Woodway House - History

History

Woodway had formerly been a farm, originally constructed in the form of a Devon Long-House until Captain James Spratt R.N. built the large cob and thatch cottage on the front in around 1815. A Mansion House on the lower boundary of the Woodway grounds was known as Gorway. Demolished in the 1970s, it was named after the Norman baron, Serlo de la Gore. Woodway would have been part of its feudal holdings and could have been the home farm. Gorway's large stables, Gate House and Coach House survived and were for many years used by a company that maintained garden machinery. The owners of 'Woodway' Farm, at this time probably known as Leafield (1890 OS), prior to the Spratts were the Brimage family who appear to have moved to Holcombe in Dawlish, apart from James's sister-in-law, Leah, listed in the 1851 census as the 'house proprietor' of Woodway Cottage in Woodaway Lane. The Whalleys lived at Woodway from around 1886 and appear to have been friends of the Spratts for some time previous to their purchase. Lt.Col.P.R.Whalley, D.S.O. sold Wodewaye in 1951 and the Griffith family became owners until around 1992.

The name Wodewaye may been used by the Whalleys from the romantic notion that Woodaway derived from 'Woden's Way', rather than a colloquial use of the word 'Wood', however another possibility suggested by the 1890 and 1860 OS maps is that there was another house called 'Woodway' further up Woodway Road, next to 'Luchana' and the 'Grove'. Later its name was changed due to the endless confusion between Woodway House and Woodway or Wodeway Cottage. The Griffith family were therefore able to use the name Woodway House from the early 1950s. One of the walks described in an early guide (1830s) to the area mentions Woodaway Cottage, the residence of Lieut. Spratt, R.N.

A number of features of the old farm remained, including a lane that had joined up Woodway Road with the Dawlish Road and with the Gorway Mansion. This was always referred to as the 'moat'.

The boundary walls are of old Devon hedges in several places, with stone sides and planted with fine specimen oaks, elms, and other trees and shrubs. The field beyond the front garden was called the Lea Field on the 1890 OS, indicating that it was the first of the farm fields originally created from tree felling, etc. when the farm was established.

The Duck House is a cob-built building, sadly no longer thatched.

A Duck Pond was located nearby, but no sign of this remains. A number of white glazed earthenware eggs have been found in the soil around this spot, being used to encourage a broody hen or duck to lay more eggs. Cherry Laurel bushes bordered the lawn on the right facing the bottom of the garden, together with a 'boat' shaped box hedge. The path was edged with stones that seem to have been removed from a 'Devon' Hedge, judging by their size and type. Rose of Sharon shrubs lined the path running to the old school room at the front of the house. Barked-wood poles were used to construct the arches that covered three of the exits from the front lawn, each having trailing roses trained onto them.

The 1825 drawing shows a number of pine trees and a marble monument on the front lawn, topped with a flag of St.George, which commemorated the Battle of Trafalgar. Pieces of this structure were still in existence in the 1960s, dumped at the bottom of the garden. This drawing was done by Miss. P. Whalley of Deanway, Branscombe, Seaton, Devon, during the time that Thomas Spratt was living at Wodewaye.

In the back garden of the house is a red sandstone building, cobbled inside, which was used latterly as the woodshed and fuel store (paraffin, diesel, etc.) A collapsed stable lay to the right-hand side as viewed from the front. The floor was lined with bricks with a central drainage channel and drain. This building had been two stories high and was probably used for the farm horses, the coach or 'trap' horses, usually hackneys being kept in the stable off from the central courtyard of the Old Farm buildings. Near the old greenhouse in the back garden was an 'Apple Rack' with several drawers for storing the crop from the orchard. This apple rack was used until the 1970s when the structure became unsound and was unfortunately not replaced. The rack can be seen in the drawing illustrated here.