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Exotic place names in the UK


PhilJ W
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There is a suburb of Nuneaton called 'Bermuda'.  Probably about as far removed from the real Bermuda as it's possible to get!

 

My paternal grandfather used to work at a colliery there, when Warwickshire had coal mines.

Edited by 4630
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Here in Wales there are many villages that were given Anglicised Biblical names, such as Bethlehem, Nazareth and even Sodom.  In fact Bethlehem in Carmarthenshire is a rare example of a small village post office having to re-open after closure due to the thousands of people wanting to post their Christmas cards there to get a Bethlehem post mark.

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Cow should be pronounced 'Coo' and be embarrassed, according to George Stephenson, and I agree with him.

 

A particularly grim council estate in Briton Ferry was called Fairyland.  Not so much exotic as having a certain scan to them are Scethrog, a village near Brecon, and Scwrfa, near Tredegar; both sound like infectious diseases.  Devon and Cornwall have several, Indian Queens, Cullompton, and Longwoodwidger come to mind.  Oi be a long wood widger, 'an oi do widger all the live long day in the long wood, shades of Rambling Sid Rompo, nurdle up your artifacts and loosen your cordwangle.  Sometimes oi do be a 'avin of a beer with one of they medium length wood widgers, but oi don' never be 'avin no truck with they short wood widgers.  B'ain't natrul, trubble come of et...

 

Best of these is IMHO, Fochrhiw, between Merthyr and Rhymney, a bleak excrescence even on a good day and Siberian in winter, presumably only there to make the residents of those places feel a little better about themselves...

 

Ormskirk.

 

Oswaldtwistle.

 

There are also place names which, while having no other attribute, seem specifically designed to be pronounced in the local accent; I give you Barnsley, trooble at 't mill, lad, and Droitwich, ow do, dooks.

And, posh accent perfect for it, Pangbourne, don't y'know, what, Carruthers.  Take that plum out of your mouth, chinless!

 

Pennsylvania is just outside Bath, and also a part of the Llanederyn Estate in Cardiff.

 

Corntown, just outside Bridgend, sounds as if it should be in the American mid-west.

Edited by The Johnster
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We have various worldly locations in the rural parts of Hampshire - Canada, Palestine and Egypt, plus some towns with derived names; Enham Alamein and Waterlooville.

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I can't remember if I've said it before, but....

 

Penarth; a town fairly close to Cardiff, as pronounced in a typical BBC accent.

 

Pennorth; same place, same location, with pretentious overtones. 

 

Pennarff; same place, same location, but a lot more realistic..... 

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1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

On another thread a discussion ensued about exotic sounding places in the UK. An example is there are one or two places called California.

I lived in California, Ipswich.....don't let them upstarts from Stowmarket try and tell their California is the real one.

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15 minutes ago, Clive Mortimore said:

I lived in California, Ipswich.....don't let them upstarts from Stowmarket try and tell their California is the real one.

The real one was in Stoke, where Kerr-Stuart had their works.

In Ayrshire, there is a village called Patna, whilst Co. Durham has Philidelphia and Washington.

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Chapel-en-le-Frith conjures up images of the French Riviera more than the Peak District. Ashby-de-la-Zouch sounds like it half belongs in France too (leaving the Ashby foot firmly in England though).

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