Floyer According to the
Exon Domesday Book of 1086 in the section listing holdings of
Terrae Francorum Militum in Devenesira ("Lands of French knights in Devonshire"), a man whose name was
Latinised to "Floherus" (in French probably
Flohère) held the estate of
Sotrebroc in Wonford hundred, which later became known as Floyer Hayes. The text is as follows: :
Floherus habet i mansionem quae vocatur Sotrebroc quam tenuit Alviet ea die qua rex Eduuardus fuit vivus et mortuus et reddidit gildum pro dimidia virga. quam possunt arare iiii boves et valet per annum ii solidos (which may be translated as: "Flohere has 1 estate which is called ‘Shutbrook’, which Ælfgeat held on the day that King Edward was alive and dead, and it paid geld for half a virgate. 4 oxen can plough this and it is worth 2 shillings a year.") The scribe preparing the main (Exchequer)
Domesday Book appears to have overlooked this entry when transcribing from Exon Domesday, thus it was omitted. This early name of the estate may have come from the
Schute Broke, a stream, whose name was recorded by the now lost "Shutbrook Street" in this vicinity. Flohere's mesne-tenancy of Sutton is mentioned only in the Exon Domesday Book. It is unclear whether Flohere was connected to Fulchere a
Devon Domesday Book tenant-in-chief, called in the Exon Domesday "Fulchere the Bowman", as the arms adopted by the Floyer family at the start of the age of
heraldry (c.1200-1215) featured arrows. The pedigree of "Floyer of Floyer Hayes" as submitted in the 1564
Heraldic Visitation of Devon by William Floyer (d.1578), commences in the reign of King Hery II (1154-1189) with "Richard Floyer of Floyer Hayes". The manor remained in the possession of the Floyer family until it was sold by Anthony Floyer (born 1596) (son of Anthony Floyer (d.1608) and grandson of William Floyer (d.1578)) to Henry Gould (died 1636). This younger 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 Anne Martin, 4th daughter and co-heiress of Nicholas Martin of
Athelhampton, Dorset, descended from the ancient
Martin family,
feudal barons of Barnstaple in Devon. Nicholas Martin married Margaret Wadham, one of the three wealthy sisters and co-heiresses of
Nicholas Wadham (died 1609), co-founder with his wife
Dorothy Petre of
Wadham College, Oxford. The Tudor manor house of the Martins survives at
Athelhampton. The descendants of Anne Martin and her husband the older Anthony Floyer retained their one-quarter share in it until 1861, but although at least three subsequent generations made Dorset their home, they lived elsewhere in the county, with the younger Anthony Floyer purchasing Berne House, just west of
Bridport.
Vivian completed the family's subsequent pedigree down to 1895, which includes the Floyer family of Martin Hall in Lincolnshire and in a junior line
John Floyer (1811-1887) of West Stafford, a well-known cricketer and
Member of Parliament for
Dorset 1846–57.
Gould The Gould family was descended from a certain John Gold, a crusader present at the siege of
Damietta in 1217 who for his valour was granted in 1220 by Ralph de Vallibus an estate at Seaborough in Somerset. who purchased Floyers Hayes from Anthony Floyer and made it his seat and was buried in St Thomas's Church, Exeter. The manor was thenceforth known as "Hayes", the prefix "Floyer" having been dropped, as is apparent for example in the Gould pedigree by Vivian (1895). In 1626 Gould purchased the manor of
Lew Trenchard in Devon, He appears to have bequeathed or sold Floyer Hayes to his eldest brother William Gould (died 1635) "of Hayes
in Com(itatu) Devon juxta Exon" (Latin: "in the County of Devon next to Exeter"), who was buried at St Thomas's, Exeter. • William Gould (died 1635), elder brother, "of Hayes
in Com(itatu) Devon juxta Exon" (Latin: "in the County of Devon next to Exeter"), buried at St Thomas's, Exeter. there were two estates named "Hayes" in the parish of St Thomas, namely Hayes
Barton and Floyer Hayes. In the 16th century Hayes Barton was purchased by John Petre, Collector of Customs of the Port of Exeter, second son of John Petre, of Tor-Bryan, and the brother of Sir
William Petre (c. 1505 – 1572),
Secretary of State to four successive Tudor monarchs, namely Kings
Henry VIII,
Edward VI and Queens
Mary I and
Elizabeth I and the ancestor of
Baron Petre. John Petre left Hayes Barton to his son William Petre, who devised it to his son Sir George Petre, of Tor Newton, in the parish of Tor Bryan, by whom it was sold in the reign of James II, to William Gould, son and heir of Edward Gould, of Staverton. Worthy accepts however that Floyer Hayes was purchased by Henry Gould (died 1636) and passed, by means unstated, to the descendants of his elder brother William Gould "of Hayes", and passed via the eventual Gould heiress to the Buller family (see below). William Gould's second daughter Elizabeth Gould married Arthur Upton MP, of
Lupton, Devon, and was mother of John Upton, MP, in whose
History of Parliament biography the Gould residence is called "Floyers Hayes". In 1604 he married Alice Taylor (died 1631), daughter of Robert Taylor of Pinhoe, Devon. 2nd but eldest surviving son and heir. He was baptised at St Thomas's, Exeter. During the
Civil War he was a Colonel of Horse. He served as
Sheriff of Devon and was
Governor of Plymouth, from which tenure "Mount Gold" in Plymouth was named. He arrived at Plymouth by sea in 1643 to take command of the Parliamentary forces, but was wounded at Stamford Fort. He became Governor of Plymouth in January 1644, but died that year. In 1645 new defences were built and named "Mount Gould" in his honour. In 1637 he married Anne Browne (died 1641/2), daughter of John Browne of Frampton, Dorset, MP for Bridport in 1621. He was buried in 1644 at St Andrew's Church, Plymouth. Moses married twice, firstly in 1690 to Anne Prust (died 1691), daughter and heiress of Mr Prust of Rawley. Without issue. MP for
East Looe in Cornwall in 1741 and for
Cornwall 1748–1765. • Frances Gould (b.1722), who married in 1741 John Tuckfield (1719–1767) of
Little Fulford, MP for
Exeter 1747-1767 leaving the Buller family sole heirs of the Gould estates, who made Downes their principal seat. Amongst the Buller inheritance from the Goulds was the manor of Cowick. In 1811 Floyer Hayes was the property of Thomas Templar, Esq. ==References==