This unusual and interesting surname of ancient origins is locational. It derives from one of the two villages so named in Shropshire and Hereford. The Shropshire village appears in the 1086 Domesday Book in the spelling of 'Chimerstun', and this translates as 'The place in the hollow' from the pre 7th century Olde English. It is possible that the Hereford village is also derived from the original Shropshire site, as this is not recorded until the 13th century. By this time the surname was already widely recorded as far afield as Somerset (see below), and Nottingham. Locational surnames of this type usually derive either from the original Lords of the Manor, and their decendants, who took the name of the villages as their own (or vice versa), or they were given to former inhabitants when they moved to another place, as a means of identity. Examples of the early recordings include Walter de Kynwardeston at the Abbey of Glastonbury, Somerset in 1295, Ralph de Kinastan of Salt, Cheshire in 1330, and William Kynastone, in the London Rolls of the year 1418. The Coat of Arms granted to Sir Philip Kynaston (1587 - 1642), M P for Shropshire in 1621-22, has the blazon of a silver field, a bend wavy between two red cotises, and the motto 'Honor potestate honoruntis' - translating as 'honour is within the power of him who honours'. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard de Kynestan, which was dated 1272, The Pipe Rolls of the city of Nottingham, during the reign of King Edward 1, known as 'The hammer of the Scots', 1272-1307. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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