THE KEFFORD NAME: VARIANTS AND ORIGINS

1) "THE KEFFORD TRIANGLE" EARLIEST REFERENCES & GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION

The Kefford Triangle (hereinafter referred to as the Triangle) is so named because in the mid-C16th the Keffords were concentrated in a small triangle straddling the borders of four counties and formed by the villages of Barley in Hertfordshire, Arrington and Bassingbourn in Cambridgeshire and Wrestlingworth in Bedfordshire. There were some Keffords in other villages nearby as well as some in Essex (the fourth county) and London .

Earliest References

The earliest confirmed reference to a Kefford is the will of John Kefforde of Barley 1552, but the 1549 marriage of Alice Keffer at nearby Arrington is the earliest known occurence in a parish register. There are references to Keffords at Barley as early as 1524 in the book Two Ears of Barley - Chronicle of an English Village by Jack C Wilkerson published by Priory in August 1969 (ISBN 0850780039):

The Abbotsbury Manor Court held in 1524, elected John Kefford, together with William Greenhill, John Fordham and Thomas Mede to collect "le palfreymoney" for the new abbot, Dom Thomas Barton.

There is an undated reference to John Kefford senior in a list of "Capital Pledges with Homage" made at the Abbotsbury Court. The 1525 Lay Subsidy includes Thomas Kefford £8/4s, William Kefford £6/3s, Robert Kefford £2/1s & Stephen Kefford £2/1s.

In 1544 John Kefford senior was in the Homage of the manor court of Abbotsbury (which belonged before the Reformation to St. John's Abbey in Colchester) and John Kefford junior was listed as a member of the Jury. The homage were the copyhold tenants who had to pay suit of court - attending the manorial court, declaring the custom of the manor and presenting wrongdoers. Sometimes this was done by the whole homage and sometimes by a jury.

John Norden's Survey of Barley1593-1603 published by the Cambridge Antiquarian Records Society in 1974 and edited by Jack C Wilkerson (ISBN 0904323013) contains references to Henry Kefford, Thomas Kefford, Robert Kefford, Elizabeth Kefford and John Kefford (deceased father of Henry & Elizabeth) and lists the fields they held.

The Survey included a map of the village and surrounding fields the original of which is now held at the British Museum Map Room in their Catalogue of Additions 1931-1935 - Ref 42508. The map includes fields named as belonging to Thomas and Henry Kefford. A house now on the site of Thomas Kefford's field (adjacent to Barley church) has been named KEFFORDS. Interestingly, although the map shows the field as belonging to Thomas, the listing in then Survey suggests that Elizabeth Kefford held it. Next to one of Henry's fields, there is an area enigmatically called KEFFORDS. It is not known if the Keffords gave their name to this area of the village, or whether they (and all Keffords) took their name from it.

The name does not appear on the modern OS map and it seems that the Keffords had disappeared from the village by 1620 - the last parish register entry being in 1613. It is possible they moved to London as the 1624 Admon. of Henry Keyford of Barley was granted in the Consistory Court of London to his widow Grace. A Grace Kifford ("born in Barley" and probably Henry's daughter baptised there in 1598) was buried at St Martin in the Fields in 1621 and a Mrs Grace Kiffor (or Kitfor) possibly Henry's widow, was buried at St Margaret Westminster in 1636.

Geographical Distribution

By the beginning of the C19th the Triangle had expanded to an area broadly between Bedford, Cambridge and Hertford - the three county towns - an area within which nearly all Keffords were still to be found. C19th Kefford blacksmiths at Bassingbourn were sufficiently prominent to be mentioned in the "Victoria County History of Cambridgeshire" (p23).

In 1995 July 1995 Bassingbourn Parish Council proposed the street name Kefford Close (Postcode SG8 5UL) for a new housing development in the village because; "The Keffords have been in the village since at least the 1500s, near to the site is a cottage that was the home of a branch of this family from 1850s to 1960s. They were blacksmiths. As the last Bassingbourn Kefford, now an elderly gentleman only had 2 daughters, it would be nice if the name Kefford could remain in the village."

NB. Another Kefford Close (Postcode PO8 9JR) exists at Horndean in Hampshire and was named after Rev Edward Kefford who was vicar at nearby Catherington. See Kefford & Kifford Clergy page for more details.

The 1881 Census Index shows that Cambridgeshire remained the county with the highest population of Keffords, although migration to London meant that Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire had slipped to third and fourth positions:

The Triangle counties of Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Essex accounted for 58.9% of Keffords/Kiffords. Those in London and Surrey bring the total to 83.4%, bearing in mind that the ones in Surrey were in areas which were becoming part of South London. The majority of the 16.6% who strayed further afield connect back to the Triangle, including the 9.5% in Lancashire, Suffolk and Yorkshire. A number of Keffords had emigrated by 1881, many to Australia, and again, these also trace their origins to the Triangle.

The Cayfords and Keyfords are shown for reference, since in the C16th and C17th Keyford was a variant spelling of Kefford within the Triangle. However, all those shown in the 1881 census are thought to be true Cayfords/Keyfords due to the Somerset or West Country origin of most of the families and individuals. More on the possibility that "Kefford" originated from Keyford near Frome in Somerset later.

Therefore, there can be no doubt that the Kefford and Kifford names in their modern forms originated in the Triangle. In the C16th the number of variants was considerable and it is to these that we look in the next section.

2) KEFFORD VARIANTS

Parish registers and wills contain numerous variant Kefford spellings, some very similar to the modern form. Some became surnames in their own right, such as the principal but rare variant, Kifford, already mentioned above. What is perhaps surprising is the relatively few instances of the "C" spelling as opposed to "K". Examples are shown in the Table 2 listing below. The listing is not exhaustive, but gives the earliest known instances of Kefford and its many possible variants, within the Triangle or nearby: (Source 1992 IGI & County Will Indexes)

Table 3 seeks to quantify the number of occurences of each variant and group them into principal forms. What becomes clear is that the Kayford/Keyford forms dominate the 100 years covered, but are interchangeable with the Kefford and Kifford forms which ultimately replace them by 1750.

The fact that some of the less obvious variants seem to be one-offs in many cases, and are to be found close to frequent examples of Kefford or Kifford suggests that all are part of the same name group. It should be noted that the IGI (International Genealogical Index) is not complete and whilst most parishes within the Triangle counties are included, others are not. A further note of caution should be sounded about the survival rate of early registers prior to 1600, namely that there are not too many of them. It is also interesting to note that some neighbouring parishes to villages with many Keffords, such as Sutton and Eyeworth adjacent to Wrestlingworth, which do have registers going back to 1538, have scarcely a Kefford in them before C17th. Therefore, the focus seems to remain on Barley, Arrington, Bassingbourn and Wrestlingworth.

3) THE KEFFORD NAME - POSSIBLE ORIGINS & MEANING

Unfortunately, many of the surname books so far examined have no reference to "Kefford" or anything like it. As a result, there is little previous research to draw on, but the following options are possibilities:

a) GIFFORD/GIFFARD (meaning chubby cheeked or bloated)

The favourite theory seems to be that Kefford/Kifford is a corruption of the Norman Gifford/Giffard which came over with William the Conqueror in 1066. This is suggested in the Kifford/Kefford entry in "Dictionary of English & Welsh Surnames" by Charles Wareing Bardsley 1901.

There are Giffard connections within the Triangle as lands at Wendy passed down to Sybil(Sibilla), daughter of Walter de Cormeilles (d. c1217) and a feudal ward of Henry III. Sybil married first Ralph Belet and secondly, Hugh Giffard of Boyton, Wiltshire, described, "as a man of rank and wealth", in "The Register of Walter Giffard, Archbishop of York 1266-1279" published by the Surtees Society 1904. The exact number of Hugh and Sybil's children is not clear, but they appear to have included: Walter, Godfrey, William, Alexander, Juliana, Agatha & Mabel.

Walter Giffard was educated at Cambridge and became Bishop of Bath & Wells in 1264, Lord Chancellor of England in 1265 and Archbishop of York from 1266 until his death in 1279.

Godfrey Giffard was appointed as a Canon of Wells, Rector of Mells, Somerset, and Rector of the greater mediety of Atteborough in Norfolk, by his brother Walter. The "Register or Walter Giffard, Bishop of Bath and Wells 1265-66" published as Volume XIII of the Somerset Record Series in 1899 records the presentation of Mr Godfrey Giffard to the church of Melles on 20 October 1266. Walter then, somewhat controversially, appointed Godfrey as Archdeacon of York in 1267 and as Bishop of Worcester from 1268 until his death in 1302. Godfrey succeeded Walter as Chancellor of England in 1267. Godfrey was Walter's heir and both were Lords of the Manor at Boyton. Hugh & Sybil were buried in Boyton church and Godfrey established a chantry there for them.

William Giffard, later Sir William, appears to have been Sheriff of Norfolk & Suffolk from 1270 to 1274 and is thought to have died before 1275 and his heir was his son John Giffard.

Alexander appears to have become Sir Alexander Giffard of Worcester and is thought to have died before 1279. It is not clear if William's son John was the one who became Sir John Gifford of Worcester 1308, but his arms were the same as Alexander's and Godfrey's: Ar. Ten Torteaux, four, three, two, one - according to Burke's General Armory. However, these arms seem to relate to the See of Worcester and the Giffard arms in Boyton were Gules, three lions passant argent.

The "Victoria County History of Bedfordshire" states that Agatha Giffard was Prioress of Elstow c1270, whilst "The Register of Walter Giffard" states that Mabel held this position before becoming Prioress of Shaftesbury, perhaps both sisters held the position at different times, given Walter's disposition to favour his relatives. In 1270 the Bishop of Lincoln (Richard de Gravesende) wrote from Biggleswade (Bicheswade) to Walter Giffard concerning "disorders" at the nunnery of Elstow (Eluestowe) involving the Abbess and Walter's sister, stating that he had resolved to correct them firmly but quietly out of regard for Walter and Godfrey's positions as bishops - an ecclesiastical cover up perhaps!

Juliana Giffard appears to have been Abbess of Wilton, Wiltshire from 1271 to 1272.

Hugh Giffard, after marrying Sibyl, came to hold part of a fee at Brompton's Manor in Wendy c1235. Hugh is recorded as having paid half a mark for frankpledge of Wendye in 1236. William Giffard (probably Hugh's son) was granted Fitzralph's Manor at Wendy by the King Henry III in 1265 after it had been confiscated from Ralph Fitzralph, who had been taken at Kenilworth. Kenilworth Castle was the last stronghold of those loyal to Simon de Montfort who had led the baronial rebellion against the King and had been killed at the Battle of Evesham earlier in 1265. The Dictum of Kenilworth of 1265 was the peace treaty, but those who had been disloyal to the King lost their lands. It seems that although most of the Wendy lands returned to the Fitzralphs, some remained with the Giffards. Hugh's land at Bromptons Manor passed to his sons Walter and Godfrey Giffard. and then to John Giffard who, as son of their brother William Giffard, was Godfrey's heir in 1302. John held the land until 1319 when his son, also John, succeeded him and held the Wendy land until his death in 1327. His son, another John who was a minor, succeeded him and appears to have died before 1346 when 1/3 fee was held by his brother William.In 1347 the land passed to a Geoffrey Seman. See "Victoria County History of Cambridgeshire" Vol 8 pp136-137.

There are remains of a Preceptory which belonged the Knights Hospitallers at Shingay near Wendy and there must have been ecclesiastical links with the Giffard bishops in C13th, but more on this later. The significance of Wendy is that it is right at the heart of the Triangle and although a lot could happen between C13th and the 1550s, it is possible that "Kefford" derived from Gifford via Kifford, either by descent or by local people taking on the name of their manorial masters. "A History of Wendy" by Rev. Walter Jones MA (Vicar of Wendy 1891 to 1901) which was published c 1904, includes lists of Wendy inhabitants from various C14th tax gatherer's accounts, but whilst John Giffard is mentioned in the Lay Subsidy Roll of 1327, no other names even approximating to Kefford are mentioned.

b) GUILDFORD, SURREY (meaning "Golden Ford")

C W Bardsley gives a Kifforde reference for a George Guldeford or Gilford or Kifforde at the University of Oxford 1556: Reg Univ Oxf i 232. From this entry it is suggested that Guildford is the origin of the name. However, the Bodleian Library in Oxford, who hold the original record, have advised that the entry reads Kilforde and was mistakenly reproduced as Kifforde in "Register of the University of Oxford" which was edited by C W Boarse for the Oxford Historical Society in 1884. This error was then perpetuated by Bardsley in 1901 and more recently by "The Historical Research Center" whose computerised database of names is marketed in shopping centres from time to time and whose explanation of Kefford/Kifford is clearly based on Bardsley's work.

The Guildford connection seems even more dubious as Foster's "Alumni Oxonienses" states that George Guldeford, who was a fellow of Magdalen College between 1557 and 1563, came from Kent. There is a village called East Guldeford just over the Kentish border near Rye in Sussex, which could be the place from whence he or his family took their name. Magdalen College have confirmed that within their archives, there is no record of any spelling with a K although other variants such as Guylford and Gylford are to be found. They were also able to verify that George came from Kent, although no town or village is recorded. It seems that George Gilford was quite a colourful character, eventually being expelled from Magdalen in March 1562/63 for bad behaviour - but that is another story!

The proximity of the Triangle to Cambridge makes it far more likely that any Keffords would have studied there. Indeed, a Henry Kifford (born c 1680/1) was educated at Cambridge and ordained a priest at Norwich in 1704. He became Rector of Sweffling, Sotherton and Dennington in Suffolk and was buried at Halesworth on 13 July 1752. Use this link for more information on Kefford & Kifford Clergy.

The remoteness of Kent, Sussex or Surrey, from the Triangle seems sufficient to dismiss the Guildford theory, especially now that we know the error that led to it. Perhaps the only benefit of this research is to note how a "G" can be sharpened in to a "K" and how this may support the Gifford theory.

c) KAYFOOT or CAFOOT (from Ka or Ca meaning "Jackdaw" and fot = foot)

P H Reaney & R H Wilson's "Dictionary of English Surnames" 1995 has no mention of Kefford, but there are Kayfoot/Cafoot ("Jackdaw Foot") references which are phonetically similar to Kefford:

Thomas Kafot 1185 Lincolnshire Templars records

John Cayfoot 1275 Worcester Subsidy Rolls

Matilda Cafot 1319 London Subsidy Rolls.

It is interesting to note the 1275 Worcester connection in the light of Godfrey Giffard who was bishop there from 1268 until he died in 1302, making them contempories. The Lay Subsidy Roll, published by Worcestershire Historical Society, lists Johanne Cayfot (one "o") in the Warda Omnium Sanctorum (Ward of All Saints), Worcester City, against the sum of 16d. The original roll is at the PRO, Kew. Godfrey's Register mentions the church of All Saints, in connection with the incumbent priests, but there are no references to any Keffords or Cayfots. Whether any Giffard connection resulted in John Cayfot taking his surname to or from the Triangle is therefore not known.

Lincoln was the diocese which covered Wrestlingworth in C16th. The Templars held much land in Lincolnshire as well as the Triangle and no doubt there were links between the two. The Knights Hospitaller and Knights Templer orders both had estates in Cambridgeshire, and both had possessions at Shingay cum Wendy. At the dissolution of the Templar order early in C14th many of their lands passed to the Hospitallers. The Templar presence within the Triangle and presumed links to their possessions in Lincolnshire might well place the Kafot name at Shingay cum Wendy and perhaps make it a forerunner of Kefford. Lincolnshire Archives have advised that Thomas Kafot (or Cowfoot/Calffoot) was a tenant of the Templars in Roucebi (Rauceby near Sleaford) and take the view that a connection with the Bedfordshire & Cambridgeshire Keffords is unlikely. However, it should be noted that Rauceby is close to the Roman road, Ermine Street, which cuts through the heart of the Triangle close to Shingay cum Wendy.

The book "Cambridgeshire" by Ross Clark 1996 mentions that the Hospitaller's Preceptory could have been used as a refuge for pilgrims travelling north and did a sideline in burials, bodies being brought there to be buried to the accompaniment of a Hospitallers' mass. Sylvia P Beamon's "The Royston Cave: Local Historical Influences of the Templar and Hospitaller Movements" 1992 covers her extensive research into the area, including the preceptory at Wendy and references to Hugh and William Giffard. Unfortunately she has not come across any Keffords or variants, so we again can only speculate whether Thomas Kafot took his name to or from the Triangle.

The 1319 reference to Matilda Cafot in London is sufficiently close to the Triangle to suggest that, if the name is indeed a forerunner of Kefford, the C16th links with the City go back much further. However, this reference has not been examined any further.

d) KAYSFORD/CAYSFORD HUNDRED, HERTFORDSHIRE

The "Victoria County History of Hertfordshire" has a Kaysford reference in Vol 2. Apparently, Cashio Hundred which covered the Watford area plus Hexton, Norton & Newnham was called Albanston in 1086 but by C13th was called Kaysford/Caysford/Kayso/Kaysho as corruptions of Caishio, the ancient seat of Cassibelan, King of the Cassians. There are early references to Henry de Kayso in 1308 at Watford and later to his widow Lucy which suggest that Kayso became a surname. The Bedfordshire village of Keysoe bears a similarity to these names and is not far from the Triangle, but unfortunately, there is insufficient evidence to assume that any of this gives a clue to Kefford origins.

e) KEFFORD VILLAGE

It is possible that there was once a Kefford village, perhaps in or near the Triangle, but no evidence has been found for this and there does not appear to be any such name in the Domesday Book. However, a close approximation seems to be the village of Quy to the east of Cambridge. It appears as Choie in 1080, in the Doomsday Book as Coeia (1086) and later appears as Cueye (1212) Coueye 1273 and Queye (1261). The modern name Quy appears to be pronounced as Kwai (as in the "Bridge over the River Kwai"). The village is now known as Stow-cum-Quy and nearby runs a stream called Quy Water. Looking at the older spellings, the name might have evolved or been corrupted from Queye to Keye to Key as it moved a few miles westwards to the Triangle. If there was a ford at Queye it might have been called Queye-ford from which Keyford later evolved and then Kefford. No evidence has yet been found to substantiate this theory.

It has been suggested that there was a Keford (one "f") village near Shillington/Meppershall, Bedfordshire, by someone who used to live in the area and claims to have seen a signpost pointing to it. No such village appears to have been documented and the signpost has not been found. There were quite a few Keffords in the Shillington area in C19th, but this does not seem to give any clues over origins. Other possible village names outside the Triangle, such as Keyford and Keresforth are considered next.

f) KEYFORD, SOMERSET (Chaivel, Chaivert, Keyferz, Kayvel)

As a number of C16th-C17th Keffords appear as Keyfords, particularly in the Wrestlingworth register until as late as 1731, there could be a link to Keyford, just outside Frome, Somerset. There is also another Keyford in Somerset, just south of Yeovil. As far as Frome is concerned, the name Keyford goes back to the Domesday Book of 1086 and derives from Caeg-fyhrth (or fyrhp) a wood or frith were wood was obtained for making wooden pegs or "keys". It is possible that before the earliest registers, some folk moved from Keyford to the Triangle and as strangers were named by the locals after their place of origin - something that happened in medieval times, and there is a connection between the area around Frome and the Triangle.

As we have seen, the Giffard bishops were sons of Hugh Giffard of Boyton, Wiltshire and they also held manors at Stoke Giffard and Wellow, Somerset. The Giffard associations with Boyton, Bath & Wells, Shaftesbury are all within 15 miles or so of Frome and Mells, where Godfrey was Rector for a time, is just 4 miles from Frome/Keyford. The Giffards also owned the manor of Rodden, which is literally next door to the Keyford area of Frome. Sir Richard Colt Hoare in his "History of Wiltshire" records that when Archbishop Walter Giffard died in 1279 he was "then seised of the manors of Boytone in Wilts and Radone, or Rodden, in Somerset. Bishop Godfrey endowed Boyton Church with Rodden in 1289 and Rodden church remained linked to Boyton until 1808. Therefore, although none of their Registers mention Keyford or Wendy in any form, the Giffards provide a connection between the areas around the two places. Further, Godfrey Giffard's will dated 1301 and as transcribed by Dr William Thomas in his "Survey of Worcester Cathedral" 1736, includes the following bequest:

Item. do, lego, Roberto Cissori*, camerario meo, XL sol. (*or Ciffori) An approximate translation would be:

Item. To give, leave Robert Cissor(i), my chamberlain, 40 shillings.

Cissori, is remarkably close to Cifford or the Keffor(d) Keffer(d) variants, especially if the "s" became softened to "f" over time. Some, albeit rare, variant spellings of Kefford include Kesford and Kisford. Nothing else is known of Robert or his origins, so not too much weight should be attached here.

Were the Giffards the link and means whereby locals of Keyford found their way to the Triangle and became Keffords? As a family they certainly link the two geographical areas for at least 60 years. Mention has already been made of Godfrey Giffard's position as Rector of Mells and his link to the Triangle at Wendy.

Another Rector provides a similar link, namely John Hertlypole, Rector of Brygham (Brigham) Cumberland and Sondeie (Sandy) Bedfordshire. The name Sandy only appears once and was difficult to read clearly. However, Bedfordshire Achives confirm that a John Hertill, Rector of Sandy was succeeded by John Derby on 1 December 1432, soon after John Hertilpole's PCC will (dated 30 November 1431) was proved on 17 November 1432. Therefore it seems reasonable to conclude that the place is Sandy.

This will is in Latin and a translation reveals links to the following places:

London (Order of Carthusians); Gaynesbury or Gaynesburgh(e) (Gainsborough) Lincolnshire; Melles (Mells) Somerset, Hereford Cathedral; Glaston(bury) Abbey Somerset, Oxford (graduate scholars) Caldwell Priory Yorkshire(?)

Sandy is just 5 miles or so from Wrestlingworth and Mells a similar distance from Keyford, so again there is a link. Sadly, the will reveals little else to help further.

Much depends upon when the Keyford name evolved into this form and it appears to have done so at least as early as 1405, although there were many variants, including Keywer, Keyver, Keivert and Cayford.

A PCC will for William Jorden(e) of Keyfford in the parish of Frome Selwood dated 18 August 1524 confirms that Keyford was established as a place name by then. The will was proved at London on 28 November 1524 but gives no links to the Triangle.

A Charter held by the British Library (Reference BL Harl. Ch.78 A.36) records the gift by Robert Smith (Faber) of Tuderginton (probably nearby Tytherington) to Hugh Russel, of three acres of arable land one of which lies in the field of Keyferz, between the land of William Poleyn and the land of Hugh Russel. The list of witnesses includes William de Keyferz and John de Keyferz.

Although the charter is not dated, the British Library advise that the hand suggests that it was written during the reign of Henry III (1216-1272). Frome historian and author Michael McGarvie puts the date between 1272 and 1282 based on other local documents of the same period which mention the same people and the dates when some of them were known to be alive or dead. Such a dating is contemporary with the Giffard connections between the Keyford area and Wendy and this charter must be one of the earliest examples of Keyford as a surname. Although the ending is "erz" Section 3h (below) will show how Keffer and Kefferd are known Kefford variants. As far as the "z" is concerned, Latin has no such lettter, and it is not far removed from "d". It might be noted that the Greek letter zeta has a dz or ds sound, somewhat harder than the english "z".

A Keyford/Cayford/Caiford name group, which still survives, originated in its own right from the Keyford/Frome area and was present in places such as Mells and Whatley in C18th. The 1881 Census Index shows the origin and distribution of these names at that time. The similarity of Caig-fyhrth and the early Kefford variant, Cayforth/Kayforth might also be noted.

g) KERESFORTH, YORKSHIRE (Cenfrith/p's Ford, Crevesford/Keueresforth)

Another theory is that Kefford was a lost village in Yorkshire and that the Triangle was not therefore the area of origin. However, this depends on a presumed link with the surname Kerford, which is in Bardsley's "Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames", with Kerfoot/Kerfut as corruptions. Bardsley could not identify the village, although he was convinced it lay in Lancashire or Yorkshire.

The lost village of Keresforth, which appears in the 1086 Doomsday Book as Creuesford, seems the most likely candidate and this theory is given on a surname printout produced by Name Origin Research of York. Keresforth Hill is still to be found between Barnsley and Dodworth. "Place Names of the West Riding of Yorkshire - Part 1" published by the English Place Name Society,1961 lists other variant forms such as Kefresford 1155-86, Keu/Keverford, Keresford 1381, Kersforthe 1433, Keixforthe 1550, Kesforth 1571. The place name became a surname in its own right and Keresforth Hall was named after the Keresforth family.The IGI for Yorkshire has a few Keresforth, Keresforde and Kerxforth entries between 1588 and 1607 at Barnsley, but no Keffords.

Apart from being a ford "belonging" to Cenfrith/p, a pre-C7th old English personal name, Keresforth may derive from Kerr = wet ground and fote = foot or bottom of a hill, hence a person who lived on wet ground at the foot of a hill.

The earliest instance of the surname Bardsley found was Ricardus de Kerfforth in the 1379 Poll Tax Return for the West Riding of Yorkshire (p79). C16th & C17th instances of Kirfoote, Kerfoot & Kyrfote cited by him were in Cheshire or Lancashire and most IGI examples are to be found in these counties.

A definite link to the Triangle has been found in the records of The Visitation of Bedfordshire 1566, 1582 & 1634 published by the Harleian Society 1884, and similarly in The Visitation of Cambridgeshire 1575 & 1619 published by the Harleian Society 1897. The marriage of Jane Carrisforth, daughter of John Carrisforth of Barnsley, Yorkshire to Robert Pooley of Bromham, Bedfordshire is recorded. Carrisforth is clearly a variant spelling of Keresforth.

The Pooley (Poley) family was established in Biddenham, near Bedford by the mid-C15th having originated in Suffolk. Bromham is a short distance from Biddenham. Robert Pooley is thought to have been born c1508, marrying Jane Carrisforth c1539. Their son, John, was born c 1540 in Cambridge. John in turn married Alice, daughter of John Smyth of Cambridge c1588 and their son Thomas was born c1590 in Cambridge. (Approximate dates taken from LDS Ancestral File - no parish records found on the IGI). The route linking Bromham and Bedford to Cambridge runs right through the Triangle, passing key villages such a Wrestlingworth, Arrington and Wendy. However, the presence of different and apparently well established Kefford families in these and other nearby villages by 1550 suggests that this particular connection with Keresforth is much too late in time.

Alternatively, Archbishop Walter Giffard provides an earlier more tenuous link between Yorkshire and the Triangle in C13th. The Kefford coat of arms also suggests a connection with York (see Section 5 below). However, if there is no link then Kerford, Kyrfoot etc may be a separate name group in their own right which have survived to the present day, especially as none of the Kefford variants examined within the Triangle seem to have the "Ker" form.

h) KEEPER OF THE FORD

One theory is that Kefford means "Keeper of the Ford", so having an occupational origin as opposed to a habitation one. It has been suggested that the ford was at Trumpington in Cambridgeshire in medieval times. This information came from a Kefford whose family line was at Trumpington and later at Sawston in C19th and was passed down as an oral tradition. Whether this is a distant (but accurate memory) passed down over the generations or just hearsay in not known. In the English context, the name Keffer could be a variant of "Keeper" and there are some early instances of Keffer within the Triangle shown in the Variant Listing. The addition of "d" at the end of Keffer(d) gives a known Kefford variant. The birth and death registrations of Mary Ann Kefford at Gravenhust in 1855 as Caffer and the birth registration of her brother George at Higham Gobion in 1861 as Keffer demostrate how careless pronunciation can cause the "d" to be dropped.

i) KEFFER (derived from German for "Beetle")

Whilst, as just mentioned, a few C16th and C17th records, notably at Arrington in Cambridgeshire and Audley End in Essex, have Keffer, the variant does not appear to have survived in England, and seems to have been a variant of Kefford in any case.

By contrast, there are many appearances of Keffer in America and these derived from German immigrants with the name Kafer, or Chafer, meaning "beetle". I was once asked if "Kefford" was a German name, perhaps due to this similarity.

Any German connection as far as England is concerned would pre-date the records and in my view seems unlikely, given the dominance of the "ford" ending in so many of the other variants, usually within the same family.

j) A FORD ON THE RIVER CAM OR RHEE

Flowing through the heart of the Triangle is a tributary of the River Cam which gives Cambridge its name. This river is also known as the Rhee, and P H Reaney's "Place Names of Cambridgeshire" 1943 gives early spellings of Ree 1405, Rea 1580, Raye 1549 and Rey 1624, but no evidence to suggest that Cam and Rhee somehow became combined or the "R" corrupted to a "K" to become Khee, and from thence to Key or Kei etc. However, if this were the case, anyone who lived at a ford over the river might have been known as Key-ford or Kei-ford. The spellings of Kefford, Kifford, or Kyfford and the many variants listed might then flow from these forms.

Splitting the name in this way might give another clue as to origins. According to Reaney & Wilson, Kay or Key (and variants) can have a number of meanings including, jackdaw, quay, key-bearer, left handed/footed or clumsy, depending on the part of the country and the local dialect. In Norfolk and Suffolk, "left handed" would be likely, and these counties are not far from the Triangle. As the name Ford, Forth (& variants) generally denote a "dweller by the ford", Key-ford or Kay-ford might suggest a left handed dweller by the ford or a person dwelling by a left ford, which rather pre-supposes the existence of a right ford as well!

k) CLIFFORD (dweller by a ford with steep banks)

A manor at Eyeworth was held by Roger & Isabel de Clifford in 1265, but no particular connection between the Clifford and Kefford/Kifford names has yet been found, apart from the similar sound. The Eyeworth registers go back to 1538 when they commenced, but no Keffords appear there before 1616. Clifford seems to be a name in its own right, especially as none of the Kefford variants have an "l" in them and very few commence with C.

4) MANORIAL RECORDS - LORD ST JOHN OF BLETSOE

References to manorial records in the "Victoria County Histories" for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire make no mention of any Keffords, which is not particularly surprising, given that the most wealthy Keffords were middle ranking yeoman farmers or husbandmen. However, the Victoria County History for Bedfordshire does include a reference to Lord St John of Bletsoe alienating Hereford's Manor at Wrestlingworth to a Thomas Hewitt in 1593. Mr Hewett's name also appears in the deeds of a Wrestlingworth farm dating back to the 1590s.

The X222 Document (held at Bedfordshire Record Office) refers to land which Edward Keyforde bought from the Rt Hon. Lord St John of Bletsoe on 24 February 1592/93. In the same section (X222/1) there is a reference to Mr Hewitt, who along with the Queen (Elizabeth I) is listed as an adjacent owner or occupier. Nicholas Keifford of Wrestlingworth (Edward's brother) also mentions land he bought from Lord St John in his will of 1601 (proved 1604). In David H Kennett's "A Portrait of Bedfordshire" 1978, he describes the St Johns as a family of mixed fortunes. Perhaps during their less prosperous time they sold up to the Keiffords! Sadly, most of the pre-C17th manuscripts of St John, Baron of Bletsoe, seem to have been lost and it is rumoured that Moubray Lord St John, who died in 1934, burnt many of the earlier documents.

5) KEFFORD COAT OF ARMS

A Kefford coat of arms, granted at York is listed in "Burke's General Armory" 1884:

Gules - a fesse embattled between three bees volant or.

It has been suggested that the arms were granted in the 1400s on the basis that Burke gives no date for the grant, so therefore the arms must be ancient. The College of Arms have advised that according to their records, the "bees" are not official arms and they suggest three theories:

1) The arms are ancient, dating from before the time of Henry V's writ of 1417 restricting the use of arms, and the herald's visitations instituted by Henry VIII in 1530, so were never officially recorded.

2) The arms were confirmed by the visitations but the evidence, including that seen by Burke has been lost, but this is thought to be unlikely.

3) An unofficial provider of arms sometime between the end of the Visitations c1700 and the C19th, gave some unknown Kefford the bees arms that Burke later recorded. A Colonel Michael Kefford, who was granted arms a few years ago, did not use the bees on his arms, which again suggests that they have no official standing.

Burke did the world a great service in collating the "General Armory", but a great dis-service in not listing all his sources, and it is a pity he did not record the source of the Kefford arms. The Borthwick Institute in York was unable to shed any further light on the source of Burke's information.

The 1881 census index for Yorkshire only shows 5 Keffords (four are listed as Heffords) and 5 Kiffords. All originated from the Triangle counties:

• The family of William Kefford, aged 25 born (c1845) at Hitchin in Hertfordshire, appears at Hipperholme Cum Brighouse. From the date of William's marriage in 1877 to a local girl, Harriet Jagger he probably arrived in the mid 1870s.
• Another William Kefford, aged 55 born (c1816) at Pampisford in Cambridgeshire, appears to be alone at Rotherham.
• The family of Charles Kifford, aged 43 born (c1838) at Watford in Hertfordshire, appears at Halifax and seems to have arrived there, via Surrey and Ireland, sometime between 1874 and 1878.

As the Kefford connections with Yorkshire only marginally pre-date Burke's publication in 1884, the arms may be of the same vintage. Information from a branch of the Keffords, known (for ease of reference) as the "Kingsley Keffords" may well confirm a Victorian origin:

The "Kingsley Keffords" descend from John Kefford and Lucinda Kingsley who married at Sandon, on 16 January 1826. Most of their children were born at Bengeo, near Hertford. John, Lucinda and relatives were still at Bengeo in 1881. The surname Kingsley became a middle Christian name for many of their decendents, due to the belief that Lucinda was related to Rev.Charles Kingsley (1819-1875).

John & Lucinda's son William Kefford was, according to the 1881 and 1891 Census, a "Her Majesty's Civil Service Education Department Inspector" in Bury St Edmunds. Some signet rings have been handed down within this family for a number of generations and have bees on them, together with the Latin inscription "Diligente et Laborum" (Diligence and Work) which is appropriate to the heraldic significance of bees as a symbol of industriousness and busy-ness.

When or how these Keffords came to have the rings with the bee symbols is not known. Did they adopt or perpetuate an ancient symbol, or did they originate it during the Victorian era, sometime prior to 1884? Perhaps it was William Kefford in his capacity as a Civil Servant who first had the arms created unoffically. We shall probably never know, but "Diligence and Work" certainly seem a good motto for an Education Inspector!

6) CONCLUSION

At present, no firm conclusion can be drawn pending further research. Those theories that are either rooted within the Triangle or linked to it by the Giffard or Keyford connections seem to be more credible than the others, but until further evidence is found we cannot yet write "QED" here. For the time being the mystery over the origin of the Keffords remains.

If anyone reading this page has an other ideas, please let me know! In due course I hope to add much more material and would welcome any information on the Kefford, Kifford & Keyford families.

Grateful acknowledgements go to all those Libraries and Record Offices have have assisted me in my enquiries.

A Special "thank you" to Richard Evans Kefford whose own research and Kefford "one-name study" got me started in the quest for my own ancestors. Richard is an expert on the Keffords and first defined "The Kefford Triangle". He is developing his own web-site - see Links. Special thanks also to Michael Warwick Kefford whose 1988 circular letter to all Keffords first got me asking questions and whose help with early Kefford/Kifford etc wills means I can now read most of them.

Peter J Kefford

22 March 2006

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