Way, St Giles in the Wood

It was described by Hoskins (1959) as "the fons et origo[1] of the mighty tribe of Pollard" and had been acquired by them from the de la Way family at some time before 1242.

[2] One of the earliest members descended from this family to reach national prominence was Sir Lewis Pollard (c. 1465-1540), Justice of the Common Pleas from 1514 to 1526, of Grilstone, Bishop's Nympton, described by Thomas Fuller (1608-1661) in his Worthies of England as one of several Devonshire men "inundated with a genius to study law".

[3] In 1309 Robert Pollard was granted by the Bishop of Exeter licence to build an oratory at Weye, of which no trace remains in the present house.

The usual explanation of this usage of the de la Way arms is as given for example in the 1771 Baronetage of England, by Kimber and Johnson:[6] The family of Davie of Creedy is said by the Devon topographer Rev.

[17] Hic jacet Alyanora Pollard qui fuit uxor Joh(ann)is Pollard et filia Joh(ann)is Copleston qui obiit xxi die mensis Septembris Anno d(o)m(in)i Mill(ensi)mo CCCCXXX cuius animae propitietur Deus Amen.

Way Barton, St Giles in the Wood. The mediaeval mansion house formerly standing on this site was the ancient seat of the Pollard family
Sculpted reliefs of three faces, c. 1300, now set into wall of facade of Way Barton, St Giles in the Wood parish, Devon. Two females wearing wimples below, with a mustachioed male apparently wearing a coronet, above
Arms of de la Way : Argent, a chevron sable between three mullets gules (often shown as mullets pierced )
Arms of Pollard: Argent, a chevron sable between three escallops gules . [ 11 ] Frequently quartered by Pollard with de way/Davie: Argent, a chevron sable between three mullets gules , [ 12 ] which latter arms are used on their own on several Pollard monuments in Horwood Church
Monumental brass of Alyanora Pollard (née Copleston) (died 1430), grandmother of Sir Lewis Pollard (died 1526). St Giles in the Wood parish church, Devon
Monument in Nuneham Courtenay Church, Oxfordshire, of Anthony Pollard (died 1577), grandson of Richard I Pollard of Way and Margaret Cockworthy, and brother and heir of John Pollard (died 1557), Speaker of the House of Commons
Heraldic stained-glass roundel in Kings Nympton Church showing arms of Stucley impaling Pollard (quartered by de Way/Davie), representing marriage of Sir Hugh Stucley (died 1559) of Affeton and Jane Pollard, a daughter of Sir Lewis Pollard (c. 1465 – 1526), Justice of the Common Pleas , of Kings Nympton