Halsbury

Halsbury (pron. "Haulsbury") is a historic manor in the parish of Parkham in North Devon, England. It is situated 2 miles north-east of the village of Parkham and 4 miles south-west of the town of Bideford. Halsbury was long a seat of the ancient Giffard family, a distant descendant of which was the celebrated lawyer Hardinge Stanley Giffard, 1st Earl of Halsbury (1823–1921), who adopted the name Halsbury for his earldom and was the author of the essential legal reference books Halsbury's Statutes. Halsbury Barton, now a farmhouse, retains 16th and 17th century elements of the former manor house of the Giffard family. It was described in a record of 1560 as a "new dwelling house".

The de Halsbury family were the earliest recorded holders of the manor and took their surname from it. The descent of Halsbury in the family of Giffard was as follows:

The Giffard family of Halsbury was descended from the Anglo-Norman magnate Walter Giffard, 1st Earl of Buckingham (died 1102), Lord of Longueville in Normandy. His descendants, via a female branch which adopted the surname Guffard, held lands in Devon including the manors of Whitchurch, Wear Giffard, Clovelly Lamerton and Awlescombe.

The descent of Halsbury in the Giffard family as given by Pole (died 1635) and expanded by Vivian is as follows:

Thomas Benson (1708–1772), of Knapp House, (alias Nap) Appledore, Devon, MP for Barnstaple between 1747 and 1754, a ship-owner, merchant and maritime insurance fraudster, purchased Halsbury from Roger Giffard (died 1763). His silver punch bowl, inscribed with his armorials (On a chevron between three goat's heads erased each charged on the neck with an escallop three escallops) and presented by him to Barnstaple mayor and corporation, is displayed in the Dodderidge Room of Barnstaple Guildhall. Following his flight from justice to Portugal in 1753, the Crown seized his assets, including Halsbury.

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