Effingham is bounded to the south by a section of an ancient prehistoric track which ran from Kent, following the main escarpment of the North Downs, avoiding the Wealden Clay, through Guldford and Farnham on out to Salisbury Plain.
It has been described as the most important prehistoric (9000-3000BC) thoroughfare in the south-east of Btitain. It provided a useful route for he Stone Age peoples to travel by to trade flint stone and tools. It is better known today as The North Downs Way or the Pilgrim's Way.
Effingham is a true Saxon foundation and is one in a line of spring-line villages that formed due to settlement near available water supplied from the Woolwich (Reading) beds /strata.
Circa AD 493 it is known that a Saxon nobleman called Aeffing (son of Yffe) built his "ham" or house in the area and gave the villiage it's name which has changed very little over the ages.
By the 14th centuary i.e.the Medieval period, the main manor house of the village stood on the site of a Regency mansion. It was owned by Sir John Poultney who was four times the Lord Mayor of the City of London. It survives today as the clubhouse of the Effingham Golf Club, home to a fantastic 1400 year Yew tree.
By 1545 the manor house and lands were owned by William Howard (Lord High Admiral and 1st Baron Howard of Effingham) and King Henry VIII was riding around the area of the golf course hunting when he stayed at nearby Hampton Court. Lord William Howard's son,Charles 2nd Baron Howard of Effingham was the person who broke the Spanish Armada's control of the English Channel
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