Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (UK tramp) a village.

1839		H. Brandon Dict. of the Flash or Cant Lang. 168: The crocusses pad through every wild, to fence the gammy stuff.
1857		‘Ducange Anglicus’ Vulgar Tongue 39: [as cit. 1839].
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1874		Derbyshire Courier 12 Dec. 7/1: Local Flash language [...] A wild, a village.
1882		Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 9: Wild - Village, or small township.

2. in pl., the suburbs.

1957

G. Kersh Fowlers End (2001) 127: Only I’ve been in the wilds all day. Cash me a cheque, and let’s get going.