synod sate within the boundaries of that province? or at any rate in the immediate vicinity thereof? I am aware of no modern name in the county precisely, or nearly, answering to that of Aeclea; but the "Hagelei" of (D.B.), alluded to above, signifying Hawley in Sutton at Hone, is not so great a variation, after an interval exceeding two hundred years, and under a different race of people, that it might not mean the same spot as Aeclea, when we consider moreover how utterly careless our forefathers were as to orthography.—We are informed of another Aclea, where, A.D. 851, King Æthelwulf and his son Æthelbald obtained a great victory over the Danes. (Gibs. Chron. Sax. 75, and Asser's Alfred by Wise, 6.) This place is distinctly asserted to be situated in Surrey, and may be recognised in Ockley (that is Oak ley); Aclea being thus explained by Asser, "id est, in campulo quercus." The parish of Ockley lies a short distance from Dorking, southward. However this seems scarcely so probable a spot for the synod, as some other in, or nearer to, Kent, for the reasons offered above.
320. Suttons, The.—There is nothing in (D.B.) whereby to distinguish East Sutton from Sutton Valence. (A.D. 1291) "Ecclia de Sutton, cum capella;" from what will follow probably the church was at Sutton Valence, and the chapel at East Sutton.
East Sutton.—At the request of the prior and convent of Leeds, to which priory this church belonged, this cure was united to Sutton Valence (but no date is given). (Hasted.) It continues so annexed. When (Val. Eccl.) was compiled, the chapel belonged to Maidstone College, the parsonage to Leeds priory.—Sutton church contains a Brass of Sir Edw. and Lady Filmer and eighteen children in one large plate (Monum. Brasses, 23.)
321. Sutton Valence.—This, as well as East Sutton, is mentioned in Val. Eccl. under the priory of Leeds.—The incumbent is inducted to the vicarage of Sutton Valence with the chapelry of East Sutton annexed. (Hasted.) Some small remains yet visible indicate the former existence here of a castle, but of which little, if anything, is known.
322. Swanscombe.—In the fourth edition of the Glossary of Architecture this church is stated to be an example of Anglo-Saxon construction: the only one existing in the county of Kent. Such may be the case, but the following description, the result of my examination, will show my opinion, that the fact is doubt-
