Memorials and reputation
A contemporary said of Sir Rowland:
"Wheresoever a good dede was to be done for the common weal of his countrymen, he was ready to further the cause."
Thomas Fuller recorded that on his death he "Forg[ave] his Tenants a years Rent. Also enjoyning his Heirs, to make them new Leases of one and twenty years, for two years Rent" and concluded of him:
I have heard the natives of this County confess and complain of a comparative dearth (in proportion to other Shires) of Benefactors to the publick. But sure, Shropshire is like to the Mulberry, which putteth forth his leaves last of all Trees, but then maketh such speed, (as sensible of his slowness with an ingenious shame) that it over∣taketh those trees in Fruit, which in Leaves started long before it. As this Shire of late hath done affording two of the same surname still surviving, who have dipp'd their hands so deep in charitable morter.
Hill's charity had a stern edge, with the epitaph on his monument stating that he also enjoyed a reputation as 'a foe to vice and a vehement corrector',
A friend to virtue, a lover of learning,
A foe to vice and vehement corrector,
A prudent person, all truth supporting,
A citizen sage, and worthy counsellor,
A love of wisdom, of justice a furtherer,
Lo here his corps lieth, Sir Rowland Hill by name,
Of London late Lord Mayor and Alderman of same.
Archer credits Sir Rowland Hill among a series of mid-century Lord Mayors who were "stern moralists," Hill's credentials as an "anti-corruption campaigner" themes which were noted in the 2021 North Shropshire by-election, on account of his manor being used extensively during that campaign.
He died 28 October 1561 of strangury, according to the diary of Henry Machyn, and was buried at St Stephen Walbrook on 5 November.
Sir Thomas Offley was among the leading mourners at the funeral.
A more than life size statue is erected in the church with Hill holding Magna Carta, a document signed for King John (negotiated by a forebear of Sir Rowland as Lord Mayor, Serlo the Mercer, third Lord Mayor of London).
A contemporary account of his funeral was as follows:
The v day of November was bered in sant Stephen's in Walbroke ser Rowland Hylle, latt mare and altherman and mercer and knyght, with a standard and v pennons of armes, and a cott armur and a helmet, a crest, sword, and mantyll, and xj dosen of skochyons of armes; and he gayff a c. gownes and cottes to men and women; and ther wher ij haroldes of armes, master Clarenshux and master Somersett, and my lord mayre morner, the cheyff morner; ser Recherd Lee, master Corbett, with dyvers odur morners, ser Wylliam Cordell, ser Thomas Offeley, ser Martens Bowes and master Chamburlan althermen, and the ij shreyffes, and master Chambur . . and master Blakewell, with mony mo morners, and a 1. pore men in good blake gownes, besyd women; and the dene of Powlles mad the sermon; and after all done my lord mayre and mony and althermen whent to the Mercers' hall and the craft to dener, and the resedu to ys plase to dener, and grett mon mad for ys deth, and he gayff myche to the pore.
There is a sixteenth-century bust of him in the building occupied by the school he founded in Market Drayton.
There is a statue of Hill on a pillar at Hawkstone Park in Shropshire. This monument, known as "The Obelisk" is on a column of 110 feet, and was :a copy from an ancient monument, which before the Great Fire of London stood in the Church of St Stephen, Walbrook. The text originally on the Hawkstone pillar read as follows:
THE RIGHTEOUS SHALL BE HAD IN EVERLASTING REMEMBRANCE.-Psalm cxi. 6.
The first stone of this Pillar was laid by Sir Richard Hill, Bart. Member in several Parliaments for this County, on the 1st day of October, in the year 1795; who caused it to be erected, not only for the various uses of an Observatory, and to feast the eye, by presenting to it at one view, a most luxuriant and ex-tensive prospect, which takes in not less than twelve (or, as some assert, fifteen) counties; but from mo-tives of justice, respect, and gratitude to the memory of a truly great and good man, viz. Sir Rowland Hill, Knt. who was born at the family mansion of Hawkstone, in the reign of King Henry the Seventh, and being bred to trade, and free of the city of London, became one of the most considerable and opulent merchants of his time, and was Lord Mayor of the same, in the second and third years of Edward the Sixth, anno 1549 and 1550, and was the first Protestant who filled that high office. Having embraced the principles of the Reformation, he zealously exerted himself in behalf of the Protestant cause, and having been diligent in the use of all religious exercises, prayerful, conscientious, and watchful (as a writer of his character expresses it), yet trusting only in the merits of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, he exchanged his life for a better, a short while after the death of that pious young monarch, being aged nearly seventy years. For a considerable time previous to his decease, he gave up his mercantile occupations, that he might with more devotedness of heart attend to the great concerns of another world. His lands, possessions, and church patronage, were im-mense; particularly in the counties of Salop and Chester; the number of his tenants (none of whom he ever raised or fined) amounting to one thousand one hundred and eighty-one, as appears from his own handwriting. But his private virtues, good deeds, and munificent spirit, were quite unlimited, and extended-like the prospect before us, East, West, North, and South, far surpassing all bounds. "Being sensible," saith Fuller (speaking of him in his "Worthies of England"), "that "his great estate was given him of God," it was his desire to devote it to his glory. He built a spacious church in his own parish of Hodnet, and likewise the neighbouring church of Stoke, at his own expense. He built Tern and Atcham Bridges in this county, both of hewn stone, and containing several arches each. He also built other large bridges of timber. He built and endowed several Free Schools, particularly that of Drayton. He made and paved divers highways for the public utility. He founded exhibitions, and educated many students at both Universities, and supported at the Inns of Court others who were brought up to the Law. He was the unwearied friend of the widow and the fatherless. He clothed annually three hundred poor people in his own neighbourhood, both with shirts and coats; and in the city of London he gave £500 (an immense sum in those days) to St. Bartholomew's hospital, besides (saith Fuller) £600 to Christ Church hospital. He also gave most liberally to all other hospitals, and at his death bequeathed £150 to the poor of all the Wards in London. He had no children, but his relations and kinsfolk were numerous, who all partook largely of his bounty, both in his lifetime and at his death. He constantly kept up a great family household, where hi maintained good hospitality. Many resorted to him for his wise and salutary advice; and none who came to him were ever sent empty or dissatisfied away.
Go and do thou likewise, as far as thy ability will permit, without injury to thy own relations.
To suffer such a character to sink into oblivion, would be in the highest degree ungrateful, as well as injurious to posterity, for whose imitation it is held up.
The identity of Hill's wife, whom he had married by 1542, is unknown. She died during the year of his mayoralty, and since there were no children of the marriage, his heir was his brother, William, parson of Stoke on Tern; however he left property to the children of his four sisters:
Agnes Hill, who married John Cowper, esquire.
Joan Hill, who married George Dormayne, esquire.
Jane Hill, who married John Gratewood (died 8 August 1570), esquire, of Wollerton, Shropshire, the son of William Gratwood by Mary Newport, daughter of Thomas Newport of High Ercall, Shropshire, by whom she had a son, William Gratwood, who married Mary Newport, the daughter of Sir Richard Newport (died 1570) of High Ercall; Alice Gratewood (died 1603), who married the justice Reginald Corbet; and Margaret Gratwood, who married Thomas Jones (born 1550) of Chilton.
Elizabeth Hill, who married John Barker of Haughmond in Shropshire, esquire.
Another of his heiresses being Alice Barker alias Coverdale wife of Sir Thomas Leigh (who had been Hill's business junior and was also Lord Mayor of London), descendents of whom are Dukes of Marlborough, Viscount Melbourne (the Premier) and later Dukes of Leeds. Hill has a new grant of arms issued to him, despite his family having an ancient right to arms which as, and these arms were specially granted to his hiers who were not issue of his body. The new arms specially created for him have a noticeable likenes to the arms of the Adren family, but the new arms repeated the castle device used on the arms of the family from at least the reign of Richard II.
Within All Souls, Oxford University the arms of Hill (or his heirs) appear in the colonnade of the Great Quadrangle, opposite the arms of the Boyle family.
