Broadwoodwidger

I was driving through Devon and I noticed a signpost to Broadwoodwidger. Obviously I wondered where this name came from. Who or what is a widger?

I, the Origin Seeker, sought the answer.

A long time ago in a place far, far away...there lived some people in a hamlet in the county of Dumnonii in the country of Englaland. In the Broad Wood nearby lived a Thing. The villagers (because hamleteers isn't a word) were scared of the Thing, which made weird noises in the middle of the night. But their children were not scared; they often ran through the  Broad Wood and laughed when they heard the sounds of the Thing.

But one day one of the children didn't return home. The next day, another. The hamleteers got together and went into the Broad Wood to find the Thing, to find out what had happened to their children. "Where are our children?" they cried, hoping the Thing would hear them. And out of the Broad Wood came the Thing. "I have your children; they are safe. I will give them back to you but I would like you to do Something for me."

"What is this Something?"

"I would like you to name your hamlet after me; wud yer?".

"That's it?". "That's it."

The Thing brought the children and allowed them to return to their parents. And the hamleteers renamed the hamlet Broad Wood Wud Yer. Over the years, and through generations of the hamleteers, the name was handed down orally and became: Broadwoodwidger.

Many years later, a Mister Wiki Pedia came to the (by now) village. He claimed to have located a family called the Wygers and that the village is named for them.

But we know the truth. The Pedia man sometimes maketh mistakes. There are no Wygers. I, the Origin Seeker, have been there and met the Thing. Which maketh sense.