OKEHAMPTON Town Council has suggested historical field names for the new streets in the town's Broome Park development off Exeter Road. Town clerk Don Bent was invited by Barratt Homes to send a list of possible names. Those proposed are: Wadlands, Hawkin's Meadow, Richard's Meadow, The Whole, and Portugal Meadow. These are all the names of fields which existed on the site in the 18th and 19th centuries. Local historian Mike Wreford said he approved of the suggested names: 'I think it's ideal to preserve old names by using them for new developments.' He added that although the name Portugal Meadows sounds less relevant to Dartmoor than the rest, it probably derives from the fact that merchantmen in Okehampton reportedly had dealings with Portuguese merchants in the 17th century.
