Way is a historic estate in the parish of St Giles in the Wood, Devon. It is situated about 2 miles north-east of the village of St Giles in the Wood and about 4 miles north-east of the town of Great Torrington. It was described by Hoskins as "the fons et origo of the mighty tribe of Pollard" and had been acquired by them from the de la Way family at some time before 1242. One of the earliest members descended from this family to reach national prominence was Sir Lewis Pollard, Justice of the Common Pleas from 1514 to 1526, of Grilstone, Bishop's Nympton, described by Thomas Fuller in his Worthies of England as one of several Devonshire men "inundated with a genius to study law". The former mansion of the Pollards at Way is now represented by the farmhouse known as Way Barton. Reset into the front wall of the house is a stone sculpture dated about 1300 showing the faces of two ladies wearing wimples and above them the smaller face of a man. 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 Devon historian Tristram Risdon stated Way to have been the residence of the de la Way family during the reign of King John, and to have been granted, during the reign of Edward I, by Walter de la Way, the son of William de la Way, to Walter Pollard, which grant was witnessed by Sir Henry Sully and Sir Thomas Merton. The arms of de la Way were later quartered by their descendants the Pollard family and by the Davie family. 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: The family of Davie of Creedy is said by the Devon topographer Rev. Swete to have derived from the family of de Way of the manor of Way in the parish of St Giles in the Wood, near Great Torrington, Devon. The family of Pollard inherited the manor of Way, which became their fons et origo, and according to Prince, adopted these "de Way"/Davie arms which thenceforth they used either alone or quartered by their own arms of Argent, a chevron sable between three escallops gules. The Pollard family inherited the manor of Horwood from the Cornu family and these de Way mullet arms are visible on their own, without the Pollard escallop arms, on several 17th-century Pollard monuments in Horwood Church.
Pollard
gave the descent of Way in the Pollard family as follows:
Walter I Pollard of Way, living 1242
Walter II Pollard of Way, living 1295
Joel Pollard of Way, living 1334
John I Pollard of Way and of Horwood, Devon, who married Emme Doddiscombe, one of the five daughters and co-heiresses of Sir John Doddiscombe of Doddiscombsleigh, near Exeter, and Compton Pole, Devon. According to Prince an ancient Pollard family inscription formerly existed in Horwood Church, in a window of the so-called "Pollard Aisle" built by that family, as follows:
Orate pro bono statu Johannis Pollard et Emmae uxoris eius qui istam guildam fieri fecerunt
This evidences their having established a guild in that church. In Prince's opinion it was Horwood not Way which was the earliest devonshire home of the Pollard family. The 3rd son of John Pollard and Emme Doddescombe was Roger Pollard, who founded the Pollard family of Langley, Yarnscombe.
Walter III Pollard of Way, who married Elizabeth Cornu, a daughter of William I Cornu of Horwood and a sister and co-heiress of William II Cornu of Horwood.
John II Pollard of Way, who married Eleanor Coplestone, a daughter of John de Coplestone, a member of the ancient family seated at Copplestone in the parish of Colebroke, Devon. A monumental brass exists in St Giles Church of Alyanora Pollard, of which only the original lower half of a female figure has survived, the top half being an accurate modern replacement, with the inscription below it:
Hic jacet Alyanora Pollard qui fuit uxor Johis Pollard et filia Johis Copleston qui obiit xxi die mensis Septembris Anno dmi Millmo CCCCXXX cuius animae propitietur Deus Amen.
There are two further inscriptions on the same slab made later to commemorate two distant relations:
*Firstly, immediately beneath the above inscription, a small brass plaque with portrait of a kneeling lady, to commemorate Johanna Risdon, daughter of George Pollard of Langley and mother of the Devon historian Tristram Risdon of Winscott in the parish of St Giles in the Wood, the author of "The Survey of Devon".
Secondly, below the last, incised in the stone slab on which the brasses are affixed memorial text to Margaret Risdon, daughter of Tristram Risdon.
The 2nd son of John II Pollard and Eleanor Copleston was Robert Pollard, whose eldest son was Sir Lewis Pollard, Justice of the Common Pleas from 1514 to 1526 and MP for Totnes in 1491, founder of the most influential branch of the Pollard family seated at Kings Nympton in Devon, from whom descended the Pollard Baronets.
Walter IV Pollard of Way, who married Joan Baron, daughter and sole heiress of Roger Baron of Baronshill, Devon.
Church, Oxfordshire, of Anthony Pollard, grandson of Richard I Pollard of Way and Margaret Cockworthy, and brother and heir of John Pollard, Speaker of the House of Commons
Richard I Pollard of Way, who married Margaret Cockworthy, daughter of John Cockworthy of the family from Cockworthy in the parish of Yarnscombe, Devon. Their grandson by their daughter Avis Pollard was John Pollard, Speaker of the House of Commons. The effigy and monument of their other grandson, and John Pollard's brother and heir, Anthony Pollard, survives in Nuneham Courtenay Church, Oxfordshire.
Anthony I Pollard of Way, who married Petronell Chudleigh, daughter of James Chudleigh of Ashton in Devon.
Sir Richard II Pollard of Way, who married Joan Bampfield, daughter of Sir Edward Bampfield of Poltimore, Devon
Church showing arms of Stucley impaling Pollard, representing marriage of Sir Hugh Stucley of Affeton and Jane Pollard, a daughter of Sir Lewis Pollard, Justice of the Common Pleas, of Kings Nympton
Anthony II Pollard , of Waye, who married Johanna Stucley, a daughter of Lewis Stucley of Affeton, Devon, Standard Bearer to Queen Elizabeth I, whose mother was Jane Pollard, a daughter of Sir Lewis Pollard, Justice of the Common Pleas, of Kings Nympton. The arms of Stucley impaling Pollard survive in Kings Nympton Church, showing the following: baron, quarterly 1st azure, three pears pendant or ; 2nd Argent a chevron engrailed between three fleurs-de-lis sable ; 3rd Argent a chevron gules between three roses of the second seeded or ; 4th Gules, three lions rampant or; femme quarterly 1st & 4th Argent, a chevron sable between three mullets gules pierced or ; 2nd & 3rd Argent, a chevron sable between three escallops gules. The ledger stones inscribed to Anthony II Pollard and his wife Johanne Stucley survive in Horwood Church.
By this date the Pollard family had abandoned Way as a residence in favour of Horwood.
Wellington
Way became later the property of Lewis Wellington, living there when Risdon wrote his Survey of Devon. In a deed of 1611 Lewis Wellington of Great Torrington was described as a "woollen draper". In 1651 Thomas Wellington was mayor of Great Torrington.
Furse
The heiress Grace Wellington brought the property to the family of her husband Philip Furse of Dolton. Her son was Rev. Peter Wellington Furse, the owner of Way in 1810. The painter Charles Wellington Furse was a member of this family. The Furse family owned the Halsdon Estate in Dolton from the later 17th century and lived there until the house was sold in 1982.
