Exotic place names in the UK

[Welchester]

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

There's quite a few places named after pubs and inns such as Craven Arms.

 

Three Cocks.

[Gwiwer]

8 minutes ago, Bishop of Welchester said:

 

Three Cocks.

And it had a Junction

 

Cocking in West Sussex is another on the same theme.  

[runs as required]

John O'Gaunt  here

Edited March 19, 2020 by runs as required

[Oldddudders]

12 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

Cocking in West Sussex is another on the same theme.  

Ah yes, that well known ticket Cockin' to Maidenhead, via Staines. 

[Moxy]

Crow Nest Junction picture here

 

Sadly it no longer has a box, just a few anonymous grey cabinets where the box used to be.

[DIW]

On 12/03/2020 at 17:13, Gwiwer said:

 

Ironically places in Cornwall with "Shop" in the name never have a shop.  Chipshop has been mentioned above.  Congdon's Shop and Barkla Shop are others.  They once were isolated shops at the meeting of roads from nearby villages.  Now they are a handful of homes around the same crossroads but the shops have long since closed down.  

 

Not in Cornwall I know, but is there any truth in the rumour that a 'Garden Village' had been proposed, to be named Localshop, on the hills above Royston Vasey?

[Rugd1022]

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

And it had a Junction

 

Cocking in West Sussex is another on the same theme.  

 

I passed through it on the way to the Goodwood Revival last September, made me chuckle a bit .

 

Just up the A5 from us is Willey. A little further afield is Leire which was close to the Rugby - Leicester Midland Counties line, which sounds like it should be somewhere in deepest rural France.  Not far from there are Peatling Parva and Peatling Magna, heading east towards Market Harborough there's Marston Trussell which sounds like a character from an Agatha Christie novel, heading south towards Banbury there's Preston Capes (I'm sure my Uncle went to school with him!) and just off the Oxford - Evesham A44 raod is Gagingwell, I dread to think what the origins of that one are...!

 

''Gagingwell, Gagingwell, change 'ere for Foot-in-Mouth and Eaton Toomuchly...''

[runs as required]

1 hour ago, DIW said:

Not in Cornwall I know, but is there any truth in the rumour that a 'Garden Village' had been proposed, to be named Localshop, on the hills above Royston Vasey?

I should think it will be a pretty bleak spot of Garden development at that elevation above Hadfield.

 

Reminds me of a development of new spec houses near us called 'Primrose Court' actually on the heavily diesel impregnated former yard of a long lived Newcastle-Blackpool chara company.

it dates from the 1920s, the clue is in the name of the sweet little flower currently in bloom.  

dh

Edited March 19, 2020 by runs as required

[Pacific231G]

3 hours ago, boxbrownie said:

4 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

There's quite a few places named after pubs and inns such as Craven Arms.

Crows Nest.......

There seem to be several locations called Crows Nest. Several are pubs while others seem to be topological. The one I know is a village in Cornwall a few miles north of Liskeard with an SSSI of the same name. I know it from explorations of the rather haunting remains of the Liskead and Caradon Railway and the mines and quarries that it served. The SSSI is because of the vegetation that only grows round there because of the heavy metals in the soils from the mines. There is a Crows Nest Inn in the village, it was the count house for the South Caradon mine where tokens in lieu of legal tender were paid out to the mine workers,  In this case it appears that the inn took its name from the village rather than the other way round but nobody seems sure of the name's derivation. It doesn't appear to have anything to do with crows.

[5050]

On 10/03/2020 at 19:40, stewartingram said:

Talking of Police stations, and St.Ives (the real one, in Cambridgeshire), when the local nick moved to a new building, the relevant part of Pig Lane became Broad Leas, as its original name was thought degrading to the Force.

 

Stewart

 

In the late 60's/early 70's police in Bradford had new cars delivered with the registration beginning with PYG.  They were quickly changed...........

 

Near Holmfirth there's Paris (" where did you cycle to last Sunday?  I went to Paris for lunch")

 

Cholmondeley in Cheshire is pronounced 'Chumley' - but no trace of 'Warner'.

 

And in Bradford there is the Idle Working Mans Club.

 

Near Wrexham you can live in Hope (but die in Caergwrle)

 

Edited March 19, 2020 by 5050

[iands]

42 minutes ago, 5050 said:

In the late 60's/early 70's police in Bradford had new cars delivered with the registration beginning with PYG.  They were quickly changed...........

 

I remember during the '84-'85 miners strike a number of new police vehicles turned up in Yorkshire beginning with NUM............ ("UM" being a West Yorkshire code). 

[billbedford]

1 hour ago, Pacific231G said:

In this case it appears that the inn took its name from the village rather than the other way round but nobody seems sure of the name's derivation. It doesn't appear to have anything to do with crows.

 

I suspect Crows Nest is actually an anglicisation of an original Cornish name. Croes--?

[StevieD71]

I didn't realise that Coleraine was an exotic name until I phoned NHS 111 on Tuesday. I had to spell it four times for the guy on the phone and even then he was struggling to pronounce it. (Coal-rain, its not difficult).

Having said that, the BBC national news presenters used to mangle it on a regular basis during the troubles.

 

We did have a road near here that was called the Murder Hole Road, but was changed a few years ago to the less exciting Windy Hill Road.

[Gwiwer]

27 minutes ago, billbedford said:

 

I suspect Crows Nest is actually an anglicisation of an original Cornish name. Croes--?

 

The standard reference work on the subject of Cornish place names, Craig Weatherhill's "Cornish Place Names and Language" is curiously silent on the subject.  

 

"Cruwys", "Krows" or "Crows" (the first an easterly variant, the second an older spelling not often seen today and the third more common farther west) translates as "Cross" but there is no obvious meaning and translation for "Nest".  One suggestion is that it refers to the "nest"  or base in which an old cross once stood.  http://www.photofilecornwall.co.uk/cornwall-stcleerminions/crowsnest/crows-nest.htm  

 

"Croes" is the Welsh spelling of the same word; Welsh and Cornish are closely-related Celtic languages and speaking one often means the other can be understood.  There is commonality with Breton-derived French words also; "croix" for cross as one example.  

 

It should be remembered that Cornish was seldom a written language until the 13th Century (though the earliest document in what can be described as Cornish is dated to the 9th Century).  This Old Cornish was generally used between 800 - 1250AD and traces of the older form survive in place names of eastern Cornwall which could include Crows Nest.  Inconsistent spellings feature across the Duchy and throughout recorded time.  The language evolved as did others and in its currently-accepted version is known as the Standard Written Form though among Cornish speakers many use slightly earlier variants.  

 

Thus a place name now rendered in English, which language arrived much earlier in the east of Cornwall than farther west, may well have had its origin in Old Cornish but which was seldom if ever written down.  The purest Cornish names are now found in the far west typically on and around the moors on Penwith behind St. Ives and Penzance.  

https://www.akholidays.co.uk/2017/12/09/cornish-language/

 

We may never know for sure how Crows Nest got its name.  Maybe it was just a bird after all.

[boxbrownie]

36 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

 

The standard reference work on the subject of Cornish place names, Craig Weatherhill's "Cornish Place Names and Language" is curiously silent on the subject.  

 

"Cruwys", "Krows" or "Crows" (the first an easterly variant, the second an older spelling not often seen today and the third more common farther west) translates as "Cross" but there is no obvious meaning and translation for "Nest".  One suggestion is that it refers to the "nest"  or base in which an old cross once stood.  http://www.photofilecornwall.co.uk/cornwall-stcleerminions/crowsnest/crows-nest.htm  

 

"Croes" is the Welsh spelling of the same word; Welsh and Cornish are closely-related Celtic languages and speaking one often means the other can be understood.  There is commonality with Breton-derived French words also; "croix" for cross as one example.  

 

It should be remembered that Cornish was seldom a written language until the 13th Century (though the earliest document in what can be described as Cornish is dated to the 9th Century).  This Old Cornish was generally used between 800 - 1250AD and traces of the older form survive in place names of eastern Cornwall which could include Crows Nest.  Inconsistent spellings feature across the Duchy and throughout recorded time.  The language evolved as did others and in its currently-accepted version is known as the Standard Written Form though among Cornish speakers many use slightly earlier variants.  

 

Thus a place name now rendered in English, which language arrived much earlier in the east of Cornwall than farther west, may well have had its origin in Old Cornish but which was seldom if ever written down.  The purest Cornish names are now found in the far west typically on and around the moors on Penwith behind St. Ives and Penzance.  

https://www.akholidays.co.uk/2017/12/09/cornish-language/

 

We may never know for sure how Crows Nest got its name.  Maybe it was just a bird after all.

Well don’t know about all that but it’s a lovely ancient pub and the food is excellent 

[Pacific231G]

3 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

 

 

 

"Croes" is the Welsh spelling of the same word; Welsh and Cornish are closely-related Celtic languages and speaking one often means the other can be understood.  There is commonality with Breton-derived French words also; "croix" for cross as one example.  

 

 

It's an amusing aside that the British cliché of a Frenchman as a stripey sweatered seller of onions wearing a beret, an image that is simply baffling in France, actually comes from onion farmers from a fairly small area of Brittany near Roscoff who may very well have barely spoken French. From the 1830s to the great depression these "Onion Johnnies" - over a thousand at their peak,  brought their crops of sweet red onions over the channel to sell in Britain and particularly in Wales. The irony is that in the earlier period of that trade, French may been almost a foreign language to these supposedly typical Frenchmen but Welsh was fairly easy for them to pick up. They were though probably too late to encounter any Cornish speakers. 

[The Johnster]

Cruwys might well be a Cornish rendition of the Welsh 'Croes', meaning cross; the languages were the same until about the 6th century when Saxon invasion separated them.  But there is another, related, possibility, based on the Welsh word 'Crwys', which means Crusader, and dates from the time of the Crusades of course.  Cathays, a district in Cardiff, has a Crwys Road and a Crwys pub.  The pronunciation would be anglicised as 'croo iss'.  The pub is Victorian and not especially ancient, but does very acceptable food.

Edited March 20, 2020 by The Johnster

[The Johnster]

10 minutes ago, Pacific231G said:

It's an amusing aside that the British cliché of a Frenchman as a stripey sweatered seller of onions wearing a beret, an image that is simply baffling in France, actually comes from onion farmers from a fairly small area of Brittany near Roscoff who may very well have barely spoken French. From the 1830s to the great depression these "Onion Johnnies" - over a thousand at their peak,  brought their crops of sweet red onions over the channel to sell in Britain and particularly in Wales. The irony is that in the earlier period of that trade, French may been almost a foreign language to these supposedly typical Frenchmen but Welsh was fairly easy for them to pick up. They were though probably too late to encounter any Cornish speakers. 

They continued their trade long after the depression, and could be seen in Cardiff and Swansea until around the end of the 20th century, most of my life in fact, though in more recent times they came over in vans on the ferries rather than on trading schooners.  The still wore the traditional blue and white vest sweater and black beret, and sold their onions from bicycles and around their necks.  They would arrive at about the same time each year and stay for perhaps 2 or 3 months until the onions were all sold, often 'roughing it' and sleeping in the warehouses they rented to store the onions.  They were very popular and well liked.

 

Welsh, Cornish, Breton, and Galician languages are all related fairly closely, and clearly stem from a common root.  They are linguistically different from the Scots/Irish/Manx Gaelic, but both are of Celtic origin.  

[96701]

13 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

There's quite a few places named after pubs and inns such as Craven Arms.

Nelson in Lancashire was named after the Lord Nelson pub, but neither could be described as exotic.

[37114]

17 hours ago, Doncaster Green said:

Back in the 80's there was a Railway of the Month in the Modeller called Nempnett Thrubwell which is village in N Somerset that, as far as I know, never had a railway.

 

John

Correct,  the nearest station was Blagdon. Nempnett Thrubwell was also immortalised in a Worzel song. I used to live down the road in Butcombe (home of the beer) and used to go through NT a lot, blink k and you miss it.

[runs as required]

Wherever we lived in the post-war years from 1945/60 in SW Essex, Brum and N Derbyshire, the onion sellers pushing their bikes were familiar late summer visitors. 

Iwas into Citroens by then and it was fun spotting those big overloaded corrugated iron vans creeping along.

OK some funny places: Bugsworth, Pott Shrigley, Kettleshulme, Fenny Bentley  (last two very steep hills for corrugated iron Frenchies).

[Ron Ron Ron]

Near the Beamish Museum in County Durham, there's  Co-operative Villas, No Place.

 

 

 

 

.

[boxbrownie]

10 hours ago, Pacific231G said:

It's an amusing aside that the British cliché of a Frenchman as a stripey sweatered seller of onions wearing a beret, an image that is simply baffling in France, actually comes from onion farmers from a fairly small area of Brittany near Roscoff who may very well have barely spoken French. From the 1830s to the great depression these "Onion Johnnies" - over a thousand at their peak,  brought their crops of sweet red onions over the channel to sell in Britain and particularly in Wales. The irony is that in the earlier period of that trade, French may been almost a foreign language to these supposedly typical Frenchmen but Welsh was fairly easy for them to pick up. They were though probably too late to encounter any Cornish speakers. 

I know they popped across and sold in Kent, Sussex and London particularly but had no idea they were determined enough to cycle all the way to Wales 

[Crisis Rail]

9 hours ago, 96701 said:

Nelson in Lancashire was named after the Lord Nelson pub, but neither could be described as exotic.

 

Nelson and the delights of Brierfield - stranded there till the dawn hours in June 1978 after a Yorkshire bash went pear shaped.

 

There was only so much Dairy Milk you could stand.

 

Character building.

[Welchester]

11 hours ago, Pacific231G said:

It's an amusing aside that the British cliché of a Frenchman as a stripey sweatered seller of onions wearing a beret, an image that is simply baffling in France, actually comes from onion farmers from a fairly small area of Brittany near Roscoff who may very well have barely spoken French. From the 1830s to the great depression these "Onion Johnnies" - over a thousand at their peak,  brought their crops of sweet red onions over the channel to sell in Britain and particularly in Wales. The irony is that in the earlier period of that trade, French may been almost a foreign language to these supposedly typical Frenchmen but Welsh was fairly easy for them to pick up. They were though probably too late to encounter any Cornish speakers. 

 

10 hours ago, The Johnster said:

They continued their trade long after the depression, and could be seen in Cardiff and Swansea until around the end of the 20th century, most of my life in fact, though in more recent times they came over in vans on the ferries rather than on trading schooners.  The still wore the traditional blue and white vest sweater and black beret, and sold their onions from bicycles and around their necks.  They would arrive at about the same time each year and stay for perhaps 2 or 3 months until the onions were all sold, often 'roughing it' and sleeping in the warehouses they rented to store the onions.  They were very popular and well liked.

 

2 hours ago, runs as required said:

Wherever we lived in the post-war years from 1945/60 in SW Essex, Brum and N Derbyshire, the onion sellers pushing their bikes were familiar late summer visitors. 

Iwas into Citroens by then and it was fun spotting those big overloaded corrugated iron vans creeping along.

 

49 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

I know they popped across and sold in Kent, Sussex and London particularly but had no idea they were determined enough to cycle all the way to Wales 

 

When I moved to South Wales in the 1980s, I discovered that what I had always known as 'onion johnnies' were called 'Johnny Onions', but seemed more prolific there.

 

There is a museum of onion johnnies in Roscoff.