later Tudor period, of the sixteenth or seventeenth century. They are described as consisting of a capital messuage (or manor house), with a farmhouse, a barn, a chapel, and other buildings. There were also two water-mills under one roof, and two gardens containing two acres of land, which were granted by Edward III. to Mary St. Paul.* I am indebted to George Payne, Esq., F.S.A., of the Precinct of Rochester, for the accompanying plans and elevations, which have been carefully measured and drawn to scale by Miss E. Drake of Rochester in 1893. SUTTON AT HONE. Sutton at Hone, in the Hundred of Axtane, lies to the south-east of Dartford and Wilmington. In the General Survey of Domesday it is called Achestan, and derives its definition of Hone from its position in the valley. Henry I. gave the Church of Sutton with the Chapel of Kyngstone, Wilmington, Dartford, and Aylesford to the Bishop of Rochester. Gilbert de Sutton held the tenths for life on a payment of iiij marks per annum. In 1291+ the value of the living is returned as worth xxiij' vjs viijų. Robert de Basing, in the reign of King John, gave the Manors of Sutton at Hone and Hagel (now Hawley) to the Knight Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem; and Elen de Sankeville, daughter of Ralph de Dene, gave all her land of Lageham in Penshurst to the Manor of Sutton; and Gilbert, son of William Hales, Prior of Clerkenwell, gave additional lands and rents. King Edward II.,§ in the first year of his reign, granted to the Prior of Clerkenwell all his liberties and lands in Sutton at Hone, called the Manor of Dartford cum Sutton at Hone, which extended into the parishes of Ash, Penshurst, Edenbridge, etc., together with the assize of bread and ale. In the eleventh year of Edward III.|| the Manor of Sutton, consisting of three plough lands, was leased to John, Lord de Pulteney, by a precept from the King, and the payment * Camden Society, Larking, p. 212. Dugdale, Mon., vol. iii., p. 2, 69. Ibid., vol. ii., p. 544. § Pleas apud Roff., 1 Edward II. m. 19], clause 14, Edward II. Larking, p. 93, Knight Hospitallers in England. each year reserved* to the Archbishop of Canterbury. The amount is not given, but the rent received appears to have been xl marks. The brethren received a sum of xx marks, reserved as a voluntary donation on account of the said grant, which was paid to the treasurer of the Priory. The statement is not altogether clear, inasmuch as certain explanatory words are wanting. The total amount which was paid to the treasurer for the support of the Order is given as being lx marks.† From a perusal of the Register‡ of the Grants and Charters appertaining to the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, dated 1442, in the time of Richard Bottel, then Prior, the grants made to this preceptory were not only numerous, but valuable, and must have considerably added to its wealth and resources. The mere enumeration of them extends over not less than 76 folio pages of MSS., in which the names of the donors or benefactors are given, the nature and value of the property, and where situate, but no date is appended; consequently it becomes a matter of uncertainty at what period they commence, although they were all previous to 1442. To attempt to enumerate the several charters and grants would extend this paper to an inordinate length. I have therefore thought that a few selected examples would be sufficient, as they are all more or less drafted on the same lines. The first refers to Eustachius Calnus and his gift of 12 d., and six days' work charged on his land in Sutton. No. 2, to a charge of 2d. on a messuage in Tonbrigge. No. 3, a rent charge for a chapel lamp. No. 4, a grant by John Basing of his land in Sutton. No. 5, a grant of two messuages to the Vicar of Sutton. Grants of Eustace Calnus relating to the payment of 12 denarii. Be it known to all present and in the future that I, Eustace Calnus, give, conceed, and by this my grant confirm to God and *Ad sectam. Tanner, in his Reg. Roff., called the Preceptory De la Hone, or atte Hone, as founded by Jeffery fitzs Piers, with a reference to Dugdale's Mon., vol. ii., p. 437. Tanner adds a note that Dugdale is wrong in placing Sutton de la Hone in Yorkshire, and quotes Cart. Ant., M, n. 9, p. 220. This is incorrect, Sutton de la Hone is in the county of York. Cott. MS., Nero, E, pp. 22 a and b to fol. 260. § Ibid., fol. 230. the blessed Mary and S. John the Baptist and bretheren of the Hospital of Jerusalem a payment of 12 denarii in the town of Sutton, that is to say, 5 which the bretheren of the Hospital of Jerusalem are accustomed to pay me annually for the pasture which is called Dyke, and five denarii which Eustachius de Grana and Roger his Brother were also accustomed to pay truly for the land which William the son of Roger, and Reginald his son held, and one obolum for the way which lies before the gate of my mother Ediline, and six days' work, and one pasture with its apperts which lies between Newweye and the pasture of Willm de Ros. And I the before mentioned Eustace and my heirs will guarantee the before mentioned payment to the before mentioned bretheren and their successors against all others round about in perpetuity. These witnessing, etc. Grant* of Ralph Tonbridge of two denarii. Be it known to all present and future that I, Ralph the Son of William de Thonebrigg, give and conceede and by this my charter confirm to God and the blessed Mary and S. John the Baptist and the bretheren of the Hospital of Jerusalem, two denarii yearly to the bretheren of the aforesaid House. Grant of Alfred de Heilonde of six denarii for a lamp in the Chapel. Be it known to all present and future, that I, Alfred of the Heylond, give, conceed, and by this my charter confirm to God and the blessed Mary, and to St. John the Baptiste and the bretheren of the Hospital of Jerusalem to pay six denarii to maintain one lamp in the Chapel of the Hospital before the Altar of St. Nicholas, to be maintained for ever. Grant of Basinges of his land in Sutton. To all the faithful in Christ to whom the present writings may come, I, John de Basyngges the son of Robert de Basyngges health in the Lord. Know that I, moved with the divine love and for the salvation of my soul, and the souls of my antecessors and successors, give, conceede, and by these my presents confirm to God, the blessed Mary, and S. John the Baptist, and the blessed poor of the holy House of the Hospital of Jerusalem and the bretheren of the House at Sutton att Hone sojourning there, and serving God, * Cott. MS., Nero, E, fol. 230. VOL. XXII. † Ibid., fol. 233. S all my land, which I hold in fealty of the aforesaid brothers in the manor of Sutton, and all my land in fealty of William de Wahell, Knt., in the same manor, which aforesaid land by any right I have held since the decease of the said Robert de Basyngges in the said manor of Sutton, to have and to hold the aforesaid land with all appertnances to the foresaid bretheren and their successors for free, pure, and perpetual alms, well and in peace from all services, customs, exactions, and without charge or other secular demands. And I, the said John and my heirs give the aforesaid land with all its app'ts to the bretheren and their successors against all other people, whether Jews or Christians, in every place for ever. In testimony of which presents I have affixed my seal opposite. These witnessing, etc., etc. Grant of Hugo, Vicar of Sutton, of Messuage and House. Moreover I Be it known to all present and future that I, Hugo, Vicar of Sutton, give, conceed, and by these my presents confirm to Robert the Deacon of the House and Hospital of Sutton, all my messuage with the houses built thereon, with the whole croft and all things pertaining to it, which lies between the land which was William Blundel's and the land which Eustace the Porter held aforetime. give and conceed to the same Robert all my pasture lying in Littlebrok. Moreover I give and conceede to the same Robert one acre of my land lying by the land of Roger Cadell, to have and to hold the forementioned land with before mentioned messuage and house and all things appertaining to me and my heirs to them and their heirs, paying to me and my heirs an annuity of two denarii at one time, that is to say at the Feaste of the Nativity of John the Baptist, for all services, exactions, and demands, saving the service to our Lord the King. And I, the before named Hugo and my heirs, give the whole of the before mentioned land with the messuage and house built thereon and existing, with all its pertinences, to the before mentioned Robert and his heirs against all people everywhere. In testimony of which I have hereunto affixed my seal. These witnessing, etc. The house, building, chapel, and offices at Sutton continued as a commandry for the management of these and other valuable estates up to the date of the dissolution of the Order of Knight Hospitallers, of which our public recordst * Cott. MS., Nero, E, fol. 249. † Exch. Aug. Off., Particulars of Grants, 35 Henry VIII., 1543. |