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1. Sutton by Dover alias East Sutton.
2. Sutton at Hone (i.e. Sutton at the boundary).
3. Sutton Valence alias Town Sutton.
4. Sutton Baron alias Sutton Barne in Borden Parish.
5. Sutton Farm alias Sutton's Farm in Dymchurch
Parish.
6. Sutton Hook Wood in Waltham Parish.
7. Suth-Tun in Chilham.
We may eliminate first of all the question whether these
places derive their names from the fact that they lie to the south of
some important natural feature such as a range of hills, or a river. A
study of the map gives no support to this thesis. In no single case is
there a natural feature likely to attract particular attention in the
required position. nor are these Suttons confined to the southern part
of the county but are scattered indifferently throughout it.
We may next note that the Suttons are not so named in
reference to particular north-tuns. The name Norton (north-tun) occurs
in six different parishes but only in one case does it bear any relation
to a Sutton. This is in Chart Sutton which, as we have already said, had
no original right to the Sutton element in its name. Norton Court in
this parish lies to the north of Chart Place and Chart Court Farm and it
is no doubt from this relationship that it obtained its name. It seems
to have been a subsidiary of Chart Manor as constituted at the |
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time of Domesday Book. This digression
concerning the place-name Norton,
although it cannot be further developed here, tends to emphasize that
importance of manorial relationships which is equally evident in the
case of the Suttons. We must now pass to the consideration of the seven
Suttons in the County of Kent.
1. SUTTON BY DOVER.
In the eastern part of Kent there lie three adjacent
parishes which are of importance for our enquiry. The first of these is
Little Mongeham which, until the reformation, was part of the
possessions of the Abbey of St. Augustine, and, in spite of its name,
seems to have been the oldest occupation centre. To the east of it lies
Great Mongeham. This belonged to Christ Church, Canterbury, and in 1086
was esteemed part of Adisham Manor and is not separately described in
Domesday Book. To the south of Little Mongeham lies the parish of East
Sutton, whose church was a chapelry of Little Mongeham for many hundreds
of years (Arch. Cant., XL, 159). We know from the Domesday
Records of the Abbey (Notitia in P.R.O. Misc. Bks. K.R.27) that the name
Suttune was current at the time of the Conquest but our first knowledge
of this area is very much earlier. In the year 761 King Eadberht of Kent
gave to the Abbey of St. Augustine "six aratra on the south side of
the |