Floyer Hayes
Floyer Hayes was an historic manor in the parish of St Thomas on the western side of the City of Exeter in Devon, England, from which city it is separated by the River Exe. It took its name from the ancient family of Floyer. Floyer Hayes, according to Sir William Pole (died 1635), the Devon historian and father-in-law of Anthony Floyer, was "the contynewinge dwelling place of the name of Floier from the Conquest unto these tymes".
No remains of the manor house survived beyond about 1830 or 1840. It stood set back a little way on the east side of the road from Exeter to Alphington, between the Haven Road and the railway viaduct, rather beyond what was known in 1898 as Sydney Place. The name "Flower Pot Buildings" may have been originally "Floyer's Plot." The land lies very low, and was intersected by streams by which mills are worked. A mill is mentioned as being on the manor of Floyer's Hayes in the time of Henry III (1216–1272). The manor house is shown on a 1573 map of Exeter as a building of large size, surrounded by a stone wall and entered beneath a large arched gateway. According to Worthy (1892): "It stood nearly in a line with "Snayle Tower", and on the west side of the river, and must have been very near the ancient priory of Cowick, but a little to the south-west of it".
Floyer Hayes is referred to in a Latin note to the Heralds' Visitation of Devon of 1564, preserved at the College of Arms. This indicates that before the 14th century the manor was a member of one of the feudal baronies of the Courtenay family, Earls of Devon, thus either of the feudal barony of Okehampton or the feudal barony of Plympton. It was held from the Courtenays by the feudal tenure of grand sergeanty described as:
The manor remained in the possession of the Floyer family until it was sold by Anthony Floyer (born 1596) to Henry Gould (died 1636). This Anthony Floyer married Elinor Pole, a daughter of the Devon historian Sir William Pole (died 1635), who wrote concerning "Floyerhays": Antony Floier, nowe livinge, hath by Elinor, daughter of mee Sr Willam Pole, of Colcombe, Kt, issue: William, John, and others. The said Antony hath alsoe diverse tenements in the parish of St Thomas. Pole's contemporary and fellow Devon historian Tristram Risdon (died 1640) also referred to Anthony Floyer of "Floyers Heyes" thus: The now inheritor thereof married Pole, his father Martin. This refers to Anthony Floyer's mother Anna Martin, 4th daughter and co-heiress of Nicholas Martin of Athelhampton, Dorset, descended from the ancient Martin family, feudal barons of Barnstaple in Devon. The Tudor manor house of the Martins survives at Athelhampton.
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