Woodway House is in Teignmouth, South Devon, England. It was at one time a farm on lands held by the Bishops of Exeter. In around 1815 a thatched "cottage" in the "cottage ornée" style of Horace Walpole's (1717–1797) Thames-side villa,Evans, Tony & Green, Candida Lycett Green (1982). English Cottages. Pub. London. Strawberry Hill, was built here by Captain James Spratt of the Royal Navy.
Walpole built his villa at Twickenham in around 1747 and set a fashion for rural romantic Gothic-style retreats. A number were built by retired colonial administrators and military men who liked verandahs, spacious lawns and the sunny climes of Devon.
Woodway House is a Grade II listed building, a classic example of the romantic Devonian "chocolate box" cottage orné style of architecture.
History
Woodway had formerly been a farm, originally constructed in the form of a Devon longhouse until Captain James Spratt 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 map), prior to the Spratts were the Brimage family who appear to have moved to Holcombe in Dawlish, apart from Spratt'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 have been used by the Whalleys from the romantic notion that Woodaway derived from "Woden's Way",Griffiths, G.D.& E.G.C. (1965). History of Teignmouth. Brunswick Press. Teignmouth. p. 68. 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."Carrington, N. T. and others. The Teignmouth, Dawlish, and Torquay Guide: with an account of the surrounding neighbourhood, etc. Pub. E. Croydon, Teignmouth. p. 59.
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 oaks, elms, and other trees and shrubs. The field beyond the front garden was called the Lea Field on the 1890 OS map, 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 hackneysPeters, J.E.C. (2003). Discovering Traditional Farm Buildings. Shire Books. . p. 56. 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 not replaced. The rack can be seen in the drawing illustrated here.
Design and construction
Woodway House shows three clear phases of construction, with the cottage orné of the early 19th century, the old farm buildings and the tutor's living quarters and a classroom, built before 1825. James Spratt had three sons and six daughters, making home tuition both economical and appropriate.
The identifiable remains of the old farm buildings consist firstly of a barn with a hay loft that collapsed in a gale and was demolished in the 1960s. A cobbled courtyard with a deep well, granite trough and pump surrounded by outbuildings which include an upper story which had a ladder running up to it, probably for access to the stable hand's dwelling. Another pump was located inside the side wing which was the boiler house, with its chimney. The clothes were boiled here on washing days and the pump drew water from the well outside, using a system of lead pipes. A door from the courtyard, now removed, led directly into the main room of what was the living area of the farm. This large room still had a "polished" mud floor in 1951 and the large kitchen fireplace is still present. In the floor of this room was a hatch that led down to a bottle shaped storage cellar with a wood ladder, hidden when the floor was tiled over in the 1950s.
The cottage orné part of the dwelling is built of cob, the foundations of the walls being only huge split oak trunks resting on the native bedrock of red sandstone. The walls are between three and four feet thick, giving a cool building in summer and a good insulation against the cold of winter. The thatch is also a highly effective insulator. The Devon saying is that "All cob wants is a good hat and a good pair of shoes", meaning that cob will last for hundreds of years as long as water is kept away. Its other value is that, unlike bricks, the material is a single unit, giving great integrity and stability. Unfortunately Woodway suffered from water damage in the late 1980s due to an old chimney flue open to the rain. This necessitated much remedial work and construction of a substantial side buttress. The height of the old farm dwelling was considerably increased when the cottage orné was added.
A rare survival internally is the system of bell pulls and bells installed to summon servants to the various living rooms and bedrooms of the house. This system works via wires and pulleys which all lead to the area outside the big kitchen, this being the servants area of the house in Victorian times. The system still worked in the 1980s. A number of ornate fireplaces survived, although some were hidden behind wood screens. A constant concern was the chance of setting the thatch alight. The 1825 drawing shows no weather cock, however one was added later and acted also as a lightning conductor. The French windows are a major part of the design effect, as they seem to run continuously from the ground to the first floor of the building. Inside, these windows had large wood screens that could be unfolded to close off these ground floor "doors" or windows as they effectively are on the first floor. The rolls of black cloth used to black out the other windows during World War II were still stored in the attic in the 1970s.
The front door is enclosed by a porch, however the design of the front door surround shows that it was built to be exposed to the weather and the porch was added later. A false or blocked up Gothic chapel-style window faces the driveway. With the age of this part of the house, it is possible that the window was blocked up to save on window tax after the new schoolroom and tutors living quarters were added.Bennett, Graham (2006). Coin News. April 2006, pp. 51–52.
Thomas Abel Brimage Spratt Thomas Abel Brimage Spratt was the eldest surviving son, of James Spratt. Thomas was born at Woodway House in 1811. He left home to join the Royal Navy in 1827 at the age of 16. His forty-year career (1832–1863) was mainly spent with the surveying service in the Mediterranean. He married Sophia Price, daughter of Edward Price Esq. in February 1844 and had a son, Edward J. H. Spratt, who is recorded as being an army major in 1888. His Royal Navy role was as a surveyor and hydrographer, however his mentor, Captain Graves, encouraged him to study archaeology, history, geology, palaeontology, natural history and even numismatics. He had a considerable coin collection based on the Mediterranean countries.Encyclopædia Britannica (1953). Spratt, Thomas Abel Brimage. Vol.21. Pub. London. He was a friend of and corresponded with Edward Forbes, the noted naturalist (12 February 1815 - 18 November 1854), born at Douglas, in the Isle of Man.
He was involved with developing cable laying techniques and carried out extensive survey work for the French and British allied forces during the Crimean War. For his services he was promoted captain in 1855 and awarded the C.B. and the distinction of officer, 4th. class, Legion d'honneur by Napoleon III.Douglas-Morris, Kenneth (1982). The Naval General Service Medal Roll for 1793-1840. He also received the Baltic, Crimean and Turkish medals and the Alma clasp. He carried out extensive survey work connected with improving the defences of the island of Malta. 1863 saw the end of his service afloat, due to his recurring malaria. He rose to rear-admiral by 1872 and vice-admiral in 1878. He died in 1888 at his home in Clare Lodge, Ephrain Road, Tunbridge Wells. His name continues in the form of several books dedicated to him and two extinct species named in his honour.
The Teignmouth Bar or Sprat sands Following a severe bout of malaria Thomas Spratt was given home sick-leave. As a result, he was able to spend the years 1848-49 studying the movements of the Bar sands at Teignmouth and published a book on the subject, dedicated to Sir William Reid, Governor of Malta. The book was entitled An Investigation of the Movements of the Teignmouth Bar and he gave all his data to the Teignmouth Harbour Commission. At this time the commission were struggling to relieve the local trade from an unjust tax, levied annually by the town of Exeter.Spratt, Thomas (1856). An Investigation of the Movements of Teignmouth Bar. Pub. London. Mr. Bell an assistant engineer on the South Devon Railway spent some months confirming the accuracy of Spratt's observations.