Sutton Valence, Kent

Description
Sutton Valence, a parish, with a village, in Kent, 4 miles from Headcorn station on the S.E.R. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Staplehurst. Acreage, 2171; population of the civil parish, 940; of the ecclesiastical, 1276. There is a parish council consisting of seven members. Sutton Castle, now reduced to scanty remains, dates from the time of Edward I., and probably was built by the Valences, Earls of Pembroke. The living is a vicarage, united with East Sutton, in the diocese of Canterbury; net value, £160 with residence. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Rochester. The church is modern, and has been restored. There are a Congregational chapel, a grammar school, a national school, almshouses, and other charities. The grammar school belongs to the Cloth-workers' Company, was rebuilt on an extended scale in 1866, enlarged again in 1876-77, and has exhibitions at St John's College, Cambridge.