John Rolle (1522–1570)

John Rolle (1522–1570) of Stevenstone, in the parish of St Giles in the Wood, near Great Torrington, Devon, was the eldest son and heir of George Rolle (died 1552),[1] MP, founder of the great Rolle family of Stevenstone, by his second wife Eleanor Dacres.

Three monuments survive in memory of his immediate family in the churches of St Giles in the Wood and Chittlehampton.

[2] John Ford purchased the estate of Bagtor in the parish of Ilsington, which his male heirs successively made their seat.

[3] Margaret's great nephew was John Ford (1586-c.1639) the dramatist, who was baptised at Ilsington, and her great-great-nephew was Sir Henry Ford (1617-1684), MP for Tiverton and Secretary of State for Ireland.

[4] By his wife he had eight sons[5] and two daughters: A small monumental brass to John Rolle survives in the floor of the south aisle of St Giles in the Wood parish church, beneath the separate brass figure of his wife Margaret Ford, but formerly affixed to his two and a half foot high chest tomb situated in the chancel of the church as recorded by Prince in his 1710 work "Worthies of Devon".