Maristow, seat of the Lords Roborough, was bought in 1798 by Manaesseh Masseh Lopez, only son of Mordecai Rodriguez Lopez, a Sephardic Jew who made a fortune in the sugar plantations. At his death in 1831 the estate passed to his nephew Ralph Franco, who assumed the name Lopes, thence to his grandson, Sir Henry Lopes, 4th Bt., created 1st Baron Roborough 1838. The estate included six manors and extended to over 30,000 acres. The papers comprise some 520 documents including leases, permits, papers relating to mines, correspondence relating to building work at Bickleigh Church &c.
