Bentley Parish

Bentley
Benetleiam, or Benetleia

The Hugh Tallemache, whom Mr. Kirby says, paid a fine to Ipswich, for freedom from toll for himself and his villains, in this parish, in the time of King Henry III., was, most likely, the same personage who held of the Crown the lordship here, in the 25th of the following reign; and, in the 29th of the same King, had summons, among the Knights of this county, to attend his expedition into Scotland.

This ancient family, which is of English extraction, has continued in an uninterrupted male succession, in this county, from the arrival of the Saxons, until the death of the late Right Hon. Wilbraham Tollemache, Earl of Dysart, in 1821; a period of more than thirteen centuries.

They were possessed of lands in this parish, long before the Norman conquest, where, till very lately, was to be seen, in the old manor house, the following distich:

"When William the Conqueror reign'd with great fame,
Bentley was my seat, and Tollemache was my name."

William Tallemache gave lands in Bentley, and Dodness, to the Priory of Ipswich; which were confirmed in the reign of King John.

In the 29th of Edward L, William and John Tallemache, had also summons to attend the King at Berwick-upon-Tweed, previously to his expedition into Scotland. This John took the Black Cross, and his arms are now remaining in the Minster of York.

Sir Lionel Tallemache, of this parish, flourished in the reigns of Henry VI., and Edward IV. He married the heiress of ________ Helmingham, of Helmingham, in this county; by which alliance he acquired that inheritance, which is still the capital mansion of a collateral branch of the family.

Jane, daughter of ______ Scroop, of this parish, married Thomas Brews, Esq., father of Sir John Brews, of Wenham, in this county, and Topcroft, in Norfolk.

There were several manors, in Bentley, viz.: the manor of Bentley and Bentley Church House; Bentley Fastolfe, alias Langstones; the manor of Dodnash and Charles: they are supposed to have merged into one; and the present lord is Charles Edmund Keene, clerk, of Swyncombe, in Oxfordshire.

The only CHARITY named in the Commissioners' Report for this parish, is a rent charge of £2 a year, upon a premises called "the Church House Estate, "then the property of Benjamin Keene, Esq., and bequeathed by Talmach Duke, in 1716, to be distributed in
bread to the poor, by the ministers and churchwardens.

County of Suffolk

Topographical and Genealogical, The County of Suffolk, 1844, Augustine Page

British Isles Genealogy

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