Sutton

Sutton is a village and civil parish in the Rochford district in Essex, England. It is located between the River Roach and the adjoining Borough of Southend-on-Sea, and includes the hamlet of Shopland. At the 2021 census the parish had a population of 129. It is least populous parish in Rochford district, although at the time of the Domesday Book it had a flourishing village with its own market and fair. The place-name 'Sutton' is first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as Suttuna. The name means 'southern town or settlement'. The legal name of the parish is Sutton, but the parish council calls itself Sutton with Shopland Parish Council. Shopland was formerly a separate parish, which was abolished and its area absorbed into Sutton in 1933, except a small part which went instead to Southend-on-Sea. When St Mary Magdalene's church in Shopland was demolished in 1957 following bomb damage during the Second World War, artefacts were removed and taken to Sutton Church and others. Shopland churchyard is rededicated every year. Sutton Road (B1015) is approximately 3 miles (5 km) long and runs from the Anne Boleyn Public House on Southend Road in Rochford to Southchurch Road in Southend-on-Sea. Sutton is rural with large farms, and is bordered by industrial estates on its northern (Purdeys Industrial Estate) and southern (Chandlers Way/Temple Farm Industrial Estate) borders.