Woolton found patrons in William Alley, Bishop of Exeter, and Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford, Lord Lieutenant of Devon (1584-5).
A canonry at Exeter was conferred on him in March 1565; he read a divinity lecture there twice a week and preached twice every Sunday, and during the plague in the city during the summer of 1570 he attended the sick.
On 11 October in that year Bridget, Countess of Bedford, recommended him to Lord Burghley as a fitting person to fill the vacant bishopric of Exeter.
As the bishopric had become of small value, Woolton was allowed to hold with it the place of archpriest at Haccombe in Devon (20 October 1581) and the rectory of Lezant in Cornwall (1584).
In 1593 he purchased from the Brett family the estates of Pilland, Upcott, Beara and Cladovin all in the parish of Pilton in North Devon.