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HELMINGHAM HALL
Near Debenham, Suffolk – Baron Tollemache
This stately residence is situated in the hundred of Bosmere and Claydon,
four miles south-east from Debenham, and eight from Ipswich, in a beautiful
park, comprehending four hundred acres, which contains some of the finest
oak-trees in the county, many of them of great age, and is abundantly stocked
with deer, there never being less than seven hundred head, among which are some
remarkably large stags.
The Hall has been the principal seat of the family of Tollemache from the
period of its erection, and here Sir Lionel Tollemache was honoured by a visit
from Queen Elizabeth I, for five days, from August 14th to the 18th inclusive,
in the year, 1561. Her Majesty was entertained with great splendour and
sumptuous hospitality, and during her visit stood godmother to Sir Lionel’s son,
and at the same time presented his mother with a lute, which is still preserved.
Very few innovations have been made in the mansion, and, with regard to its
exterior appearance, it exists in all its pristine grandeur. It is a
quadrangular structure, entirely of brick, environing a court, and completely
surrounded by a terrace and moat. The approach is by drawbridges, on the east
and south fronts, which are raised every night.
The family flourished in the greatest repute, and in an uninterrupted male
succession in this county, from the arrival of the Saxons in this kingdom, to
1821, having borne a conspicuous part in the annuls and history of the county,
for above thirteen hundred years.
- HUGH TALMACHE, who subscribed the Charter, sans date, but about the
reign of King Stephen, of John de St John, granted to Eve, the first Abbess
of Godstowe, in Oxfordshire, is the first of the family on record. IN his
old age he became a monk at Gloucester, and gave to the Abbey there a moiety
of his town of Hampton, which Peter, his son, confirmed in the time of the
first Abbot.
- WILLIAM TALMACHE gave lands in Bentley and Dodnes to the priory of
Ipswich, which gifts were confirmed in the reign of King John. In the
twenty-fifth year of the reign of Edward the First, Sir Hugh de Tolmache
held the Manor of Bentley of the crown, by Knight’s service, servitium
militare.
- SIR LIONEL TOLLEMACHE, of Bentley, who flourished in the reigns of Henry
the Sixth and Edward the Fourth, married the heiress of the family of
Helmingham, by which alliance he acquired this estate. His son,
- JOHN, was the father of
- LIONEL, who most probably built the present edifice. He was High Sheriff
of the county, and also of Norfolk, in 1512. In the thirty-eighth year of
his reign King Henry the Eighth granted him the Manors of Wansden Le Church
Hey, Bury Hall, Wyllows, and Overhall to hold of the crown by Knight’s
service. His son,
- LIONEL, was Knighted by Queen Elizabeth I, and was High Sheriff of
Norfolk and Suffolk in 1567. He married Dorothy, the daughter of Sir Richard
Wentworth, of Nettlested, and was the father of
- SIR LIONEL TOLLEMACHE, who was High Sheriff of the above-named counties
in 1593. His son,
- SIR LIONEL, was High Sheriff of Suffolk in 1609, and was advanced to the
dignity of a Baronet, at the fist institution of that Order in 1611, being
the twelfth Baronet in the order of precedency. In 1617 he was again High
Sheriff of this county, and married Catherine, the daughter of Henry, Lord
Cromwell, of Wimbledon. He was succeeded in the title and estate by his son,
- SIR LIONEL TOLLMACHE, Bart., who lived in great honour and esteem in the
county, and was succeeded by his son,
- SIR LIONEL, who married Elizabeth, the daughter and heiress of William
Murray, the first Earl of Dysart, by whom he had a son,
- SIR LIONEL TOLLEMACHE, the fourth Baronet, who, on the death of his
mother, in 1696, became the second Earl of Dysart, a title derived from the
Royal Borough of that name if Fifeshire. By the Act of Union, in 1707, he
became a Peer of Great Sir Thomas Wilbraham, Bart., of Woodhey, in Cheshire,
by which alliance the family became possessed of vast estates in Cheshire.
The second brother of this Earl was Thomas Tollemache, a gallant and
distinguished officer in the reign of King William the Third. He was killed
in an unfortunate attempt to destroy the Harbour of Brest, 30th June 1694,
and is buried at Helmingham. The Earl of Dysart died February 3rd, 1726, and
was succeeded by his grandson,
- LIONEL, the third Earl, who was created a Knight Companion of the most
ancient Order of the Thistle, in 1743. His Lordship died I 1770, and was
followed by his son,
- LIONEL, the fourth Earl of Dysart, who died at Ham House, the 22nd
February, 1799, aged sixty-three. His honours and estates then came to his
brother,
- WILBRAHAM, the fifth Earl of Dysart, and Baron Huntingtower of the
kingdom of Scotland, and a Baronet who died at Ham House in 1820, and was
succeeded by
- LOUISA, Countess of Dysart, who died at Ham House in 1841, when the
estates devolved on
- JOHN TOLLEMACHE, Esq., for many years M.P. for South Cheshire, created
Baron Tollemache, January 1st, 1876, the son of Admiral Tollemache, nephew
of Wilbraham, fifth Earl of Dysart, and Lady Elizabeth Tollemache, daughter
of John, third Earl of Aldborough,
