WYE, a village, a parish, a sub-district, and a hundred, in Kent. The village stands on the river Stour, adjacent to the Canterbury and Ramsgate railway, under W. Downs, 4 miles NNE of Ashford; was once a market-town; consists of two parallel streets, crossed by two others; and has a post-office‡ under Ashford, a r. station with telegraph, and fairs on 29 May and 11 Oct.—The parish comprises 7,282 acres. Real property, £10,216. Pop., 1,594. Houses, 322. The manor belonged to the Saxon kings; was given, by William the Conqueror, to Battle abbey; went, after the dissolution of monasteries, to the Hunsdons; and passed, in 1628, to the Finches. W. Downs command a fine view. A mineral spring is at Withersdane. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury. Value, £70.* Patron, the Earl of Winchelsea. The church is large and handsome, and has a nave of the time of Henry VI., and a chancel and a tower of 1706. A college was founded in 1447; and is now partly a grammar-school, with £16 a year from endowment, and partly a charity school for about 50 boys and 60 girls. There are general charities £200. Archbishop Kempe and Mrs. Macaulay were natives.-- The sub-district contains 11 parishes, and is in East Ashford district. Acres, 27,336. Pop., 5,767. Houses, 1,141.-The hundred contains 4 parishes and a part, and is in Shepway lathe. Acres, 12,763. Pop. in 1851, 2,733. Houses, 489.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))