Estover

Until comparatively recently the area we now know as Estover had changed little over the centuries. Down through the years, until the 1950s, there was a working farm here and the nearest neighbours were at Derriford Barton to the north-west,Thornbury Cottages, Estover House, Mainstone and Briarleigh (an attractive Georgian building) to the eastand Bowhay Cottage and Poole farm to the souh.

Then in 1960s came the factories, Fine Tubes first then Wrigleys in 1970, then came the housing estate - which was officially opened in 1976. Today much of the land hs been developed and there is little indication of the forest to which the area almost certainly owes its name.

Estovers literally are 'necessaries allowed by law', most commonly they have been used to refer to 'wood which a tenant is priveliged to take from his landlords estate so far as it is necessary for repairing his house, hedges, implements, etc.'. Who the landlord in question may have been we do not know but the place-name Estover has been with us locally for many hundreds of years.

EH 5 February 1994