The History and Antiquities of Syon Monastery

by George James Aungier

1840

The design of the present work is to rescue from oblivion some remembrance of one of the most interesting of our monastic structures. Amongst the numerous works of local history, of which England has reason to boast, but few have been devoted to the illustration of her monastic houses, their memorials having usually been dismissed in a summary manner. The parish of Isleworth and chapelry of Hounslow have hitherto been but superficially noticed by writers on the general topography of Middlesex; and the concise and abbreviated accounts by the Rev. Daniel Lysons, in his "Environs of London," are the best at present extant. In the prosecution of the present work, the Author has availed himself of every attainable source of information; and from the numerous records, scarce and curious manuscripts, charters, and parochial documents, which have been assiduously examined, he feels assured that, with all its defects, the present history will be found to contain a considerable portion of original and interesting matter. It is a pleasing duty to record the liberal assistance and polite attentions received from the various gentlemen to whom the Author has had occasion to apply, during the progress of the Work.