Baron Rolle was a title created twice in the
Peerage of Great Britain for members of the Rolle family, related as uncle and nephew. This family was established at the
manor of
Stevenstone in
Devon in the 16th century. In the 17th century they acquired additional estates in Devon including
Bicton when Sir Henry Rolle (d.1617) married Anne Denys, a co-heiress of Bicton and
Holcombe Burnell. In 1748
Henry Rolle, previously
Member of Parliament for
Devon and
Barnstaple, was made
Lord Rolle, Baron of Stevenstone, in the County of Devon. The title became extinct on his early death in 1750. His nephew
John Rolle inherited the family estates in 1779 and in 1796 was made
Baron Rolle, of Stevenstone in the County of Devon. The title became extinct on his death in 1842. He bequeathed his estates, then some , to Hon.
Mark Trefusis (d.1907), second son of the 19th
Baron Clinton, the nephew of his second wife and widow, who was required by the will to adopt the surname and arms of Rolle, which he did by royal licence in 1852. In 1907 he too died without male progeny when, in accordance with the
entail created by the will of Lord Rolle, the Rolle estates descended to his nephew
Charles Trefusis, 21st Baron Clinton (1863–1957) of
Heanton Satchville, Huish. The Trefusis family had in 1791 inherited the great estates of the Rolle family of
Heanton Satchville, Petrockstowe, a junior branch of the Rolles of Stevenstone. This was due to the eventual heir of
Margaret Rolle, suo jure 15th Baroness Clinton (1709-1781) having been her cousin
Robert George William Trefusis (1764–1797),
lord of the manor of
Trefusis in Cornwall, who in 1794 successfully claimed the title 17th Baron Clinton. Trefusis and Margaret Rolle were both descended from the marriage of
Robert Rolle (c.1622-1660) of
Heanton Satchville, Petrockstowe and Lady Arabella Clinton, the younger daughter of
Theophilus Clinton, 4th Earl of Lincoln, 12th Baron Clinton (d.1667). The 21st Baron Clinton sold Stevenstone in 1922, and concentrated his remaining still huge Devon estates in two areas, one in mid-Devon comprising the estates of Rolle of
Heanton Satchville, Petrockstowe, the other in east Devon comprising the
Bicton and
East Budleigh estates of Rolle of Stevenstone. All the estates are today managed by the
Clinton Devon Estates organisation.