"Broadymead"
Woodbury resident Judy Vallance grew up living next door to Keble Martin and his family, in Gidleigh on the NE edge of Dartmoor.
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It may not be generally known that 'Broadymead', the house in Pound Lane where Rev Keble Martin lived in Woodbury, is named after the place where he previously lived in the parish of Gidleigh, near Chagford. He bought a field for £400 in 1946 and had his bungalow built. He moved into it in 1949. It is situated in a quiet lane between Chapple Farm and Gidleigh Mill. He resigned his benefice in 1949 at the age of 72 years and devoted his time to redrawing a number of his flower plates. He sold the Gidleigh 'Broadymead' for £2,850 in 1957 and moved to Woodbury."
Judy found this information in a local history guide to Gidleigh. In his autobiography Over the Hills, Keble Martin mentions that the Gidleigh property was originally a "small and rather boggy field called on the tithe map 'Broadymead'", so the name of his house in Woodbury has quite a long and surprising history.
Do you have memories of Keble Martin to share?
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