Aspects of Kentish Local History

old settlement called Mundelingeham" (B.C.S. 190). This cannot refer to Little Mongeham itself and there can hardly be any doubt that it was East Sutton which was then acquired by the Abbey. We do not know whether there was a homestead in the area at this time but, if there was not, we may feel reasonably certain that the Abbey speedily provided one and named it as the South Farm of Little Mongeham. It seems to have been part of the Mongeham as described in Domesday Book, i.e. a subordinate section of that manor.

2. SUTTON AT HONE.

   In 1066 a great man called Levenot (i.e. Leofnoth) was living at Sutton. We know from the Textus Roffensis that there was a church there, and it was certainly the place of assembly of the lathe of Sutton, which argues at least a reasonable amount of local accommodation. Nevertheless Sutton at Hone is not separately described in Domesday Book but is included in the general description of Dartford Manor. Its church, together with those of Wilmington and Hawley, made up the "three small churches" recorded in D.B. as part of the Royal Manor of Dartford. There is therefore no doubt that in 1086 Sutton was a dependency of Dartford Manor in the southern part of whose territory it lay. The post-conquest history in relation to Dartford is difficult to trace

because Sutton Church was given to the Priory of Rochester by Gundulf and the Manor was presented to the Knights of St. John before the year 1200.

3. SUTTON VALENCE.

   The history of this Manor goes back to the year 814 when King Coenulf gave to Earl Suithnoth one aratrum next to the wood called Caert, i.e. the Chart (B.S.C. 343). A contemporary endorsement, "Tunes Boc," shows that this aratrum was at Town Sutton alias Sutton Valence. We do not know when the name Sutton was first used but it was certainly before the Conquest, for Sutton is a separate Manor in Domesday Book. Since the suth-tun could not be south of itself we must look for some place, probably a parent Manor in Saxon times, and still is in many places, known as the Chart. It extends along the sand hills from Great Chart in Kent westward to Churt in Surrey. So much of it as remains in the neighbourhood of Sutton Valence is called the King's Wood. There is evidence that this wood belonged to the Manor of Faversham, which was a Royal Manor. The first item of evidence is the fact that the Manor of Kingsnoth (sometimes corrupted to Kingsnorth) in Ulcombe and Boughton Malherbe was always a detached Borough of the Hundred of Faversham. The second