for every 6.9 acres), compared to the average for the south-east of England of 4.2 persons per hectare (1 person for every 0.6 acres).

The village has been recorded as a distinct parish unit for the purpose of census statistics since the first United Kingdom census in 1801. The majority of the official population of 198 (per United Kingdom Census 2001) is aged 45 or over and lives in homes comprising married family units. The total population has increased by around 40 people since 1801 however, during the past 200 years, it has fluctuated more widely within that range. In 1801 the population was 157 before peaking at 253 in 1861. In 1901 census records indicate a parish population of either 163 or 169.

Data for the ethnicity of the wider Maidstone area show that the population is around 97 percent white and that the remainder is of mixed, black, and Asian descent. Specific figures for Wormshill held by Kent County Council indicated in 2001 that all the villagers were of white ethnicity.