For almost 200 years there had been a doctor resident in Bow. I was the twenty-ninth.
This is our story
THE MEDICAL GENTLEMEN OF BOW
Broadnymett
About a mile and a half outside Bow in the direction of Okehampton lies Broadnymett, a tiny parish surrounding a manor house, with a church and a list of rectors dating back to 1332.
In 1839 the parish was united with Bow alias Nymet Tracey.
Broadnymett Parish was just 450 acres: In 1774 there were just two families residing in the parish but by 1850 there were about 50 inhabitants mainly working on the farms.
The last baptism to take place in the church at Broadnymett was probably that of Nancy Norrish on 19 July 1790.
In the 1880s the church of St Martin, Broadnymett fell into disuse. It was absorbed into the nearby farm and used to house animals.
Photos by Robin Lucas [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Sheep Stealing at Broadnymett - 1835
In 1835 Broadnymett Farm was owned by Thomas Prickman. He had about 20 agricultural workers, apprentices and servants living and working around the farm.
On 15 January 1835, Prickman noticed that two of his flock of 71 sheep were missing.
The sheep had been butchered, the skins had been thrown into the turnip field. After a search the meat was found in the houses of three of his employees:
Alexander Croote, aged 41
William Coombe, aged 28
Josias Austin, aged 38
All three were married with children
They were accused of sheep stealing and tried at the Devon Assizes in March. They were found guilty and sentenced to be transported for life.
Croote and Coombe were sent to New South Wales, and Austin to Tasmania.
Coombe and Austin remarried and had families in Australia.
This had a devastating effect on their wives and children left behind.
The story of the "Broadnymett Three"
