The Lanyon family is from the West Penwith area of Cornwall. The antiquarian and author William Copeland Borlase stated “There is no older nor finer family of country gentlemen in England.” The Lanyons owned land throughout Cornwall but the original family home was at Madron near Penzance.
Today Lanyon is a hamlet near Madron and Lanyon Quoit is probably the most photographed and painted of any of Cornwall’s prehistoric monuments.
The Lanyon name:-
At a time when few people could read and write and spelling was flexible, names were written as the scribe heard them. In Cornwall Lanyon was pronounced Lanine and the name has been variously spelled Linyeine, Linien, Lanyeyne, Lanion, Lannyan, Lanyan, Lenyon, Lenyan, Lanyne, Lannine, Lanine, Lamin, Lamyn, Lenine, Leanyon, Loniion, Lonyon and finally as it is spelt today…..Lanyon. Some individuals had their name spelt a different way every time they appeared in the records!
Richard Carew penned “By Tre, Pol and Pen / Shall ye know all Cornishmen”, Tre = homestead, Pol = pond and Pen = hill. This is the origin of names such as Trelawny, Polkinghorne and Penrose. Whilst most Cornish families took their names from the land it appears that the Lanyons were unique in that their manors at Madron and Gwinear were named after them.
There are still Lanyons in Cornwall today but many emigrated following the decline in the mining industry in the 19th century. Lanyon families can be found all over the world, the one thing they all have in common is that they can trace their ancestry back to Cornwall.
The Lanyons 