Re: WILLIAM/MARY of AMPTHILL, ENGLAND
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In reply to:
Re: WILLIAM/MARY of AMPTHILL, ENGLAND
Charles Hollander 3/08/07
Helmingham Hall and the Tollemache Family
An Introduction
Helmingham and the Tollemache family have been together for many hundreds of years. The Hall and the old oak trees that you see today have seen much of the history of England pass before them, and many generations of this family.
The Tollemache family has lived in Suffolk from shortly after the Norman Conquest to the present day. Their home for the first 400 years was at Bentley, near lpswich, and although there was a proud boast, Before the Normans into England came, Bentley was my seat and Tollemache my name, it seems now certain that the family came over from Avranches on the Normandy coast. Their name was spelt Talemache, meaning ‘purse bearer’, and it is recorded that Hugh Tollemache was Purse Bearer to Henry 1.
They remained at Bentley as squires and knights throughout the turbulent years of those early centuries, fighting for both Henry II against the Welsh and Edward I against the Scots and quite often against their neighbours to retain their lands, Two Tollemache knights from Bentley fought at the Battle of Crécy against the French in 1346.
However, in 1487, John Tollemache married Elizabeth Joyce, the heiress of Helmingham, and his son Lionel also married a Joyce. further cementing the union, and so they moved to Helmingham where the Joyce family home of Creke Hall stood. John Tollemache and his wife proceeded to pull this down and build Helmingham, completed in 1510, as it stands today. surrounded by its deep moat, serene gardens and deer park.
It appears the phrase "Bentley was my seat and Tollemache my name" means that they LIVED in the Town/township of Bentley.
More Replies:
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Re: WILLIAM/MARY of AMPTHILL, ENGLAND
Charles Hollander 8/02/07