Woodway House

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,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 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. 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.

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