Efford

Efford
Efford  Efford shown within Devon
District	Plymouth
Shire county	Devon
Region	South West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	PLYMOUTH
Postcode district	PL3 6xx
Dialling code	01752
Police	Devon and Cornwall
Fire	Devon and Somerset
Ambulance	South Western
EU Parliament	South West England
List of places: UK • England • Devon

Efford is a large mostly post-war suburb of Plymouth in the county of Devon, England.

It stands on high ground above the Laira estuary of the River Plym and variously offers views over long distances: to the north across Dartmoor the east across the South Hams of Devon and also to the south. It has a core of home owners but is predominantly made up of local authority and housing association properties.

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 also heavily occupied by the American army during the preparations for D-Day. This is remembered by the naming of a part of Efford, where an estate of American-supplied prefab houses was built from 1945 onwards, as Little America. 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.

One theory of the origin of the Name 'Efford' is that it originally comes from the part of this suburb that slopes down towards the river Plym (which is now partly reclaimed and built on land); before much of the river silted up, ships could Ford here when the river was at the Ebb tide; so it was the Ebbing or Ebb-Ford. Over time, by the natural processes of pronunciation change, the 'b's disappeared and it became Efford. Before this land was built on, it was known as 'The Wilds of Efford', which was largely unspoilt countryside and marsh land. Another theory is that 'Efford' comes from the 'ford', which spanned the Plym from Crabtree to Saltram House. It was only usable during low tide 'ebb', hence the name ebb-ford and later, Efford.