Nicholas Le Heyr

!SOURCE: Mary Elizabeth Frances Richardson-Eyre, A HISTORY OF THE WILTSHIRE FAMILY OF EYRE, Mitchell and Hughes, London, 1897. The first notice of the Eyres' settlement in Wiltshire, states Thomas Smith in his "History of Marylebone," " is a grant of land made by Galfridus le Her of Bromham to his wife and children, and is quoted in a copy of the Visitation of 1525. The date of this grant must be about the year 1100.. The name," says this biographer, evidently appears to be Norman, and although it does not occur in the Battle Abbey Roll, the founder in all probability came over before or at the Conquest." Mr. E. Phipps Eyre, to whose kindness I am indebted for much of the information this book contains, says, "The first notice I have seen of the Eyres in this county is a grant from Galicia, the wife of Humphrey le Heyr of Bromha, according to tradition a follower of Richard I. int he Crusade, to Nicholas her son. Although no date is given, it is probable from subsequent ones that the deed was made in the reign of Henry III." Galfridus le Her, son of Humphrey, granted to his brother, the above mentioned Nicholas, certain possessions on conditions of homage and service. An extract of the deed conveying the grant is still preserved. To him succeeded a son of the same name, although from the fluctuating orthography of the time it is spelt Eyr in a grant to William Rose in the 15th year of Edward II. He was living in the following reign, and obtained a license from the King to hear divine service service in the chapel of his mansion-house at Bromham