Category:Valence, Westerham

English: Valence (or Valons) is an estate near Westerham in Kent, the land having been granted to Haimo de Valoines (or de Valoniis) in 1147 or 1148. Various houses have been constructed on the site from the end of the 15th century onwards. In 1771 it was bought by Wills Hill, Earl of Hillsborough (later Marquess of Downshire), who had the house substantially rebuilt, employed Capability Brown to reconstruct the landscape, and renamed the estate from Valence to Hill Park. After the estate had passed through various hands (and reverted back to its earlier name of Valence), it was bought by Norman Watney, a director of Watney's Brewery in the 1880s, who replaced the mansion with a new house slightly to the south-west. This has been the site of a school since 1951. [1] [2]