File:SirHenryRolle (1545-1625) 1602Arms AbbotsLodge CathedralClose Exeter.jpg

Arms of Sir Henry Rolle (1545-1625), of Stevenstone and Bicton, Devon, in his Exeter townhouse Abbot's Lodge, Cathedral Close, Exeter. Arms of Rolle impaling Watts of 6 quarters. Sir Henry Rolle (1545-1625) married firstly Elizabeth Watts, secondly a Fortescue, daughter of John Fortescue (1525-1595) of Fallapit. 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 showed Rolle impaling Watts of six quarters the other Rolle impaling Fortescue alone. (For details of heraldry and photographs see: 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.^[1] 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. Arms:

• Rolle Or, on a fesse dancetté between three billets azure each charged with a lion rampant of the first three bezants impaling quarterly of 6:
  • 1 & 6: Argent, on a fesse vert between three eagle's heads erased sable as many crosses sarcelly of the first (Watts)
  • 2: As sculpted: Azure, on a fesse or between six arrows bendwise barbs uppermost argent three blackamoor's heads in profile proper (Watts? see: Richard Symonds's Diary of the Marches of the Royal Army By Richard Symonds, Ian Roy, C. E. Long, Royal Historical Society (Great Britain), entry for 1644, p.99[1]) The arms of Watts of Cotlington, Somerset are given in the 1623 Heraldic Visitation of Somerset as: Azure, three broad arrows or feathered argent on a chief of the second as many men's heads side faced proper crined sable (Watts of Cotlington, Somerset[2]).
  • 3: A chevron between three mermaids (Gough of Aldercombe in the parish of Kilkhampton, Cornwall; connection unknown, however Sir Henry Rolle's uncle George Rolle (ancestor of Lord Rolle) married Margaret Marrais, daughter and heiress of William Marrais of Marrais in the parish of Week St Mary, Cornwall, near Kilkhampton); or arms (said to be of) of Wybbery of Webbery, Alverdiscott, connection unknown.
  • 4: A lion rampant(?)
  • 5: Argent, on a bend gules between three pallets three swans (Clarke)(Dugdale, Sir William, Antiquities of Warwickshire illustrated, Volume 2)(Clarke of Halberton, Devon, per Grace, Thomas)