John Rashleigh

Who was John Rashleigh?

John Rashleigh II of Menabilly, near Fowey in Cornwall, was an English merchant and was MP for Fowey in 1588 and 1597, and was High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1608. He was the builder of the first mansion house on the family estate at Menabilly, near Fowey, Cornwall, thenceforth the seat of the family until the present day. Many generations later the Rashleigh family of Menabilly in the Return of Owners of Land, 1873 was listed as the largest landowner in Cornwall with an estate of 30,156 acres or 3.97% of the total area of Cornwall.