Sutton Valence

"SUTTON VALENCE, a parish in the hundred of Eyhorne, lathe of Aylesford, county Kent, 5 miles N.E. of Staplehurst, its post town, and 6 S.E. of Maidstone. This place is situated on the road from Maidstone to Tenterden, near the Weald, and once formed part of the demesne of William de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, the keep of whose castle, a ruin overgrown with ivy, still exists. A large portion of the land is in hop-gardens and orchards. The soil is a rich loam intermixed with stiff clay upon a subsoil of rock. The village, called Town Sutton, is situated under the ridge of hills bounding the Weald. The living is a vicarage with the curacy of East Sutton annexed, in the diocese of Canterbury, value £318, in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Rochester. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, was rebuilt in 1828. The register dates from 1597. The parochial charities produce about £90, of which £87 go to Lambe's almshouses. Here is the Clothworkers' Free Grammar school, founded by W. Lambe in 1578, with two exhibitions of £10 per annum at St. John's College, Cambridge. There are also National and infant schools. The Independents have a chapel. Sir E. Filmer, Bart., is lord of the manor."

[Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868 by Colin Hinson ©2010]