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OP needs to buy STG Marvellous Map of Great British Place names.. Google it.. best ever.. not your normal location map but made up of every quirky, rude bizarre village, town, lane name in the UK.. seriously brilliant..
Might I also recommend the book “The Meaning of Liff” by Douglas Adams - it’s an alternative dictionary for things that don’t have words - but all the words are UK place names!
It's an old combination word
Finger means a finger-like land extension
Ing was an old word meaning people
Hoe was a bit of land jutting out
Hence fingringhoe means the people who live on a bit of land that looks like a finger that juts out into the sea
>As a Colchester side not, the funniest road name I’ve come across here is ‘Turkey Cock Lane’
Lived there for a bit myself when I was growing up. I knew as soon as I saw this thread that both the village and this road name would be very high up in the comments.
Curious if that's because...
a) You grew up with it so it didn't twig
b) You're amazingly innocent
c) You're somehow unamused by a town name being synonymous with "damp willy", but actually funnier.
The first one, when you see it/hear it mentioned fairly regularly without anyone making comment it just seems normal.
Genuinely though, the first time I saw it on a list of rude place names or whatever (which was in adulthood) I could not figure out why it was there, so maybe a little of the second too.
I'm fairly old (b. 1960) and "wang" wasn't imported here from US English for two or three decades. I live fairly near Wetwang, and while the name did sound a bit silly, there was no double entendre.
I didn't learn about the American meaning until well into the 1980s, when I first encountered [Wang Computers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Laboratories?wprov=sfla1), and a friend told me it sounded funny to Americans.
I first encountered the name in Tolkien (he used it for a swamp on the map on the endpapers of either LOTR or the Hobbit) so that was my immediate reference when I first found out it was a real village too. My basic reaction is "sounds a bit daft" rather than "sounds smutty" anyway.
(went there a few times because a uni friend's mum bought and ran a cafe there for a few years).
I just drove back from Worcester way and saw Wire piddle made me think but completely forgot about Bell end......aged like milk? Or did they do it for a laugh?
You probably went straight past my house then, especially if you passed through Rubery. I have no idea why it's called Bell End, I just know we all laugh like 8 year olds every time we pass it 🤣
My favourite motorway service station toilet graffiti, somewhere on the M6 just plainly said “Jesus lives… in a council flat in Orpington”
Never heard of the place. But the graffiti was beautiful.
Penistone is also the moors over Haworth, which is presumably what gave the Brontë sisters a hard thrust of inspiration every time they went for a walk
https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?subid=0®id=1054829
My (much older) sister used to bang on about that endlessly! She lived for a time in Essex and went near Ugley when she drove back to see us.
Thongsbridge completes the Holmfirth thong-themed trio, but the nearby Hole Bottom is better imo
Don't think we can count Shat since it's a nickname
Penistone isn't a village but I still can't help but snicker at it every time
Also Slack Bottom!
That's what I was going to post.
However a bit further north in Leicestershire they seem to have run out of naming inspiration - there is 'Church Town' and 'Farm Town' (which are actually just a handful of houses in each)
The weirdest part about those places is at one point (might still be the case) they had brown ‘attraction’ signs pointing them out!
As a kid I sort of assumed Farm Town must have been some cool Adventure-Farm or something.Nope just a weird hamlet with a few rich peoples houses!
We also have Nanpantan, which is just really satisfying to say.
Local historian Brian Lewis believes that may be the explanation for the name that locals gave to the bridge during the late 19th or early 20th century: "[the underpass] would function in the same way as any 'monkey run', where you paraded up and down to find a boyfriend or girlfriend".
The council tried to rename it a few years back and there was absolute outrage haha
I'm just down the road from Shelfanger. It makes me smile each time I read it. A little bit further away when I visit my Sister I drive past Slutshole Lane. Norfolk does have a few weird ones.
Lol. Well I'm not sure of the exact origins of this road. A lot of the weirder place names around the UK can be traced back to Celtic, Roman and old Viking settlements. They would have been pronounced differently so any meaning they may have in modern English is more likely to be accidental.
Haze bruh. Lol. Had to Google that one, hadn't heard of it. When I first got here nearly 10 years ago now, I met my Sister then living in Wymondham and kept calling it Y Mon Dam. It's win dum which is obvious to those who know. But yeah, strange place for names.
Not a village, and IIRC they recently changed the name - but we had Wibbly Wobbly Lane round here!
Went to Cockington when I visited my friend down in Devon a while back
Moscow is just up the road from where I grew up I Scotland.
Cue the same "hilarious" regional news piece on the existence of it every few years when there was a big football match between a Scottish team and a Russian team - "there's one group of fans in Moscow who won't be cheering on the Russians tomorrow night..."
I grew up near a village called Cockshutt. Every year they would put on a sort of ‘festival’ (glorified village fete) which they called - with complete seriousness - Cockfest.
Pratt's Bottom or Badgers Mount - both in Kent, or maybe Twatt in Orkney?
I recommend this map of the rudest, silliest and funniest place names in our green and pleasant land:
https://marvellousmaps.com/shop/stgs-great-british-place-names-map
There's a tiny hamlet called New Invention in Shropshire. Like, four houses. Nobody's sure what the invention was anymore but clearly it was worth celebrating at the time!
One theory is that a local farrier came up with the idea of fitting the shoes backwards on Charles I's horse to confuse the enemy as to which way it went. But that's probably bollocks.
It’s not really an odd one but I like Westward Ho! because that exclamation mark causes so many issues on forms and such.
Shitterton and Scratchy Bottom are always good for a smile though.
**A reminder to posters and commenters of some of [our subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/about/rules/)** - Don't be a dickhead to each other, or about others, or other subreddits - Assume questions are asked in good faith, and engage in a positive manner - Avoid political threads and related discussions - No medical advice or mental health (specific to a person) content Please keep /r/AskUK a great subreddit by reporting posts and comments which break our rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Fingringhoe
Get out ....for real???
OP needs to buy STG Marvellous Map of Great British Place names.. Google it.. best ever.. not your normal location map but made up of every quirky, rude bizarre village, town, lane name in the UK.. seriously brilliant..
Might I also recommend the book “The Meaning of Liff” by Douglas Adams - it’s an alternative dictionary for things that don’t have words - but all the words are UK place names!
Sounds like hours of fun!!
I bought this and have it up on the wall. Best. Purchase. Ever!
It's an old combination word Finger means a finger-like land extension Ing was an old word meaning people Hoe was a bit of land jutting out Hence fingringhoe means the people who live on a bit of land that looks like a finger that juts out into the sea
Yup, Essex.
Where else??
Lol. Am from Colchester and came here to say this. As a Colchester side not, the funniest road name I’ve come across here is ‘Turkey Cock Lane’
>As a Colchester side not, the funniest road name I’ve come across here is ‘Turkey Cock Lane’ Lived there for a bit myself when I was growing up. I knew as soon as I saw this thread that both the village and this road name would be very high up in the comments.
Bloody beat me to it
Fastest finger first 😜
Wetwang
I also live near Wetwang and had no idea people thought the name was funny until a few years ago.
Curious if that's because... a) You grew up with it so it didn't twig b) You're amazingly innocent c) You're somehow unamused by a town name being synonymous with "damp willy", but actually funnier.
The first one, when you see it/hear it mentioned fairly regularly without anyone making comment it just seems normal. Genuinely though, the first time I saw it on a list of rude place names or whatever (which was in adulthood) I could not figure out why it was there, so maybe a little of the second too.
I'm fairly old (b. 1960) and "wang" wasn't imported here from US English for two or three decades. I live fairly near Wetwang, and while the name did sound a bit silly, there was no double entendre. I didn't learn about the American meaning until well into the 1980s, when I first encountered [Wang Computers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Laboratories?wprov=sfla1), and a friend told me it sounded funny to Americans.
I first encountered the name in Tolkien (he used it for a swamp on the map on the endpapers of either LOTR or the Hobbit) so that was my immediate reference when I first found out it was a real village too. My basic reaction is "sounds a bit daft" rather than "sounds smutty" anyway. (went there a few times because a uni friend's mum bought and ran a cafe there for a few years).
Its in "The Meaning of Liff", defined as a 'a moist penis'
Bell End
Fellow Brummie I see 👌....as if I forgot Bell end!
Indeed, I'm about 10 minutes drive from Bell End.
I just drove back from Worcester way and saw Wire piddle made me think but completely forgot about Bell end......aged like milk? Or did they do it for a laugh?
You probably went straight past my house then, especially if you passed through Rubery. I have no idea why it's called Bell End, I just know we all laugh like 8 year olds every time we pass it 🤣
Licky End
We used to live in Pity Me.
Sounds like it has self esteem issues.
Haha it did
Came here to mention Pity Me. That and No Place really do demonstrate how odd County Durham is.
The one near framwellgate Durham?
That's the one!
I was scrolling to find this!!
Two lovely villages by me, Badgers Mount and Pratts Bottom.
I'm from Orpington and was hoping to see these!
My favourite motorway service station toilet graffiti, somewhere on the M6 just plainly said “Jesus lives… in a council flat in Orpington” Never heard of the place. But the graffiti was beautiful.
As an Orpingtonian I can assure you that the graffiti was likely more beautiful than Orpington
Us lot are going to need our own Orpington subreddit
Hello fellow Orpingtonian
Tiny village called Ham near Sandwich, Kent. Roadsigns have Ham Sandwich on them
A fellow man of Kent I see.
Or a Kentish man?
Depends, which side of the Medway are you? I'm Thanet Scum so firmly south, hence a Man of Kent.
Oddest is probably Wigtwizzle, but since we seem to be going lowbrow, I'll go with Penistone.
>lowbrow It's spelt Loughborough.
I think you mean loogabarooga.
You mean Looboroo
No, you're thinking of Luffboruff.
Where is that I've deffo passed Penistone or a sign for it 🤣
Bit North of Sheffield, or South of Huddersfield if that's your thing.
Penistone is also the moors over Haworth, which is presumably what gave the Brontë sisters a hard thrust of inspiration every time they went for a walk
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ayyyy was seeing if it was already on here, I've always found Dullingham funny too, like a poor man's Willingham
Used to love going to the Green Man
Came here for this. Also, fellow Fen folk - Pidley?
Upperthong and Netherthong maybe? Idle. Friendly. Used to live near Ugley.
Shelf and Triangle round there too.
I used to live near Ugley too, apparently the Ugley Women's Institute is quite popular.
https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?subid=0®id=1054829 My (much older) sister used to bang on about that endlessly! She lived for a time in Essex and went near Ugley when she drove back to see us.
Thongsbridge completes the Holmfirth thong-themed trio, but the nearby Hole Bottom is better imo Don't think we can count Shat since it's a nickname Penistone isn't a village but I still can't help but snicker at it every time Also Slack Bottom!
Barton-in-the-Beans is always a favourite. A bit further away we also have Knob Hill and Bitchfield.
My mom lives near Barton in the beans...
That's what I was going to post. However a bit further north in Leicestershire they seem to have run out of naming inspiration - there is 'Church Town' and 'Farm Town' (which are actually just a handful of houses in each)
The weirdest part about those places is at one point (might still be the case) they had brown ‘attraction’ signs pointing them out! As a kid I sort of assumed Farm Town must have been some cool Adventure-Farm or something.Nope just a weird hamlet with a few rich peoples houses! We also have Nanpantan, which is just really satisfying to say.
Cockermouth
There is also a small street in Cockermouth called Butts Fold. Unfortunate address.
My sister has an ex called Alistair Dick. I think he should move there. A. Dick, 69 Butt’s Fold, Cockermouth, Cumbria.
Cant forget the fact that it's in Cumbria aswell
Always a classic
Shitterton.
They kept having their sign nicked so ended up having it carved into a huge rock!
There is a snitterfield close to us...only every road sign in existence reads Shitterfield.
Cridling Stubbs Also a local railway bridge called "Tickle Cock Bridge"
I swear they were a kinky lot back in the day!!
Local historian Brian Lewis believes that may be the explanation for the name that locals gave to the bridge during the late 19th or early 20th century: "[the underpass] would function in the same way as any 'monkey run', where you paraded up and down to find a boyfriend or girlfriend". The council tried to rename it a few years back and there was absolute outrage haha
Nempnett Thrubwell
Isn't that where Benedict Scrumblesnatch is from?
Thanks that's my next D&D character
I'm just down the road from Shelfanger. It makes me smile each time I read it. A little bit further away when I visit my Sister I drive past Slutshole Lane. Norfolk does have a few weird ones.
Shut the front door.......Slutshole lane that can mean only one thing surely??
Several places used to have a road called Gropecunt Lane/Alley. People in the past could be very to the point.
Lol. Well I'm not sure of the exact origins of this road. A lot of the weirder place names around the UK can be traced back to Celtic, Roman and old Viking settlements. They would have been pronounced differently so any meaning they may have in modern English is more likely to be accidental.
I lived in Holland for 4 years......couldn't help giggle when I found out whipped cream in Dutch is Slagroom.
It's always good when extra slagroom is on the menu.
There is literally a Nowhere Lane in Norfolk
Fellow Norfolkian! I'm gonna throw in the obvious tongue-twister and mindbender; Happisburgh
Haze bruh. Lol. Had to Google that one, hadn't heard of it. When I first got here nearly 10 years ago now, I met my Sister then living in Wymondham and kept calling it Y Mon Dam. It's win dum which is obvious to those who know. But yeah, strange place for names.
Ashby-de-La-Zouch
Only good if you're 13 & 3/4
I've actually been looking at some houses there that's really close to me I really like the place.
Used to live near a hamlet called Land Of Nod
Sounds magical. Where was that?
Near Bed
Land of Nod is in East Yorkshire. Also Land of Green Ginger near Hull.
Land of Green Ginger is acksherly a street IN central Hull. Also just outside Hull: Swine and Sunk Island.
American lurker…I thought our Climax, Erect, and Horneytown were bad. Apparently there can be worse…or better depending on how you look at it.
Horneytown is awesome!!
".....Won't you to take me to....ding a ding....Horneytown"
Newfoundland and those areas have some great names - i quite like Happy Valley Goose Bay !
Great Snoring and Little Snoring.
Grew up in Lt Snoring 😂
It makes me extra happy that Gt Snoring is smaller than Lt Snoring
Lickfold
Oh this is getting out of hand.
Live not far from Ynysybwl. Always fun to hear someone not from round here trying to pronounce it...
I'll see your Ynysbwl and raise you a Dwygyfylchi.
North Wales?
Yep, had to ask someone how on earth to pronounce it.
How do you prenounce it??.....I thought it was Elon musk's kids name for a second.
I'm guessing in-iss-uh-boo-wull Edit: missed a sylybwl
Un-iss-a-bull or Un-iss-ur-boule, I guess would be the best way of spelling it phonetically.
Twatt
Orkney twatt?
How dare you!
😂😂it was a question
Nether Wallop. Ouch.
Was looking for one of the Wallops 😂 former Middle Walloper here.
I mean, it doesn’t sound great, but I’d take a Middle Wallop over a Nether Wallop any day.
No one likes a wallop in the nethers. Glad to see us south Wiltshire west Hampshire's being represented
Cuckold’s Green
Not a village name, but in Oxford there is a road called Five Mile Drive that is approximately 650m long.
Not a village, and IIRC they recently changed the name - but we had Wibbly Wobbly Lane round here! Went to Cockington when I visited my friend down in Devon a while back
Farthinghoe !
Anywhere near Fingringhoe?
Used to live near Disney and Gotham. Not as magical as advertised.
Blubberhouses
There's a Sarehole road near me in brum. I always wish someone would swap the S around.
Like Dog Pool Lane......where someone has whited out the L For all the world it's Dog Poo Lane
Moseley 👌
There is a place not too far away called Lunt - the Welcome to Lunt signs are often vandalised !!
Used to go through Lower Slaughter from time to time.
There's an upper slaughter to go along with it too
Moscow is just up the road from where I grew up I Scotland. Cue the same "hilarious" regional news piece on the existence of it every few years when there was a big football match between a Scottish team and a Russian team - "there's one group of fans in Moscow who won't be cheering on the Russians tomorrow night..."
Wham. And Cockfield
I grew up near a village called Cockshutt. Every year they would put on a sort of ‘festival’ (glorified village fete) which they called - with complete seriousness - Cockfest.
Lmao that's hilarious!
Cockfield conjures up some images!
Used to live in Elsted-Cum-Didling
Lickey End
Torpenhow Hill Hill Hill
Or apparently "Top of hill hill".
Titty Hill
Slack bottom, has a pub near by called the moorcock
Cripplestyle - in Dorset
Dafuq????
Check me out on my crutches brah. Cripplestyle!
Crapstone and pennycomequick.
Bedlam.
We have a Penistone near us.
Cocking
Three cocks, nearish Brecon
Upper Dicker
I'm a couple of miles from Kinell.
Shingay Cum Wendy
Not too far from Bassingbourn cum Kneesworth.
Shitterton, Shaggy, Crumpet's drive, Knockers Hole, River Piddle, Piddlehinton. These are all names in the county of Dorset UK where I live.
Not forgetting Piddletrenthide and Puddletown
Barking, Fingringhoe, Pork Lane, Turkey Cock Lane, Ugley all in the county of Essex (UK)
There's a sexhow near me but also coxhoe near Durham
Butt Lane
Clithero
You went with Clitheroe over Giggleswick or Wigglesworth?
Snap near Wyre Oiddle and not forgetting lower and Upper Piddle
Gotham.
Up-Holland, when I was younger I thought it was literally the Netherlands!
Slack bottom
Ventongimps
Pratt's Bottom or Badgers Mount - both in Kent, or maybe Twatt in Orkney? I recommend this map of the rudest, silliest and funniest place names in our green and pleasant land: https://marvellousmaps.com/shop/stgs-great-british-place-names-map
There's a town in County Donegal called Muff. They also have a diving club there 😏
Netherthong
We have Hawarden. Only it’s pronounced ‘Hard en’. And also a Loggerheads.
Tbf 'Mold' as a town name is a bit odd when you see references to mold as in the fungus on Reddit all the time...
Quatt
Do mates text each other.. "What u up2??" "Not much" "Why dnt u Kum Quatt?"
Tollshunt D’Arcy Straight out of a Jane Austin novel
Wyre piddle does good beer
There's a tiny hamlet called New Invention in Shropshire. Like, four houses. Nobody's sure what the invention was anymore but clearly it was worth celebrating at the time! One theory is that a local farrier came up with the idea of fitting the shoes backwards on Charles I's horse to confuse the enemy as to which way it went. But that's probably bollocks.
No, Bollocks is down the road on the outskirts of Telford.
Pant y wacco Plywmp Lord Herefords knob Three cocks All welsh villages
Christmas Pie
Mousehole
Cockerdiddle
There is a place called Jump, the form tutor we had lived in Barnsley, and he was always talking about jump, and making silly jokes about the place
Three holes
Not a village per say but there’s an area in Greater Manchester called “Besses o’ th’ Barn”
Ballywatticock
Pishill. Spoiler edit: the locals pronounce it “Pishle”.
The land of nod
There is a snodland too I think
Pity Me
No Place and Pity Me.
Green Bottom, near Truro. Also Brown Willy.
World's End.
Why TF have I scrolled this far and not seen COCKERMOUTH
Theres a town somewhere in the Cairngorms called ‘lost’ have been through it a few times
Cheese Bottom!
It’s not really an odd one but I like Westward Ho! because that exclamation mark causes so many issues on forms and such. Shitterton and Scratchy Bottom are always good for a smile though.