Efford

Arms of Bastard, adopted at the start of the age of heraldry (c.1200-1215): Or, a chevron azure

It is listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Elforde, the 6th of the 10 Devonshire holdings of Robert Bastard,[5] one of the Devon Domesday Book tenants-in-chief of King William the Conqueror. It included a fishery, which paid tax of 12 pence.[6] Robert held it in demesne, together with Hazard, Blachford, Stonehouse, Bickford and Meavy, all but one of which before the Norman Conquest of 1066 had been held by the Saxon Alwin.[7] His lands later formed part of the feudal barony of Plympton.[8]

The Bastard family continued to hold Efford for several generations, and it served as their principal seat until the death of Sir Baldwin Bastard in 1345, during the reign of King Edward III (1327-1377).[9] In the Book of Fees (c.1302) Nicholas le Bastard is listed as holding Eppeford from the honour of Plympton.[8] By the 16th century the Bastard family had moved to Gerston in the parish of West Alvington, Devon,[10] when it was the seat of William Bastard (d.1638/9) of Gerston, Recorder of Totnes and a Member of Parliament for Dartmouth.[11] In the 18th century the Bastard family moved to Kitley in the parish of Yealmpton, where they remained until after 1937,[12] and at the present day, making them one of the most ancient of Devonshire gentry families.

Arms of Whitleigh: Azure, on a bend or three torteaux[13]

In 1345, during the reign of King Edward III (1327-1377),[9] Efford became the property of Roger de Whitleigh, who had succeeded (for reason unknown) Sir Baldwin Bastard (d.1345).[14] The Whitleigh family remained seated at Efford for a further six generations, having married three wealthy heiresses, Mabil de Esse, daughter and heiress of Humphry de Esse; Jone Winard, daughter and heiress of Robert Winard; and Isabell Reprin, daughter and heiress of Richard Reprin.[14] The last in the male line was Richard II Whitleigh, grandson of John Whitleigh and Isabell Reprin, who left two daughters and co-heiresses:

• Margaret Whitleigh, wife of Sir Roger Grenville (1477–1523), lord of the manor of Bideford in Devon, and of Stowe, Kilkhampton in Cornwall, Sheriff of Cornwall in 1510–11, 1517–18, 1522, ancestor of John Grenville, 1st Earl of Bath (1628–1701).[15] His second son was John Grenville (c. 1506 – c. 1562), three times MP for Exeter, in 1545, 1554 and 1558.[16]
• Jone Whitleigh, whose portion was Efford, wife of Richard III Hals of Kenedon in the parish of Sherford, Devon.[14]

Arms of Hals of Kenedon: Argent, a fess between three griffin's heads erased sable[17]

Richard III Hals, who married Jone Whitleigh the heiress of Efford, was a great-grandson of John Hals (fl.1423) of Kenedon (son of John Hals of Lavant in Cornwall[18]), a Justice of the Common Pleas and in 1423 a Justice of the King's Bench.[19][20] The judge's second son was John Hales (c. 1400-1490),[21] Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield (1459-1490). The Bishop's great-uncle was Richard Hals (d.1418), a Canon of Exeter Cathedral in Devon, and Treasurer of Exeter Cathedral in 1400, who in 1414 was sent as Ambassador to Brittany.[18] The Hals family moved their seat from Kenedon to Efford, but retained ownership of their former seat. In St Edward's Church, the parish church of Egg Buckland, is the monument of Edmund Hals (d.1678/9),[22] second son of Matthew I Hals (d.1656).[23] The last in the male line was Matthew III Halse (1657/8-1684) of Efford (eldest son of Matthew II Hals (d.1675/6), son of Matthew I Hals), who died in 1684 without surviving male progeny, and having been "so far imposed upon" (Prince)[24] by his uncle, Rev. Richard Hals of Philleigh in Cornwall, his nearest male relative and heir presumptive, he decided to disinherit him,[25] in "disregard of feudal claims". ("Which excite(d) so much indignation in (Prince)" (Ed. of Prince),[26]). Instead he bequeathed the Hals estates to his 4 surviving married sisters, including:

• Rebecca Hals (born 1661), 5th sister, heiress of Efford, wife of Henry Trelawny (c.1658-1702) of Whitleigh, Member of Parliament and Vice-Admiral of Cornwall.
• Amy Hals (born 1665), 6th sister, heiress of Kenedon, wife of Jonathan Elford of Bickham.[27]

Arms of Trelawny: Argent, a chevron sable[28]

Henry Trelawny (c.1658-1702) of Whitleigh, who married Rebecca Hals heiress of Efford, was a Member of Parliament and Vice-Admiral of Cornwall. He was the 7th son of Sir Jonathan Trelawny, 2nd Baronet (c.1623–1681)[29] of Trelawny in the parish of Pelynt in Cornwall. His son by Rebecca Hals was Sir Harry Trelawny, 5th Baronet (1687–1762), an aide-de-camp to the Duke of Marlborough and Member of Parliament. The Trelawny family retained Efford until 1784, when Rev. Sir Harry Trelawny, 7th Baronet (1756–1834) sold it to William Clarke of Plymouth.[30]

William Clarke (d. pre-1822)[31] of Plymouth purchased Efford in 1784, and his grandchildren were the owners in 1810.[30] The owner in 1822 was Irwin Clarke, when the manor house of Great Efford was let to a farmer and an adjoining cottage was occasionally inhabited by the Clarke family. Little Efford was then the property of Mrs. Culme, and in the occupation of Edward Williams.[32] An "Abstract of title of the trustees under the will of William Clark to the manor of Efford, Eggbuckland" dated 1867 survives in the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office.[33]

Historically the area around Efford had military importance. Efford Fort (at 50°23′26″N 4°5′32″W) was one of the ring of Victorian Palmerston's Follies built to provide defence from risk of French invasion.

The area was heavily occupied by the American army during the preparations for D-Day. This is memorialized by the naming of a part of Efford as Little America, where an estate of American-supplied pre-fabricared houses was built from 1945 onwards. Streets there were given names such as California Gardens, Oregon Way etc. These names were retained when the estate was demolished and replaced by modern houses in the 1970s.