[Illustration] The Kynastons are lineal descendants of the ancient
British Princes of Powys, sprung from Griffith, son of Iorwerth
Goch, who took refuge in this county; where, as it is stated in the
Testa de Nevill, King Henry II. gave him the manors of Rowton and
Ellardine, in the parish of High Ercall, and Sutton and Brocton in
the parish of Sutton, to be held in capite by the service of being
_latimer_ (_i.e._ interpreter) between the English and Welsh. He
married Matilda, younger sister and coheir of Ralph le Strange, and
in her right became possessed of the manor of Kinnerley and other
estates in Shropshire. Madoc, the eldest son of Griffith, seated
himself at Sutton, from him called to this day "Sutton Madoc;"
Griffith Vychan, the younger son, had Kinnerley, a portion of his
mother's inheritance, and in that manor he resided at Tre-gynvarth,
_Anglicè_ Kynvarth's Town, usually written and spoken as _Kynaston_;
and hence the name of the family. Griffith or Griffin de Kyneveston,
son of Griffith Vychan, was witness to a grant of land to the abbey
of Haghmond in 1313. His lineal descendant Roger Kynaston fought at
Blore Heathe in 1459, and Lord Audley the Lancastrian General is
supposed to have fallen by his hand; hence the second quarter in the
arms, and for this and other services he received the honour of
knighthood. The Kynastons, from the place so called, went to
Hordley, and latterly in the seventeenth century removed to
Hardwicke.
The Kynastons of Oteley, extinct early in the eighteenth century,
were an elder branch; they acquired Oteley by the marriage of an
heiress of that ancient house in the reign of Henry VII., and were
descended from John, elder brother of Sir Roger Kynaston before
mentioned.
See Blakeway, p. 73; and Morris MSS.
ARMS.--_Quarterly_, 1 _and_ 4, _Argent, a lion rampant sable_; 2
_and_ 3, _Ermine, a chevron gules_. Sir John de Kynastone in the
reign of Edward II. bore, _Sable, a lion rampant queve forchée or_.
(Roll.)
Present Representative, Sir John Roger Kynaston, 3rd Baronet.