Sutton-At-Hone (St. John the Baptist)

SUTTON-AT-HONE (St. John the Baptist), a parish, in the union of Dartford, hundred of Axton, Dartford, and Wilmington, lathe of Sutton-at-Hone, W. division of Kent, 2½ miles (S. by E.) from Dartford; containing, with the hamlet of Swanley, 1128 inhabitants. This parish, from which the lathe derives its name, is pleasantly situated on the river Darent, and is intersected by the road from Dartford to Seven-Oaks. It comprises 3587 acres, whereof 408 are in wood. The village, on the bank of the river, has an interesting appearance, and the surrounding scenery is agreeably diversified, and enlivened with some good houses, among which are Sutton Place and St. John's, the latter occupying the site of an ancient commandery. Near the northern extremity of the parish is Hawley House, a mansion of considerable antiquity. The paper manufacture is carried on. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £10; net income, £519; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Chapter of Rochester. There is a vicarage-house, with a glebe of 22 acres. The church, an ancient structure with some portions in the decorated English style, was partly burnt down in 1615, having been accidentally fired by some persons while shooting bats. Here are places of worship for Baptists and Wesleyans; also an almshouse founded by Katherine Wrott, in 1596. Jeffrey Fitz-Piers, Earl of Essex, in the reign of Richard I. or of John, gave his estates in the parish, for the establishment and endowment of an hospital for three chaplains and thirteen brethren; and about the same time, Robert Basinge granted the manor to the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem.