The Jernegans, even at that time, boasted an ancient pedigree. The earliest of whom there is any record was living in 1182, and left by his wife Sibilla a son, Hubert, who, in 1203, married Margery, daughter and heiress of De Harling, of East Harling, and by her had issue, besides others, a son, Sir Hugh Jernegan, who married Ellen, daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas Englethorpe. Their son it was who married Isabel Fitz-Osbert, and thus acquired the manor of Somerleyton in her right. Their son, Sir Peter Jernegan, Knt., married three wives: first, Alice, daughter of Sir Hugh Germayne; secondly, Matilda, daughter of Sir Roger Herling; and thirdly, Ellen, daughter of Sir Roger de Huntingfield. By his first wife he had issue Sir John Jernegan, Knt., of Somerleyton, whose wife was Agatha, daughter of Sir Robert Shelton, of Shelton, Knt. Their son, Sir John Jernegan, who died in 1375, married Joan, daughter and co-heiress of Sir William de Kelveden and widow of Sir John Lowdham, by whom he had issue his son and successor, Sir John Jernegan, who, by his wife Margaret, daughter of Sir Thomas Vise de Lou, Knt., of Shotley, had, besides other issue, a son, Sir Thomas Jernegan, Knt., who succeeded him, and who married Joan Appleyard, of Dunston, by whom he left a son, John Jernegan, who succeeded him. This gentleman married twice: by his first wife, Jane, daughter of Sir John Darell, of Calehill, he had a son and heir, John Jernegan, who married Isabel, daughter and heiress of Sir Gervase Clifton, Knt. The issue of this marriage was a son, Sir Edward Jernegan, who was knighted, and succeeded his father in the estates.
This Sir Edward Jernegan was married twice: first, to Margaret, daughter of Sir Edmund Bedingfield, Knt.; and, secondly, to Mary, daughter and co-heiress of Richard Scroope, son of Lord Scroope. By this second marriage he had, among other issue, a son, Sir Henry Jerningham, of Wingfield and Huntingfield Hall, in Suffolk, and of Coney, in Norfolk, Vice-Chamberlain and Master of the Horse to Queen Mary, from whom are descended the present Jerninghams of Staffordshire and other counties. By his first wife Sir Edward had issue six sons—Sir John, Sir Robert, Thomas, Olyf, Nicholas, and Edward—and two daughters: Ann, who became the wife of five husbands, and Margaret, who was twice married. He died in 1515, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Sir John Jernegan, of Somerleyton, who married Bridget, daughter of Sir Robert Drury, Knt., of Halsted, by whom, with other issue, he had a son, George Jernegan, who succeeded him, and who, having espoused Elye, daughter of Sir John Spelman, of Narborough, Knt., was succeeded by his son, John Jernegan. This gentleman married Catherine, daughter of George Brooke, Lord Cobham, and had by her issue four daughters, his co-heiresses—viz. Elizabeth; Katherine, married to Wymond Carew; Frances, married, first, to Thomas Bedingfield, and, secondly, to her relative Henry Jerningham, of Coney Park; and Margaret, married to —— Ford, of Butley. Frances, the third daughter, inherited Somerleyton, and conveyed it to her second husband, Henry Jerningham, who sold it to John Wentworth, Esq.
The South Lodge.
It will thus have been seen that the Jernegans (whose arms were—argent, three buckles, gules) held Somerleyton for no fewer than thirteen generations. In addition to this, they became possessed of the greater part of the King’s manor of the Island of Lothingland—a district occupying the north-east corner of the county of Suffolk, and containing the sixteen parishes of Somerleyton, Lowestoft, Corton, Gunton, Oulton, Ashby, Lound, Fritton, Flixton, Hopton, Blundeston, Gorleston, Belton, Burgh, Bradwell, and Herringfleet. In 1619 Henry Jerningham died at Cossey, nine years after having sold Somerleyton to John Wentworth, whose son was Sir John Wentworth, one of the chiefs of the Cavalier party of the district during the civil wars; and Cromwell and his troopers paid several visits to the old hall, making free with its forage, and “carrying away its musquets.” The village of Somerleyton appears, like its master, to have been staunchly loyal, and was harassed in consequence by the quartering of soldiers and the exaction of forced loans by the partisans of the Commonwealth. Ireton, in 1648, summoned the bailiffs of Yarmouth to meet him in conference at Somerleyton Hall, and there delivered to them the Lord General’s peremptory command, either to “ingarrison their town, or to demolish their walls and fortifications.” A rousing bonfire and bountiful distribution of bread and beer celebrated the restoration of King Charles II.
Sir John Wentworth records that “on the 14th day of March, 1642, Collonell Cromwell’s troope, and Captain Fountayne with his troope, and divers others, to the number of 140, came to Somerley Hall;” the day after they “tooke away muskets, bandeliers, rests, head-pieces, and one fowling-piece,” and other things of which no note was made. The Protector was, therefore, certainly an inmate of Somerleyton, and probably more than once. Matters changed, however: in 1660 an order was issued to the constables of Somerleyton and Ashby “to re-provide prayer books for their churches;” also to warn “all alehouse-keepers and butchers to enter recognisance for the observation of Lent and fish dayes.” The stout old knight did not live to see the King “enjoy his own again;” but his loyal widow did, and subscribed ten shillings “towards the building of a bone fire” upon St. George’s Day, 1661.
Sir John Wentworth married Anne Soame, but died without issue in 1651. From the Wentworths, Somerleyton passed to John Garneys, the son of Elizabeth Wentworth, sister of Sir Thomas Wentworth, who had become the wife of Charles Garneys, a member of the fine old Suffolk family who bore the alliterative motto of “God’s Grace Guides Garneys.” The Garneys (whose arms were—argent, a chevron engrailed, azure, between three escallop shells, sable) were originally seated at Boyland Hall, Morningthorpe, Norfolk, and at Heveringham and Kenton, in Suffolk. In 1672 the then representative of the family, Thomas Garneys, sold the estate to Admiral Sir Thomas Allin, Bart., a Suffolk worthy whose name figures prominently in history. Thomas Garneys then removed from Somerleyton to Boyland Hall, where he had a son, Wentworth Garneys, who married Mary, daughter of Sir Thomas Abdy. Sir Thomas Allin was born in 1613, and was captain of one of the ships in the service of the Commonwealth which went over to the Prince of Wales. In 1663 he was constituted commander-in-chief in the Downs, and later on of the Mediterranean. In 1665 he struck the first blow of war with the Dutch by attacking their Smyrna fleet of forty ships with eight sail of the line, when, after making prizes of four ships, he drove the remaining thirty-six into Cadiz harbour. In the same year, in the great sea-fight off Lowestoft, when the English fleet, under the Duke of York, Prince Rupert, and others, engaged the Dutch fleet under Van Tromp, Admiral Allin held a command.
The Front.