Combe Gibbet

After a 7 mile walk through the beautiful countryside on the borders of Wiltshire, Berkshire and Hampshire, had a huge climb up Combe Down.

The treat at the end of the walk was to see the Combe gibbet.

This double gibbet was only used once in 1676. George Broomham of Combe, and Dorothy Newman of Inkpen were lovers. They brutally killed Martha and Robert Broomham, George's wife and son, who had come across them together on the Downs. Unfortunately for them they were seen committing the crime by the barefoot village idiot 'Mad Thomas' who managed to convey what he had seen to the authorities.

They were both tried and then hanged at the Winchester Assizes. Their dead bodies were hung on either side of the Combe Gibbet to act as a grim deterrent to other would be wrong doers.