[3] The principal branches were: The Rashleighs of Fowey and Menabilly were powerful merchants in the time of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. Philip Rashleigh, younger son of a family from Barnstaple in Devon, had purchased the manor of Trenant close to Fowey from the king after the dissolution of the monasteries in 1545.
His two sons Robert and John founded the fortunes of the Fowey Rashleighs and their pedigree has been well documented.
After his father Phillip Rashleigh purchased the manor of Trenant in 1545, Phillip moved his family from Devon to Cornwall to take advantage of the dissolution of the monasteries by buying and re-selling the land acquired around Fowey, it was from this land that John Rashleigh commenced building Menabilly from land acquired in Fowey (from which Menabilly was later completed in its construction by his son Jonathan).
[7] Jonathan Rashleigh (4 July 1591 – 1 May 1675) was an English merchant and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1614 and 1675.
John Rashleigh (21 January 1619 – 13 March 1693) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1661 to 1679.