Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Eyston, Charles
EYSTON, CHARLES (1667–1721), antiquary, eldest son of George Eyston, esq., of East Hendred, Berkshire, by Ann, daughter of Robert Dormer of Peterley, Buckinghamshire, was born in 1667. He became distinguished as an antiquary, and was a great friend of Thomas Hearne, who in his ‘Diary’ says: ‘He was a Roman catholick, and so charitable to the poor, that he is lamented by all that knew anything of him. … He was a man of a sweet temper and was an excellent scholar, but so modest that he did not care to have it at any time mentioned’ (Reliquiæ Hearnianæ, ed. 1869, ii. 144). He died on 5 Nov. 1721, and was buried in Hendred Church.
He married in 1692 Winefrid Dorothy, daughter of Basil Fitzherbert, esq., of Swinnerton, Staffordshire, and of Norbury, Derbyshire, and had a numerous family. One of his sons became a jesuit, and several of his daughters entered the religious state. His descendants are still seated at East Hendred.
He was the author of:
- 'A little Monument to the once famous Abbey and Borough of Glastonbury, or a short specimen of the History of that ancient Monastery and Town, with a Description of the remaming Ruins of Glastonbury,' 1716, manuscript at Hendred House, It was printed by Hearne in his 'History and Antiquities of Glastonbury,' 1722, and again in the Rev. Richard Warner's 'History of the Abbey of Glaston and the Town of Glastonbury,' 1826.
- 'A poor little Monument to all the old pious Dissolved Foundations of England; or a short History of Abbeys, all sorts of Monasteries, Colleges, Chapels, Chantries, &c.' Manuscript preserved at Hendred.
[Kirk's Biog. Collections, manuscript quoted in Gillow's Bibl. Dict.; Foley's Records, vii. 238, 238; Burke's Landed Gentry (1856), i. 601; Reliquæ Hearnianæ (1869), ii. 108, 108, 136, 143, 284, iii. 208.]