John Rolle (died 1706)

The Travel Journal of Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1642-1723) states of him: "This gentleman is one of the richest in the country, having an estate of six thousand pounds sterling per annum, besides a considerable property in ready money".

in the parish of Week St Mary in Cornwall, six miles south of Bude, by his wife Grace Roberts.

In 1647 he inherited in tail-male the Devon manors of Stevenstone in the parish of St Giles in the Wood, near Great Torrington (23 miles east of Week St Mary) and Bicton, amongst many others, following the death of his second cousin Henry Rolle (1605-1647) of Beam, near Great Torrington, the last male descendant of John's great uncle John Rolle of Stevenstone (d. 1570), eldest son of the patriarch George Rolle (d. 1552), the founder of the Devon and Cornwall families.

[5] This inheritance made him possibly the largest landowner in Devon, a position certainly held in 1873 by his ultimate adoptive heir Hon.

[1] On 7 April 1669 he entertained Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1642-1723) at his Exeter townhouse[7] "Abbot's Lodge".

(Buckfast Abbey itself had been acquired by Sit Thomas Dennis of Holcombe Burnell, whose eventual heir was the Rolle family).

The Grand Duke's visit, which commenced on 6 April 1669 was recorded by his travelling companion Lorenzo, Conte Magalotti (1637-1712) as follows:[9] On the next day, the 7th, having attended a service in Exeter Cathedral, the Grand Duke: In 1648, he married his cousin, Florence Rolle (1631-1705), whose mural monument exists in Tawstock Church, the only surviving child of Denys Rolle (1614–1638) of Stevenstone and Bicton, by his wife Margaret Paulet, daughter of John Paulet, 5th Marquess of Winchester (c.