32 UK Towns With CRAZY Names (Americans React)

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  • Опубліковано 27 вер 2024
  • A list of 32 British towns with morbid, crazy, and rather diabolical names! 🎉😂 Are you from one of these hilarious UK towns? Did we pronounce them correctly? And do tell us the history behind the name of your colorfully named town, street, or village!
    What crazy-but-true UK place names didn't make this list? Share your favourite with us in the comments! 😄
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КОМЕНТАРІ • 1,6 тис.

  • @WanderingRavens
    @WanderingRavens  4 роки тому +10

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    • @robertlawes522
      @robertlawes522 4 роки тому +4

      knob= old english for head (so one for his knob - as the bonus point for turning up the jack in the card game cribbage) - slag=waste from smelting iron or tin - so slagford would the place the wagons from the iron works crossed the river

    • @DPYROAXIS
      @DPYROAXIS 4 роки тому +1

      Prat is like IDIOT "You stupid prat"

    • @DPYROAXIS
      @DPYROAXIS 4 роки тому +2

      I live how you make up your own histories

    • @DPYROAXIS
      @DPYROAXIS 4 роки тому +1

      @@robertlawes522 now knob is mainly for door handles or electronic panels "knobs and dials" and also an uncommon word for penis. I never knew it was also a word for head but people get called dickheads and knobheads meaning the same thing. Slag and slut here pretty much mean the same thing and Slag still keeps its old meaning. There is a teansformer called slag (the triceratops).

    • @DPYROAXIS
      @DPYROAXIS 4 роки тому +2

      Lastly, sod is mainly used for in the non sodomy way. If someone does something and fails or not right you might call them a silly sod "you are wearing odd socks you silly sod". It 8s also 8n some lyrics of a Christmas song, good king wenceslas.
      In his master's steps he trod
      Where the snow lay dinted
      Heat was in the very sod
      Which the Saint had printed
      Therefore, Christian men, be sure
      Wealth or rank possessing
      Ye who now will bless the poor
      Shall yourselves find blessing

  • @philipareed
    @philipareed 4 роки тому +145

    In Somerset, near the town of Frome, there is a lane called Dead Woman's Bottom. There was a protest there a while back to do with a new road causing destruction to a wooded area. The local paper, The Somerset Standard actually ran the following headline: Police Enter Dead Woman's Bottom. I am not joking.

    • @WanderingRavens
      @WanderingRavens  4 роки тому +25

      Gotta love the UK press 😂😂😂

    • @marconatrix
      @marconatrix 4 роки тому +7

      And since we're here, IIRC _Frome_ is pronounced "froom" (at least one Frome is).

    • @philipareed
      @philipareed 4 роки тому +2

      @@marconatrix Yes, I know. It's seven miles away. BUT. I work in a call centre and nine times out of ten, callers mispronounce it as in 'home'. They can't pronounce Sutton Veny either.

    • @jonathangriffin1120
      @jonathangriffin1120 4 роки тому +6

      Frome also has a road called 'The Butts', when I was at school in Frome nearly sixty years ago we were told that the name referred to targets set up for archery practice. Another name that always raises a smile is the sign to 'Friggle Street' on the A362 going towards Warminster, it always makes me think of the activity that took place amongst the rigging on the 'Good Ship Venus'..........

    • @pabmusic1
      @pabmusic1 4 роки тому +5

      Bottom or Botham is Anglo-Saxon, meaning "valley" (the low place between two higher places). Butt or Butts is from hillock, treetrunk, cask, archery ground.

  • @JDBooker
    @JDBooker 4 роки тому +55

    the list totally missed out 'Cockermouth', 'Muff', 'Lickham Bottom' and 'Tickle Cock Bridge', to name but a few.

    • @brianwhittington5086
      @brianwhittington5086 4 роки тому +1

      There is a Tickle Cock Fair on for one day at Easter in Conisbrough South Yorkshire. Origins of the name are lost in history. It's now got modern fairground rides but has been going a long time. A well known chat up line by girls to get a date to take them was "I'll tickle your **** at the fair"

    • @frogandspanner
      @frogandspanner 4 роки тому +2

      From the innocent mouth of Humph on Clue: "Samantha is off on a tour of the Lake District with a naturist gentleman friend who wants to strip off at Keswick and Cockermouth."

    • @Edlar89
      @Edlar89 4 роки тому +2

      I went camping once in a place called Sandy Balls

    • @CrazyInWeston
      @CrazyInWeston 4 роки тому +1

      Mossy Bottom is a place up in Cumbria.

    • @alexhando8541
      @alexhando8541 4 роки тому

      @@CrazyInWeston I swear that's the farm in Shaun the Sheep!

  • @meganwagstaff4275
    @meganwagstaff4275 4 роки тому +95

    Oh also im so surprised cockermouth wasnt on there 😂😂

    • @WanderingRavens
      @WanderingRavens  4 роки тому +18

      I guess we'll be needing a part two? 😂😂

    • @jessfreer
      @jessfreer 4 роки тому +3

      It's at the mouth of the river cocker I believe.

    • @danhewett6086
      @danhewett6086 4 роки тому +9

      Will never forget the BBC journalist who tried so hard not to smile 😂

    • @aidanm5849
      @aidanm5849 4 роки тому +2

      @@WanderingRavens if you're doing a cities part 2 you should do carlisle, and as it happens I've lived in both carlisle and cockermouth

    • @alexhando8541
      @alexhando8541 4 роки тому

      @@jessfreer actually it's at the confluence of the river with the River Derwent, but let's not be too pedantic. Monmouth shares the same problem as it's actually at the confluence of the River Monnow with the River Wye.

  • @ericcox8252
    @ericcox8252 4 роки тому +47

    A Butt or sometimes standing butt refers to a place where archery was practised usually in medieval times

    • @ryledra6372
      @ryledra6372 4 роки тому +1

      It's still used in target shooting (or at least it was when I was in cadets)

    • @geoffpriestley7001
      @geoffpriestley7001 4 роки тому +2

      They have shotting butts in the dales

    • @yorkshirecoastadventures1657
      @yorkshirecoastadventures1657 3 роки тому

      That explains a road in Scalby called Tibby Butts. I thought it was a reference to sausage rolls.

    • @virtualatheist
      @virtualatheist 3 роки тому

      @@ryledra6372 Yep. Still used in the army too. A Range day means spending some of your time in the butt.

    • @jerrygamblemusic
      @jerrygamblemusic 3 роки тому

      A Butt is a barrel which could be used for liquids or fruit.

  • @djalice
    @djalice 4 роки тому +30

    Naughty Word Warning!: The most eye opening English street name I ever heard was Gropecunt Lane. The name died out in the 16c but many cities had one or more streets of this name. As you can imagine it was used to indicate a place where you could enjoy the company of friendly ladies to visiting merchants etc. without the embarrassment of having to ask a local. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gropecunt_Lane

    • @camerachica73
      @camerachica73 4 роки тому +3

      Magpie Lane in Oxford was originally called Gropecunt Lane - I always thought the names were changed in the Victorian age of prudishness, but I guess it was a long time before?

    • @djalice
      @djalice 4 роки тому

      @@camerachica73 That's very interesting. I'll check it out the next time I'm there. From what I read it seems that people weren't as prudish in the past as we think. In fact it seems we are getting more conservative as time goes by. Mozart wrote some very shocking things in his letter's to his Mother and the Greek play 'Medea' from 431BC is one of the most shocking things I've ever seen. I think the Victorian's were a very liberal bunch but maybe we get the prudish impression from the queen who seemed very dull for the times.

    • @Polyglot85to90
      @Polyglot85to90 4 роки тому

      I read that one Gropecunt Street in London was changed to Grape Street. Also, Codpiece Alley was changed to Coppice Alley

    • @tireeandcoll2603
      @tireeandcoll2603 4 роки тому +1

      Gropecunt Lane in Banbury was changed to Parsons Street

    • @djalice
      @djalice 4 роки тому

      Suzie Dent gives a short history of The English language's Premier word ua-cam.com/video/3GAbStTKFIw/v-deo.html

  • @adamfisher8048
    @adamfisher8048 4 роки тому +27

    While in the UK we use metric measures for most things, we still use miles when referring to distance travelled or how far to somewhere.

    • @jerrygamblemusic
      @jerrygamblemusic 3 роки тому +1

      In the UK we also use Farenheit when it gets hot, but Metric when it gets cold.
      (eg It's 90 in the shade / It's minus 3 out there).

    • @bubblestarburst4595
      @bubblestarburst4595 Рік тому +1

      @@jerrygamblemusicmost of the uk doesn’t use Fahrenheit so idk what ur on about lol

    • @BasicModelling
      @BasicModelling 5 місяців тому

      @@jerrygamblemusic Metric? You mean Celsius??

    • @jerrygamblemusic
      @jerrygamblemusic 5 місяців тому

      @@BasicModelling Celsius or Centigrade, whatever you want to call it.

  • @fernweh9316
    @fernweh9316 4 роки тому +30

    I'm still surprised you guys haven't come across the Welsh place name "Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch" yet, I would definitely like to see you pronounce it lmao

    • @mathiasosiriswoodhal
      @mathiasosiriswoodhal 3 роки тому

      Yeah I was thinking that but new to them so still going through videos love to see them try pronounce it lol still hoping to see it lol

  • @debbiepoole2247
    @debbiepoole2247 4 роки тому +22

    Shitterton is a hamlet in Dorset, England. It has attracted worldwide attention for its name, which dates back at least a thousand years and means "farmstead on the stream used as an open sewer"

    • @MrGlewYouTubeChangedMyHandle
      @MrGlewYouTubeChangedMyHandle 4 роки тому +1

      I've heard it's twinned with Showerton and Shavington.

    • @robertengland8285
      @robertengland8285 4 роки тому +2

      @daro2096 no the previous answer is correct. The steam it sits on was polluted upstream.

    • @alexhando8541
      @alexhando8541 4 роки тому +2

      @@robertengland8285 It must be one of the few appropriately-named~inappropriately-named villages in the whole of Britain! Quite literally being the village on the Shitter.

    • @BassandoForte
      @BassandoForte 3 роки тому

      Where you buy shit buy the ton...?? 🤣
      Obviously a place surrounded by fertiliser manufacturers..?? 😜

  • @andrewbutler7681
    @andrewbutler7681 4 роки тому +98

    Just to say: before it got used in slang, "slag" was a waste product of metal smelting, so I expect the place-names refer to former metal-refining industries. Oh, and "bottom" just used to mean a valley...

    • @WanderingRavens
      @WanderingRavens  4 роки тому +6

      Good to know! Thank you!

    • @paulqueripel3493
      @paulqueripel3493 4 роки тому +4

      Two valleys that I know of with "bottom" in the name, Loose Bottom and Big Bottom.

    • @annalieff-saxby568
      @annalieff-saxby568 4 роки тому

      "Bottom" also used to mean "having substance" - the metaphor is drawn from ships. Dr Johnson once referred to a woman as having "a bottom of good sense". When his interlocutor laughed, he drew himself up and replied "I say, Sir, that the woman was Fundamentally Sensible!" (See Boswell's Life of Johnson). You're welcome.

    • @derektighe5131
      @derektighe5131 4 роки тому +5

      Iron was smelted in Sussex in small quantities pre industrial revolution. Slag lane is most likely referring to iron making.
      Slag, slut and slatten are old English words for an untidy woman or one with a dirty house. By old English I mean 15 century.
      Many of the words you are looking at are from very old areas. Over 1000 years. Some are viking. You can’t look at current meanings.
      East gate doesn’t mean gate. It from the Viking Garten meaning road. Aldgate is old road.

    • @MrJonno85
      @MrJonno85 4 роки тому +6

      I once worked with an Indian woman who was most amused by the word "bottom" added to the end of surnames.
      She thought this must have been the result of a medieval punishment, whereby wrongdoers and their descendants had to walk the earth with the shame of a silly surname.

  • @stevedrake1965
    @stevedrake1965 4 роки тому +16

    Slag Lane is probably named after a place where slag was tipped from an Iron foundry

  • @dayzfallingdownx190
    @dayzfallingdownx190 4 роки тому +24

    In England we have the equivalent phrase "arse end of nowhere".

    • @robertlawes522
      @robertlawes522 4 роки тому

      in wales the place would be called fawddffukawe [pronounced where th(e) fuc(k) are we]

    • @redceltnet
      @redceltnet 3 роки тому

      *Britain

    • @dayzfallingdownx190
      @dayzfallingdownx190 3 роки тому

      @@redceltnet I identify as British, but am mostly English with a little Irish. I didn't want to speak for (& possibly offend) everyone.

  • @koalabear2752
    @koalabear2752 4 роки тому +17

    “Twatt” is a place in the Orkney islands.
    Also I live on one of those roads and the picture in the article is from my uncle who put it online 😂

    • @bbj0097
      @bbj0097 4 роки тому +2

      There is also a place called Twatt on the Shetland Islands - the name is derived from Old Norse meaning a small parcel of land.

    • @Theringodair
      @Theringodair 3 роки тому

      "Where are you from?"
      "Twatt."
      "Excuse me?'
      "Twatt is where I'm from."

  • @joethomas5216
    @joethomas5216 4 роки тому +38

    "I think I've heard of bellend," looks at Eric...

    • @WanderingRavens
      @WanderingRavens  4 роки тому +10

      😂😂😂

    • @brianwhittington5086
      @brianwhittington5086 4 роки тому

      Use the term with some caution Eric, among mates in jest it's a popular insult to trade each other, but to strangers it's provocative. In some parts of the UK, you may hear a stronger insul, that is to replace Bell with Jeb, or use it on it's own. Be prepared to make a speedy exit, if you call someone that, you're comparing them to the same specific part of a stray dog and all it does😝😝

    • @brianwhittington5086
      @brianwhittington5086 4 роки тому +3

      Wetwang in Yorkshire, associated with the late Richard Whiteley, of Countdown quiz show fame. It always raise questions leading to if it was near Leaky Bottom as Wangers is a slang term for underwear/ undercrackers in some parts of the country.

    • @kjo78
      @kjo78 4 роки тому +1

      Bell end is literally a street away from my house!!😂

    • @brianwhittington5086
      @brianwhittington5086 4 роки тому +1

      @@kjo78 Keep it at that, remember social distancing Kurt lol

  • @RACHELTAYLOR7
    @RACHELTAYLOR7 4 роки тому +6

    There was a stream in Shitterton that was used as an open sewer.Its apparently a really pretty wee town with thatched cottages.The name goes back a thousand years to Anglo Saxon times.There is also a Scratchy Bottom and River Piddle in Dorset.Brokenwind in Aberdeenshire deserves a mention too..

  • @helenwood8482
    @helenwood8482 4 роки тому +15

    The 1 will be 1 mile. We do not use kilometres much.

  • @gracieuniverse
    @gracieuniverse 4 роки тому +11

    When someone calls you a prat it means you a bit of an idiot, it’s not super rude and is often used jokingly. Like “Alex fell in the pool, he’s such a prat”

    • @WanderingRavens
      @WanderingRavens  4 роки тому +3

      Good to know! 😂

    • @benkernow280
      @benkernow280 4 роки тому +1

      Or prat fall as used in comedy

    • @0utcastAussie
      @0utcastAussie 4 роки тому +1

      @@benkernow280
      I used to live next door but one to a Philip Pratt. I thought my Surname was bad (Hovell - Clue... There are TWO "L's" and we apparently originate from the French village of Hauteville)..
      And... At least my great great... great...Was a famous explorer -Captain Hovell - ( Hovell-Hume) lol

    • @speleokeir
      @speleokeir 4 роки тому +2

      It's because prat is an old word for your bum. e.g a prat fall is when you fall on your backside. If you call someone a prat it's another way of saying they're an arse.

    • @grahvis
      @grahvis 4 роки тому

      Back in the 60s I worked for a wine merchants. We had two customers who lived next door to each other, a Miss Pratt and a Miss Pryke.
      We often referred to the latter as Miss Prick, the van driver was always nervous in case he slipped up when talking to her.

  • @Sylancewillfall
    @Sylancewillfall 4 роки тому +7

    I love you guys! Absolutely love everything you post and its great to see how you see the UK with the good and the odd! Also as i drive to work every day, i drive past the sign for "fanny hands lane". I spoke to someone who lives there and they have the number for the exact council department because the sign gets stolen atleast once a month!

  • @tinysrh6812
    @tinysrh6812 4 роки тому +8

    I live close to B*tchfield!
    Also used to live in Oxford where there there are many funny street names- my personal favourite being Crotch Crescent.

    • @begin6215
      @begin6215 3 роки тому +1

      I cycled through it today 😂

  • @justcode2822
    @justcode2822 4 роки тому +3

    Slag is the glass-like by-product left over after a desired metal has been separated (i.e., smelted) from its raw ore.

  • @Mark_Bickerton
    @Mark_Bickerton 4 роки тому +6

    Hole and Bottom were often used to describe geographical features, like the opposite of a hill, an undulation or dip in the ground. So if someone called Pratt, owned a large piece of land, one area might be called Pratts top, ( the highest point of his land) and Pratts bottom ( the lowest point of his land) then one or other might be discontinued, thus clouding the origin of the name for latter generations.

    • @WanderingRavens
      @WanderingRavens  4 роки тому

      Thank you for letting us know! We love learning the history behind stuff like this

    • @weejackrussell
      @weejackrussell 8 місяців тому

      We also have surnames like Winterbottom, Sidebottom, Bottom, Bottoms the list is endless .

  • @lisastygall9062
    @lisastygall9062 4 роки тому +6

    Also, near the town of sandwich in kent there is a hamlet called ham. The local roadsign pointing the way to ham sandwich has "gone missing" several times.

    • @georgemacpherson1992
      @georgemacpherson1992 4 роки тому +1

      Lisa Stygall Not that log away from Sandwich there is a place called Deal.

    • @andrewbutler7681
      @andrewbutler7681 4 роки тому +1

      @@georgemacpherson1992 I always used to like it when the station announcers seemed to be offering me a "warmer dill sandwich" when naming three consecutive stations! (Different spellings for the first two, of course.)

  • @grizzlybear3809
    @grizzlybear3809 4 роки тому +3

    Fanny is used as a name in the UK, but it is mostly the elderly with the name. Also the phrase "Sweet F.A." actually refers to "Sweet Fanny Adams". Look her up.

  • @jenniedarling3710
    @jenniedarling3710 4 роки тому +5

    The name Fanny used to be popular way back in Jane Austin's Manfield Park there's a character with this name. No ones called that now.

  • @hayley591
    @hayley591 4 роки тому +5

    'SOD' is also an affectionate nickname for example if I decided to play a prank on my mum or someone older than me they would say 'You little sod'

  • @hughmackey7369
    @hughmackey7369 4 роки тому +37

    Butts are watering places for horses (butts are water troughs) so butt hole road is watering hole road👍

    • @WanderingRavens
      @WanderingRavens  4 роки тому +4

      Ah, interesting! Thanks for the extra context :D

    • @speleokeir
      @speleokeir 4 роки тому +6

      Actually "The Butts" more usually refers to archery butts in Britain. It used to be compulsory for all English Yeomen to practice archery in medieval times.
      en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archery_butts

    • @myvids1415
      @myvids1415 4 роки тому +7

      In 1363 a law was passed that made every Englishman practice archery on a Sunday. The practice range was known as "the Butts" and every town had one and the road that led to them would have had that name. www.lordsandladies.org/the-butts.htm

    • @emmapark8530
      @emmapark8530 4 роки тому +1

      Or a butt was used as a target for archery

    • @hughmackey7369
      @hughmackey7369 4 роки тому +2

      emma park, yes a mound of earth behind the target. Also a butt is a rain water container found in old towns for watering live stock 👍

  • @leedshunk
    @leedshunk 4 роки тому +5

    It's true that a lot of those were road names rather than place names , but just spend half an hour scanning a map of England and you'll discover dozens of crazy , funny and baffling names - along with many pretty ones too 😎👍🏻

  • @mikeswift6713
    @mikeswift6713 4 роки тому +2

    Interesting mention of Upperthong in your video.
    I worked in Holmfirth for 30 years, it is in the Holme Valley, the valley of the river Holme, near Huddersfield, Yorkshire.
    There is also a Netherthong and Thongsbridge within a few miles.
    Wikipeadia.
    The name Upperthong may derive from Old English 'uferra' (upper) + 'thwang' (narrow strip [of land]); since there is also a Netherthong, which is situated on lower ground than Upperthong, the names could designate lower and higher strips of land.
    End
    Thongsbridge may be a strip of land by the bridge, there is a bridge over the River Holme to this day.
    This could also explain the Thong as an item, just, of clothing.
    Michael Swift, Kirkheaton, pronounced Yetton by locals, Yorkshire.

  • @sb1056sb
    @sb1056sb 4 роки тому +17

    Crackpot is 1 mile away not 1km.

  • @notnotjase7909
    @notnotjase7909 4 роки тому +7

    For your next pronounciation video;
    Altrincham
    Levenshulme (which has a street called 'The Street With No Name)
    Hawarden
    Besses o' th' Barn
    Caergwrle

  • @buzzardbrother1911
    @buzzardbrother1911 4 роки тому +2

    Thanks for the video, to make up for the two lost ones. In County Durham there is a village called 'No Place', there is also a village called 'Pity Me'. In the city of York there is a place called Lund's Court but it was formerly known as 'Mad Alice Lane', also there is a part of the city called 'Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma Gate. Stay Safe.

  • @robertgrason393
    @robertgrason393 3 роки тому +3

    at univesity i came across a place called upper ramsbottom, made me smile but i was young

  • @svhr1959
    @svhr1959 4 роки тому +1

    As for Slag lane; slag as a derogatory name is relatively recent (50 years or so), so I would suppose the original/correct meaning of slag would apply. Slag > mining waste or the crud on the top of molten iron in a foundry.

  • @alexdawson5293
    @alexdawson5293 4 роки тому +3

    The next village over from me is the village of Gotham.
    Whilst its pronounced "Goatham" it apparently did inspire the creator of Batman. It also one had a reputation for being full of crazy people and so the creator of Batman based some of Arkham Asylum on the stories from Gotham.
    Also, theres a muff lane in northern island with a diving school on it

  • @adrianpetyt9167
    @adrianpetyt9167 4 роки тому +2

    Enid Blyton's Far Away Tree stories originally starred children called Duck and Fanny. Oddly, the later editions call them Ricky and Fran.

  • @hayley591
    @hayley591 4 роки тому +7

    Butt hole road is in Conisbrough where I live, it's a street name and has already been renamed! Also about Conisbrough we have a famous castle :D

    • @brianwhittington5086
      @brianwhittington5086 4 роки тому

      I remember years ago it was a popular photo stop for tourist coaches, the sign has been stolen in the past too. In the 1980s/90s I worked for the vehicle rental company at their repair workshop on the crossroads. I passed BHR every day testing repaired vehicles and often saw dozens taking photos. The name is a reference to where medieval villagers and soldiers at the castle were required to practice archery, butts being the targets and earth mound enclosure they were placed in.

  • @TomJohnson67
    @TomJohnson67 4 роки тому +7

    I live near Shitterton.
    Yes, it's pronounced exactly as you'd think.

    • @christopherdrake54
      @christopherdrake54 4 роки тому +1

      I believe shit originally meant filthy or clarted up. I think Chaucer describes a 'shitten shepherd' meaning he was grimy and unwashed etc.

    • @diogenesegarden5152
      @diogenesegarden5152 4 роки тому +1

      The history behind the profanity ‘shit’ apparently comes from a naval term derived from when galleys on ships used peat as a fuel to heat food in the galley. It was stored dry in bales and marked ‘Store High In Transit’ or SHIT; as if it got wet, it turned to sh..!

    • @diogenesegarden5152
      @diogenesegarden5152 4 роки тому

      Ps I’m not too far from Shitterton myself (Weymouth)

    • @TomJohnson67
      @TomJohnson67 4 роки тому +1

      @@diogenesegarden5152 I was just in Weymouth earlier today. It's a small world!

    • @adventussaxonum448
      @adventussaxonum448 3 роки тому

      @@christopherdrake54
      Shit comes from the Old English for shit ... more specifically, the runs.

  • @sophiedrawwater4647
    @sophiedrawwater4647 4 роки тому +1

    A interesting bit of information is that Nottingham used to be called "Snottingham" pre the Norman invasion in 1166 - home of "Snotts" but the french (Normans) struggled with the S sound so it was dropped for Nottingham!

  • @littleannie390
    @littleannie390 4 роки тому +8

    Slag is also a name for a waste heap from an industrial site or coal mine.

  • @frankbrodie5168
    @frankbrodie5168 4 роки тому

    There's a lovely little hamlet called 'Maggieknockater' in the highlands of Scotland. And up in the same area, whilst not a rude name or anything, is a gorgeous village almost on top of a mountain. Which consists basically of one street and is called 'Dallas.'

  • @jamesc4999
    @jamesc4999 4 роки тому +7

    There is a map with most of the names and locations on.
    Edit it’s called Marvellous map of great British place names

  • @alessia0064
    @alessia0064 4 роки тому

    Crackpot is a village in Swaledale, North Yorkshire, England.
    Its name derives from the Old English kraka (a crow) and the Viking word pot (usually a cavity or deep hole often in the bed of a river, but in Crackpot's case it refers to a rift in the limestone).

  • @MathewODonoghue
    @MathewODonoghue 4 роки тому +17

    Near me there is a village called Christmas Pie, it's near Guildford

    • @WanderingRavens
      @WanderingRavens  4 роки тому

      Sounds like a cheery place :D

    • @AndrewJLeslie
      @AndrewJLeslie 4 роки тому

      My Dad was born there in 1918.

    • @MathewODonoghue
      @MathewODonoghue 4 роки тому

      @john smith it's part of the parish of Normandy. It's in guildford borough council but is represented in parliament under woking

    • @bn56would
      @bn56would 4 роки тому

      @@AndrewJLeslie Your dad was born in 1918? You must be really old...

    • @AndrewJLeslie
      @AndrewJLeslie 4 роки тому +1

      @@bn56would if 64 is really old, then yes.

  • @philipmason9537
    @philipmason9537 4 роки тому +10

    Other “interesting” town names are: Cockermouth, Willey, Sandyballs, Cocking, Lickfold, Fingrinhoe, Feltwell, Rimswell. Wetwang.

    • @soggyoggy8208
      @soggyoggy8208 4 роки тому

      And those all from the Dave adverts

    • @madyottoyotto3055
      @madyottoyotto3055 4 роки тому

      I will add cruddington

    • @samsonhorner1487
      @samsonhorner1487 4 роки тому +2

      I'm surprised wetwang isn't on.

    • @ChrisPage68
      @ChrisPage68 4 роки тому

      Ugley and Nasty. Near each other on the Essex-Hertfordshire border.

  • @Peterd1900
    @Peterd1900 4 роки тому +4

    With the name Crackpot that translate as Crow-Hole comes from the Old english Kraka which mean crow and the Viking Pot which means cavity or deep hole.
    The disatance on the sign to crackpot doesn;t refer to Kilometers. The UK uses miles

    • @marktait2371
      @marktait2371 4 роки тому

      dear mate the view from crackpot hall ruins are considered one of the best views in swaledale or anywhere in the dales we intended to go up there but was closed to motors too steep and far to walk abandoned farmstead a must see for many keen rambers view out towards angram and kisdon if clear can see all the way to high birkdale

  • @TheMarrification
    @TheMarrification Рік тому

    Slag I think originally is the waste product from smelting metal out of ore, so back in old times loose women were sometimes referred to as an industrial waste product.

  • @sallycrane6317
    @sallycrane6317 4 роки тому +2

    Butt probably refers to an archery butt ( the target) and hole means hollow so Butts hole lane probably means a hollow in amongst the archery butts. Back in the day it was required that every man practised archery so they could defend against invaders. Where I live there is an area called St Mary's (church) Butts that was used for this purpose.

    • @brianwhittington5086
      @brianwhittington5086 4 роки тому

      Spot on Sally. That one is in Conisbrough near Doncaster, S Yorks and i passed it most days. Local paper ran a story about it that you can Google. Sign was stolen on occasions and it was a popular tourist photo spot before it got renamed. It is close to the castle made famous in Ivanhoe.

  • @jumpferjoy1st
    @jumpferjoy1st 4 роки тому +3

    "Dumb Woman Lane" is between Rye and Winchelsea in East Sussex. The late and great Spike Milligan lived along there. Spikes grave is in the Winchelsea Church grounds with "I told you I was ill!" in gallic on the stone. P.S. Both Rye and Winchelsea are must visit places for history and Rye especially for Cream Teas.

  • @lancejacksonclapham7934
    @lancejacksonclapham7934 4 роки тому

    Just so you guys know slag is a by-product in the process of smelting metal. Also on sighs the 1 after the name is the distance but we use miles instead of kilometers. Kilometers are only really used for outdoor maps. And with the crackpot I believe it's in yorkshire, a pot in the yorkshire Dale's is a vertical cave system for example Alum Pot.

  • @GhostAce901
    @GhostAce901 4 роки тому +6

    The town butt hole road is in, is conisbrough
    It means the hole in a butt/barrel from medieval times
    Check out info on conisbrough castle and earl de Warrene that resided there

  • @Rozco50
    @Rozco50 4 роки тому

    The Butts were usually located on the margins of villages or towns on common land. Definition: The word Butt is derived from the Anglo French word 'bouter' meaning to expel. Which sort of shows why butt became slang for backside.

  • @tonycasey3183
    @tonycasey3183 4 роки тому +3

    There's a great book by Caroline Taggart called The Book Of English Place Names: How Our Towns And Villages Got Their Names. It's very interesting and informative

  • @vjpearce
    @vjpearce 4 роки тому

    I used to live near Pratts bottom and Locks bottom. They're nearish to Bromley.
    And now around the corner from me, the road is called Heart In Hand Lane. It was knicked on Valentine's day this year ❤️

  • @mitochondriaph6936
    @mitochondriaph6936 4 роки тому +5

    In the uk many old signs are put on rocks do don't worry about laughing at somebody's gravestone

    • @04nbod
      @04nbod 4 роки тому +1

      Yeah its a medieval tradition of town markers. A giant old stone will do, this is where they town begins

  • @reithsymonds4517
    @reithsymonds4517 3 роки тому

    In Lincolnshire there are two villages called Mavis Enderby and Old Bollingbrook. Many years ago signposts in country areas where often handpainted by the local councils and the sign "To Mavis Enderby and Old Bollingbrook" had been amusingly vandalised bysomeone adding "A son"

  • @mike04535
    @mike04535 4 роки тому

    Titty Ho is the name of a street in the town of Raunds in Northamptonshire.. The metal nameplate was forever having to be replaced because passing motorists would steal them. So the local council had a carved stone replacement made and built into a wall.

  • @Moricant
    @Moricant 4 роки тому +2

    Moving away from the more biological names, there are two adjacent villages in the Cotswolds named Upper Slaughter and Lower Slaughter. And as interesting road names were included, York infamously has Whip Ma Whop Ma Gate, while Hull has the Land of Green Ginger.

    • @WanderingRavens
      @WanderingRavens  4 роки тому

      Oh my, dare I ask what the history of Upper and Lower Slaughter is? 😥

    • @Moricant
      @Moricant 4 роки тому

      Wandering Ravens It’s actually fairly boring IIRC - an archaic spelling of “slough” or something. It sounds marvellously dramatic to modern ears though.

  • @andrewcoates6641
    @andrewcoates6641 4 роки тому +2

    Not a town or village name but in York there is a place called Whip- Ma -Whop-Ma Gate which is the name for a road that pierces the old fortified city walls hence the many streets in the UK called NorthGATE, or NewGATE and other similar road names, even if the city walls have long gone.

  • @maryavatar
    @maryavatar 4 роки тому +8

    Search for ‘Irn Bru fanny ad’. Y’welcome :)

    • @WanderingRavens
      @WanderingRavens  4 роки тому

      That was great 😂 thanks for that.

    • @jillhobson6128
      @jillhobson6128 4 роки тому +2

      @@WanderingRavens Read Mansfield Park by Jane Austen.
      One of the best lines in literature "Where's my little Fanny?"

  • @slightlyconfused876
    @slightlyconfused876 4 роки тому +2

    There is a tiny hamlet called Piddle In The Hole, Many road named were named after the profession that was carried on there in the middle ages so numerous towns had a Gropecu** Lane until recently when they were renamed.

    • @simonsaunders8147
      @simonsaunders8147 4 роки тому

      It is mentioned in a quirky rhyme of local village names:
      Upton Snodsbury, Peopleton and Crowle
      North Piddle, Wyre Piddle, piddle in the hole
      Wyre Piddle has a real ale brewery which has made Piddle In The Hole, Piddle In The Wind, Piddle In The Dark and Piddle In The Snow - 'to piddle' is 'to pee'.

  • @virtualatheist
    @virtualatheist 3 роки тому

    Slag is the term used for excess material removed in a refining process of metals usually.
    Knob is an Olde English word for head.
    Butts are the target area of a shooting/archery range.

  • @jonathanconnor8190
    @jonathanconnor8190 4 роки тому +3

    I think Sodbury means Sod = grass and Bury = Hill. Sodbury means a hill with grass on it.

  • @timnewman7591
    @timnewman7591 4 роки тому

    I once had to show an American party around the town I live in and at one point commented, "We're going up The Butts". It's a good job none of them were driving. It's named after the place where medieval archery practice targets - Butts - were set up, but I don't think they knew that at the time.
    As for why the names haven't been changed, a lot of people are attached to the "traditional" name. Some have - there are no more Gropecunt Lanes around in the UK - but several towns and cities had an area with prostitution where that was used.

  • @jumpferjoy1st
    @jumpferjoy1st 4 роки тому +2

    Cockermouth, Balls Cross, Brokenwind, Fattiehead, Brown Willy, Nasty, Loose, Loose Bottom, Donkey Town, Horrid Hill, and Catbrain are just some of the great places to visit in the UK. :-)

  • @125pheonix
    @125pheonix 4 роки тому +3

    I live in a town call “Scunthorpe” take a look in the name for a certain 4 letter word

  • @helenwood8482
    @helenwood8482 4 роки тому +1

    Fanny used to be a popular diminutive of Frances. Now never used, because of the connotations.

  • @DoctorAkikoFukuwara
    @DoctorAkikoFukuwara 4 роки тому +4

    I am a PhD candidate and a 5th Dan martial artist and instructor and it seems I am so immature because this is some funny shit 😂😂😂

    • @WanderingRavens
      @WanderingRavens  4 роки тому +1

      Right? 😂 We don't normally get a laugh out of this sort of thing, but these names were hilarious 😂

    • @DoctorAkikoFukuwara
      @DoctorAkikoFukuwara 4 роки тому +1

      Forgive me guys if this is has been explained elsewhere in the comments.
      Streets like:
      "Slut's Hole Lane" are remainders from old Medieval street names and were red light areas in Medieval times.
      In fact there used to be several Gropecunt Lanes in the UK but all were renamed to spare peoples blushes.

  • @cctvmanbob
    @cctvmanbob 4 роки тому

    Shitterton is a hamlet in Dorset, England. It has attracted worldwide attention for its name, which dates back at least a thousand years and means "farmstead on the stream used as an open sewer".

  • @richt71
    @richt71 4 роки тому +5

    They missed one of my favourite towns I frequented a lot as a kid Cockermouth!

    • @WanderingRavens
      @WanderingRavens  4 роки тому

      Oh no! I guess we might have to do a part two haha 😂

    • @Lydia.Callaghan
      @Lydia.Callaghan 4 роки тому +1

      I’ve been to Cockermouth...they have a beer called Cockerhoop😂

    • @bn56would
      @bn56would 4 роки тому

      @@WanderingRavens Possibly the most famous one - Cockfosters. It's a suburb in North London and the terminal of the Piccadilly line :)
      Btw I believe it comes from: cock - cockerel (rooster), fosters - adopters so basically it used to be a farm where people adopted roosters.

    • @alangknowles
      @alangknowles 4 роки тому

      @@WanderingRavens and parts 3 & 4...

  • @mandyg6874
    @mandyg6874 3 роки тому

    A few of my favourites are ‘Tiddleywink’ in Wiltshire, ‘Labour in Vain Drove’ near Billinghay in Lincolnshire and ‘ Muckhart’ in Clackmannanshire. In Bedfordshire there’s a town called ‘Leighton Buzzard’ that the locals lovingly use slang for changing it to ‘Leighton be Bug**rd’. Or if they don’t want to swear just leave the slang as ‘Leighton Be’. My Great Grandmother was called Fanny, the name was very popular in the U.K. around 1900. The meaning of the word changed in the mid 20th Century.

  • @wulfherecyning1282
    @wulfherecyning1282 4 роки тому

    In England you can sometimes work out the original environment from 1000 or 600 years ago from the names. I saw on a map, "Rodeheth", next to "Thurlwood". That's a clearing, next to an entrance into woodland. Names stick, even after urbanisation

  • @joshdadswell1085
    @joshdadswell1085 4 роки тому +5

    10:40 I live in Sussex, South East England, near Upper Dicker, and sure enough there is also a Lower Dicker. The place name is derived from the Middle English word "dyker" which means "ten" as in a plot of land for which ten iron rods were paid in rent. Hope you find this helpful.

    • @EddersGTI
      @EddersGTI 4 роки тому +1

      I live down the road in Polegate, we call Upper and Lower Dicker, the Dickers.

    • @mmigesh4735
      @mmigesh4735 4 роки тому +1

      I had a foreign friend who used mock Italian pronunciation: Polly gahtay.

  • @DavidCulshawmer-r
    @DavidCulshawmer-r 4 роки тому

    Twatt is a very small village in the Orkney isles , we have a place on the bottom of Pendle hill here ( pendle witches) called "Buttock" , its just before you get to the little reservoir , ive been to "pleb" in the yorkshire dales too , we have a "slag lane " up here in wigan too , lots of wierd sounding places in the UK :D

  • @MikeRox83
    @MikeRox83 3 роки тому

    Shitterton is a hamlet in Dorset, England. It has attracted worldwide attention for its name, which dates back at least 1000 years and means "farmstead on the stream used as an open sewer". Shitterton has frequently been noted on lists of unusual place names. - So says the Wiki...

  • @Bungo_the_Gimp
    @Bungo_the_Gimp 4 роки тому +23

    The 1 on the "Crackpot" sign is for 1 mile not kilometre

    • @WanderingRavens
      @WanderingRavens  4 роки тому +7

      Oh!! Are UK signposts in miles?

    • @Bungo_the_Gimp
      @Bungo_the_Gimp 4 роки тому +5

      @@WanderingRavens yes all signposts in the UK are in miles. In mainland Europe all the signposts are in kilometres. This often gets confusing for tourists when travelling to either place.

    • @meganwagstaff4275
      @meganwagstaff4275 4 роки тому +4

      Yeah i noticed they seem to be wrong about our measuring system because in a pervious video they thought we measured our hights in CM and we dont. We use feet and inches.

    • @pjschmid2251
      @pjschmid2251 4 роки тому

      Megan Wagstaff the UK seems very conflicted about using the metric system.

    • @Westcountrynordic
      @Westcountrynordic 4 роки тому

      @@meganwagstaff4275 I use both cms and Metres and feet and inches but use Kgs for weight

  • @LionheartTM
    @LionheartTM 4 роки тому

    Slag is also the layer on the top of melted metal that gets scraped off before pouring. So actualy slag could refer to old blacksmiths or smelters

  • @JensterEx
    @JensterEx 4 роки тому

    Slag is the spoil from industry usually metal works. Slag is discarded in a slagheap. A slaggyford would be a dangerous crossing where the ground is infirm because the mud is thick but not solid as it is full of slag.

  • @RainbowSauceGames
    @RainbowSauceGames 4 роки тому

    Twatt is said exactly as you would think. It’s a place in Orkney off the north coast of Scotland and I’ve actually been there. My dad found it absolutely hilarious that it was called Twatt. I was too young at the time to understand the joke! From what I remember it was a very nice place though!
    I think that there is also a Twatt in Shetland, which is even further north than Orkney. But I haven’t been to that one!

  • @Jneedstostopobssessing
    @Jneedstostopobssessing 4 роки тому +4

    My grandmother was called Fanny - wasn't short for anything. It had definitely gone out of fashion in the UK.
    To bonk is to have sex, BTW.

    • @frankbrodie5168
      @frankbrodie5168 4 роки тому

      Fanny tended to typically be the shortform of Frances. Or very occasionally Stephanie. In fact, the Japanese name translation website translates Stephanie to 'Sutefanii.

    • @Jneedstostopobssessing
      @Jneedstostopobssessing 4 роки тому

      @@frankbrodie5168 the Japanese translation is more to do with how the Japanese language works. But yes, it was usually an abbreviation. Just not with my grandmother - Fanny is on her British birth certificate

  • @deanstuart8012
    @deanstuart8012 4 роки тому

    Shitterton, pronounced the way that you said it, is correct and is a village in rural Dorset. The reason for the stone road sign is that people kept stealing the metal ones. There are also a lot of villages in Dorset that contain the word Piddle, which means to urinate.
    There are two villages in Scotland called Twatt, one in Orkney and one in Shetland.
    There is also a village in Country Durham in north east England called No Place. A few years ago there was a newspaper headline: "Double Murder in No Place".
    And as for offensive street names, Fleet Street in London was originally called Grope C*nt Lane due to the large number of prostitutes in the area.

  • @lucyjones4112
    @lucyjones4112 4 роки тому

    Etymology comment (that I should have written while watching because I’ve forgotten most of it)
    Butts: probably either barrels for collecting rainwater, or the stumps you lean your archery target on; Slag: most likely refers to the waste product of iron refining; Hole: this is more of a guess but there’s a place near me called the Hole of Horcum and it’s basically the pit formed by a giant glacial whirlpool

  • @Crooksie135
    @Crooksie135 4 роки тому +6

    There's a street in Norwich, called Hooker Road. :)
    And am I the only one distracted by the white fluff on Eric's hair?

  • @antonycharnock2993
    @antonycharnock2993 4 роки тому

    Butt Hole Road was near me in a town called Conisbrough which has a Norman castle made famous in Ivanhoe. A butt was where archers practiced their skills. Residents got so sick of people stealing the road sign it was renamed to Archers Way en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butt_Hole_Road

  • @MikeRees
    @MikeRees 4 роки тому +2

    All these place names are wonderful, and you're probably spot on with all the etymology you've guessed (though in my mind Crackpot was somewhere where a vagrant dropped a pot and couldn't be bothered to gather up its contents, equally fanciful ^^'). Personally I'm looking forward to the day we strike up a deal with the Dutch and reclaim Doggerland

  • @grahvis
    @grahvis 4 роки тому

    Fannys in UK literature,
    Fanny Price, the heroine of Jane Austin's novel Mansfield Park.
    Fanny Hill or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, banned in the US until 1966.
    Sodbury comes from Anglo Saxon for Soppa's Fort, probably referring to an Iron age hill fort close to the village, the 'bury' is a corrupted word for fort.
    Some place names could go back over 1,500 years and have gradually changed over the years.

  • @animationcreations42
    @animationcreations42 4 роки тому +2

    There's a village just down the road from me called North Bitchburn, we also have Cockfield (which is where the bus to mine terminates, so I've lost count of the amount of times I've been asked by old ladies if I'm "getting the Cockfield" 😂), and Staindrop
    Also, the street next to my old house used to be called Fannybush lane but for obvious reasons the council changed it in the 90s

    • @antonycharnock2993
      @antonycharnock2993 4 роки тому

      Oooh. Young man. ua-cam.com/video/C2hgAsi8Ae4/v-deo.html

  • @zerowhite2286
    @zerowhite2286 3 роки тому

    How did Kidnappers Lane in Cheltenham get its name? Pink Green Lane in Redditch always gets me. There’s Peter’s Finger Lane in Bromsgrove and a couple of villages that aren’t content with body parts but masquerade as whole people: Martin Hussingtree and Catherine De Barnes.

  • @geoffbeattie3160
    @geoffbeattie3160 4 роки тому

    Slag probably refers to spoil discarded during mining things like coal tin etc and also the impurities in metal smelting that is also discarded!

  • @nevillemason6791
    @nevillemason6791 4 роки тому

    Ramsbottom might seem a strange name for a town until you know the explanation. The town lies at the bottom of the valley and a long time ago wild garlic grew there. The old English name for wild garlic is 'ransom'. Originally the place was referred to as 'ransom bottom' and then this just got shortened to 'Ramsbottom'.

  • @gmf121266
    @gmf121266 3 роки тому

    So Fanny used to be a name here basically a shortening of Frances but as it became used more as a slang term for "a ladies private garden" it unsurpringly went out of use as a name. There is an old film called Fanny by Gaslight from a time when it was just a name. It doesn't get shown much any more.....the film I mean...lol

  • @davidjones332
    @davidjones332 3 роки тому

    Here a some more to conjure with: Spital in the Street, Nether Wallop, and Dog Pits Lane. Keep up the good work!

  • @scottmcmurray3233
    @scottmcmurray3233 4 роки тому +2

    One of the main tourist streets in Edinburgh is Cockburn Street. Pronounced as Coburn Street.

  • @ChocolatierRob
    @ChocolatierRob 4 роки тому

    When there is a double consonant after a vowel in the middle of a word then that vowel uses the short pronunciation. If it has a single consonant then another vowel the first vowel uses the long pronunciation. The word Baggage uses both - the 'Bagg' has a short vowel (because of the double G) and the 'age' has a long vowel (because of the single G with another vowel after it). The place 'Shitterton' can't be pronounced 'shite' because of the double T. Though there are of course exceptions to these rules I don't think it is ever with the double consonant part, so if you see a double consonant after a vowel then that vowel will always use the short pronunciation.

  • @kevinrh15000
    @kevinrh15000 4 роки тому

    There is a road in the city of Bristol in the west of England called "There and Back Again Lane". It is a small cul-de-sac, (dead end), which is only about 50 yards long.

  • @JohnSmith77777
    @JohnSmith77777 4 роки тому

    Just for info: Penistone in Yorkshire is pronounced (phonetically) pen-is-ston. It is sort of in the middle of 3 large population centres Huddersfield, Sheffield and Barnsley. Penistone itself is a reasonable sized town.

  • @dayzfallingdownx190
    @dayzfallingdownx190 3 роки тому

    Probably been said already, but "The Fighting Cocks" is a very common pub name in Britain. So same deal, it's also *supposed to be* about chickens.

  • @allenjenkins7947
    @allenjenkins7947 4 роки тому

    I had a grandmother and a great aunt called Frances, who were both known as Fanny, or just Fan (not to us kids of course).
    Bell End = knob = policeman's helmet. A knob is just a hill or outcrop which stands out from its surrounds.
    Slag is either the dross from metal smelting or overburden from a (coal) mine. All coal mining areas (or former mining areas these days) have slag heaps, aka Welsh pyramids.

  • @redman6T8
    @redman6T8 4 роки тому

    There’s a lane in Lancashire between Garstang and Pilling called ‘Kilcrash Lane’ and a place near Radcliffe in greater Manchester called ‘Nob End’. ‘Slag’ was waste from coal mines as well as metal foundries. Finally, a Close is a dead end road but the ‘s’ is not pronounced as a ‘z’ more like if you were ‘close’ to something.

  • @talyjames2629
    @talyjames2629 3 роки тому +1

    There is a place called 'No Place' in County Durham

  • @paulmarchlewski6354
    @paulmarchlewski6354 3 роки тому

    In the 60s there was a famous female TV chef called Fanny (Craddock) and her aide/husband Johnny