Stevenstone is a former manor within the parish of St Giles in the Wood, near Great Torrington, North Devon. It was the chief seat of the Rolle family, one of the most influential and wealthy of Devon families, from c. 1524 until 1907. The Rolle estates as disclosed by the Return of Owners of Land, 1873 (corrected by Bateman, 1883) comprised 55,592 acres producing an annual gross income of £47,170, and formed the largest estate in Devon, followed by the Duke of Bedford's estate centred on Tavistock comprising 22,607 with an annual gross value of nearly £46,000.Hoskins, p.88. 3rd was the Earl of Devon with 20,589 acres worth £31,000, 4th was the Fortescue family of Castle Hill with 20,171 acres, worth over £17,000 p/a, 5th was the Duchy of Cornwall with 48,457 acres, much of it moorland, with an annual value of under £5,000
From the Glorious Revolution of 1688 to the Reform Act 1832 the county parliamentary representatives were chosen effectively from only ten great families, mostly territorial magnates. The three most dominant of these were the Bampfyldes of Poltimore House and North Molton, the Courtenays of Powderham Castle, and the Rolles of Stevenstone and Bicton.Hoskins, p.183 The Rolles were not from the mediaeval aristocracy as were the Courtenays, but were descended from an able lawyer and administrator of the Tudor era, as were the Russells, later Earls and Dukes of Bedford. Both Russells and Rolles acquired much former monastic land in Devon following the dissolution of the monasteries. Indeed, the Rolles were in the opinion of Hoskins (1954) "second only to the Russells in the extent of their monastic and other lands and in time were to surpass them".Hoskins, p.84
In 1669 Sir John Rolle (died 1706), KB of Stevenstone had an annual income of £6,000 making him "one of the richest gentlemen in the country".Quoted from "Tour of the Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1669", quoted in Hoskins, p.86 He died in 1706 seized of more than 40 manors in Devon.Hoskins, p.87, Quoting Lysons, Magna Britannia, 82,b
The family built several different houses on the same site known as Stevenstone House, the last Victorian version of which was built between 1868 and 1872. It was significantly reduced in size soon after 1912 and then after 1931 it was gradually demolished piecemeal for building materials.
Descent of the manor
John Prince in his "Worthies of Devon" gives the descent of Stevenstone as follows, based on the work of the Devon topographer Tristram Risdon, himself born within the parish of St Giles, at Winscott House. The earliest recorded holder of the manor was Michael de Stephans, who granted it to Richard Basset, the father of Elias Basset, who granted it to Walter de la Lay, or Ley. His descendant John de Lay changed his name to John de Stephenston. The overlord who was then a later Elias Basset, lord of the manor of Beaupier in Wales, released all his interest in Stevenstone to John de Stevenstone.
He was followed by another John, Walter and John de Stephenston. The latter left a daughter Elizabeth de Stephenston his sole heiress, who brought the manor by marriage to her husband Grant of Westlegh, near Bideford. Grant was himself also lacking in male progeny and left two daughters joint heiresses, one of whom married Monk of Potheridge, whilst the other married a member of the Moyle family, who received Stevenstone as his wife's share of the inheritance. He made it his chief residence, and Prince suggests, on the basis of Tristram Risdon's assertion, that his descendant Sir Walter Moyle, a Justice of the King's Bench in 1454, was born here.
Rolle
George Rolle (died 1552), MP, the founder of that family in Devon, purchased the estate not long before 1524.Hoskins, p.469 He was probably born in Dorset, rose to prominence as a lawyer in London, and had as clients several monastic houses in Devon. One of his most prominent clients was Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle (died 1542), whom he served as legal counsel until the latter's death. He served as MP for Barnstaple in 1542 and again in 1545.
The male descendants up to 1842 of George Rolle included about twenty members of parliament. In 1842 died the last of the male line, John Rolle, 1st Baron Rolle (1750–1842), descended from George Rolle's second son George Rolle (died 1573) of the manor of Marrais in the parish of Week St Mary in Cornwall, which manor had been procured for him by his father who had obtained the wardship of Margaret of Marrais and bequeathed the same in his will to his son George, who became her husband.
The descendants of George Rolle the patriarch's eldest son John Rolle (died 1570) failed in the male line in 1642 on the death of the infant John Rolle (1638–1642). Stevenstone and several other manors which had by then been accumulated by purchase and inheritance from heiresses, passed eventually to Sir John Rolle (1626–1706), the grandson of George Rolle (died 1573) of Marrais. Some of the estates of the patriarch's fourth son Henry Rolle of Heanton Satchville, Petrockstowe, also reverted to the line of George Rolle of Marais on the failure in the male line in 1747 on the death of Samuel Rolle of Hudscott, Chittlehampton.
Descent in Rolle family George Rolle (died 1552), MP. Purchased Stevenstone pre-1524. John Rolle (1522–1570), eldest son, husband of Margaret Ford (died 1570) commemorated by monumental brass in St Giles Church.Vivian, 1895, p.652, "MI St Giles"
Sir Henry Rolle (1545–1625), eldest son, married firstly Elizabeth Watts, daughter and heiress of Roger Watts of Somerset, secondly a Fortescue, daughter of John Fortescue (1525–1595) of Fallapit,Vivian, 1895, p.653 East Allington by his wife Honor Speccot (died 1606),Vivian, 1895, p.365 whose monumental brasses exist in East Allington Church.Will of Honor Speccot, wife of John Fortescue leaves a bequest to "My daughter the Lady Rolle" His Exeter townhouse was the "Abbot's Lodge" (destroyed in 1942 during World War II bombing), in Cathedral Close within the precincts of Exeter Cathedral. He made alterations to that house and added decorative heraldic plaster escutcheons dated 1602, one of which showed Rolle impaling Watts, of six quarters (1st & 6th Watts: Argent, on a fesse vert between three eagle's heads erased sable as many crosses sarcelly of the first, the arms of Sir John Watts (died 1616), Lord Mayor of London in 1606)Robson, Thomas, The British Herald, Vol.2, London, 1850 the other Rolle impaling Fortescue.Devon Notes & Queries, Vol.9, 1916–17, pp.97–9: Armorial Bearings at the Abbot's Lodge, The Close, Exeter The house had been the townhouse of the Abbot of Buckfast Abbey, which Abbey and much of its lands, including the Abbot's Lodge, had been acquired in 1545 by the patriarch George Rolle (d.1552) following the dissolution of the monasteries. It had been used by George Rolle as his townhouse, by the name of "Buckfast Place" and was the place of his death in 1552. In 1609 he purchased from William Howard, 3rd Baron Howard of Effingham (1577–1615) several of the larger former holdings of Barnstaple Priory in Pilton and Bradiford, whose family had held the lands since the Dissolution of the Monasteries.Reed, Margaret A., Pilton, its Past and its People, Barnstaple, 1985, pp.13, 28 Denys Rolle (1614–1638), grandson. Sheriff of Devon 1636, one of Prince's Worthies of Devon, in which he is described as "The darling of his country in his time, adorn'd with all the desirable qualities that make a compleat gentleman. He was, though young, of a ready wit, a generous mind, and a large soul."Prince, p.706 Monument and effigy in the Rolle Mausoleum, Old Bicton Church. Son of Sir Henry Rolle (died 1617) (son of Elizabeth Watts and who predeceased his father), by his wife Anne Denys, heiress of Bicton. John Rolle (1638–1642), only son by his wife Margaret Poulett. Died an infant.Prince Henry Rolle (1605–1647) of Beam House, Great Torrington. First cousin of Sir Henry Rolle (died 1617). Sir John Rolle (1626–1706), KB, MP. Second cousin, grandson of George Rolle of Marrais, Cornwall, second son of the patriarch George Rolle (died 1552).Vivian, 1895, p.656 Married his cousin Florence Rolle, sister of the infant John Rolle (died 1642). Died seised of 40 manors in Devon, with an annual income in 1669 of £6,000. In 1669 he entertained Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1642–1723) at Abbot's Lodge, his Exeter townhouse, who in the detailed record of his visit described Rolle as "One of the richest gentlemen in the country".Magalotti, Lorenzo, Conte, 1637–1712, Travels of Cosmo the Third, Grand Duke of Tuscany, through England during the Reign of King Charles the Second (1669), translated from the Italian manuscript in the Laurentian library at Florence. To which is prefixed, a memoir of his life.., 1821, p.129 Robert Rolle (1677–1710), MP, grandson, son of John Rolle (died 1689) who predeceased his father. John Rolle (1679–1730), MP, brother. Married Isabella Walter. Henry Rolle, 1st Baron Rolle (1708–1750), eldest son. John Rolle Walter (1712–1779), MP, brother. Denys Rolle (1725–1797), MP, brother. Founded colonies in Palatka, Florida and Exuma, Bahamas. Inherited Hudscott from distant cousin Samuel Rolle (died 1747), descended from Henry Rolle of Heanton Satchville, Petrockstowe, 4th son of the patriarch George Rolle (died 1552). John Rolle, 1st Baron Rolle (1750–1842), MP, son. Last of the male line, died without progeny. Mark Rolle (1835–1907), born Hon. Mark Trefusis, adoptive heir, nephew of Lord Rolle's wife Louisa Trefusis, a daughter of Baron Clinton.
Forms of Stevenstone House
The earliest record of the form of the manor house is that given by John Leland (died 1552), who wrote : "There is an hamlet longging to Tarington toun not a mile by est from Tarington coullid S. Gilys, wher George Rolles hath buildid a right fair house of bryke". It is said by Hoskins (1954) to have been the first brick-built house in Devon.Hoskins, p.266 A letter survives dated 1539 from George Rolle to his illustrious client's wife Lady Lisle "from my poor house" of Stevenstone.
Two Palladian outbuildings serving as Orangery and "Library Room"Library Room, term used in will of Baron Rolle (died 1842), referring to the bequest of his books were built next to the house by John Rolle (1679–1730), MP, and the Library shows above the keystone of its central arch the arms of Rolle impaling the arms of the Walter Baronets of Sarsden, Oxfordshire, the family of his wife Isabella Walter (died 1734). Hoskins states that the manor house itself was rebuilt or remodelled sometime in the 18th century, Pevsner states c. 1709,Pevsner, p.760 perhaps therefore at the same time as the building of the outbuildings. An engraving of this Georgian house survives, by James Bingley, published in 1831.
Victorian re-build
The house was demolished in 1868 by Hon. Mark Rolle (died 1907) who erected in its place between 1868 and 1872 to the design of Charles Barry Jr. (died 1900) a Victorian mansion in the "French Chateau style" (or "Franco-Italian style" as it was termed by a contemporary issue of Building News,Quoted by Pevsner, p.760) widely considered today to have been a building of little architectural merit. It sat within a deer park of 370 acres containing a large quantity of large and valuable trees.White's Devonshire Directory of 1890, transcribed by Debbie Kennett In the opinion of Hoskins writing in 1954: "Mark Rolle rebuilt the house again in the worst style of the time. The richest man in Devon built himself the ugliest house".
Sale and demolition
Trefusis, Baron Clinton Following the death of Mark Rolle in 1907, the Rolle estates, extending to about 55,000 acres, which had been held by him as life tenant under the will of his aunt's husband John Rolle, 1st Baron Rolle (1750–1842), descended to his heir male his nephew Charles John Robert Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis, 21st Baron Clinton (1863–1957), of Huish
Clemson