Woodway House

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 Grade 2 Listed Building, a classic example of the romantic Devonian "chocolate box" cottage orné style of architecture.

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.

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 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.

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.)

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.

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.

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.

[6] 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.

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.

At this time the commission were struggling to relieve the local trade from an unjust tax, levied annually by the town of Exeter.

[8] Mr. Bell an assistant engineer on the South Devon Railway spent some months confirming the accuracy of Spratt's observations.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who had bought an estate at Watcombe, congratulated Captain Thomas Spratt on his scheme to improve the promenade and the harbour entrance at the same time; "I never read a more sensible, concise and practical discussion of such a subject".

Green alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens) grew here, together with black bryony, flowering currant, horseradish, butcher's broom (Ruscus aculeatus), bluebells (blue, pink and white), Aquilegia and other several other species.

A feature of the garden running down from the verandah is the New Zealand cabbage trees (Cordyline australis) growing to the left hand side when facing.

A feature of the old hedge forming a boundary by the garage was the pennywort (Umbilicus rupestris) a typical plant of Devon country lanes.

Thrush "anvils" were mostly present on larger stones bordering the front drive and starlings were a frequent visitor to the raspberry beds and to the thatch, stealing straw for their nests.

Wrens were common, often lining their nests with the fur from the family pet, a long haired silver Persian cat.

[citation needed] When the Griffith family moved in, a helper commented on the "pretty young ladies in old fashioned dresses" in the attic rooms.

At a later stage one of these rooms housed a large railway set and for some reason the short distance up this last flight of stairs always seemed particularly spooky[12] to young Roger Griffith, its builder.

An old relative (Mrs. Wilson) had a main bedroom at the front of the house and frequently commented on the Victorian gentleman who walked into her room through the door beside her bed.

Under a separate household, still headed by James, is his sister-in-law Leah Brimage, surprisingly titled the "House Proprietor" aged 52 and unmarried, together with Harriet Wise a "housemaid" and Charlotte Webber a "Maid of All Work".

Attempts to scare the seagulls away using a rifle and 'dum-dum' bullets were rather too dangerous and the only effective solution was to cover the thatch with chicken wire where it was most susceptible.

The pitch of the roof is one critical feature of a thatched building, essentially having to be steep enough to ensure the rapid runoff of water without pools forming.

The setting is said to be remarkable, enjoying perfect seclusion in the middle of centuries old gardens with orchards, shrubberies, Scots fir, macrocarpa, a grand Wellingtonia and a magnificent flowering chestnut.

A young Gordon Griffith dropped a significant number of silver items of cutlery down the well in the late 1950s, so that he could hear the 'plop' sound as they hit the water.

Window tax was first levied in England in 1696 to offset the expenses of making up the gold and silver deficiency in the re-coinage of William III reign caused by clipping and filing of coins.

Young was a lieutenant in 1795 on the Bonne Citoyenne at the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1797 and he was in command of the frigate cutter Entreprenant in 1804 and fought on her at Trafalgar and later at the blockade of Brest.