SWAINSTON, a manor in the Isle of Wight; 4 miles WSW of Newport. It was given, in 826, by King Egbert, to the Bishops of Winchester; continued with the bishops till the time of Edward I.; went then to the Crown; was given by-Edward II., first, to his sister Mary, next to his son Edward, afterwards Edward III.; passed, in the latter's time, to W. de Montacute; went afterward to Warwick the king-maker, and to Margaret Pole Countess of Salisbury; descended, by marriage, to the Barringtons; passed in 1833 to the Simeons; and belongs now to Sir John Simeon, Bart. The mansion on it is modern, but includes some early fragments.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))