[Illustration] The Eyres appear as witnesses to charters in the Peak
of Derbyshire in the remotest period to which private charters
ascend. The first of the name known is William le Eyre, of Hope, in
the reign of Henry III. In the reign of Henry V. the family divided
into three great branches: the present house descends from Eyre of
Laughton in South Yorkshire, who spring from Eyre of Home Hall near
Chesterfield. One moiety of Rampton was purchased by Anthony Eyre in
the reign of Elizabeth; the other came from the coheiress of
Babington, in 1624.
See Hunter's South Yorkshire, i. 288; see also Lysons's Derbyshire,
lxxxiii., for a note on the various branches of Eyre, and Gent. Mag.
1795, pp. 121, 212.
Extinct Branches. 1. Eyre of Highlow, who adopted the names of
Archer, Newton, and Gell. 2. Eyre of Normanton-upon-Soar. 3. Eyre
Earl of Newburgh.
ARMS.--_Argent, on a chevron sable three quatrefoils or_.
Present Representative, the Rev. Charles Wasteneys Eyre.