Jump to content
 

Spelling


ess1uk
 Share

Recommended Posts

Similarly Rushwick and Henwick west of Worcester are properly pronounced like the adjacent neighbourhoods of Lower Wick and Upper Wick.

 

Out of towners sometimes try being smart and say Rushik and Hennik.

Edited by 28XX
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

Birmingham New Street Station isn't in New Street!

 

Of the roads that surround the station Navigation Street, Hill Street & Worcester Street were already there but the two other roads that flanked the original station were Stephenson Street and Station Street which were built as a result of the redevelopement of the area for the station.

 

Keith

Edited by melmerby
Link to post
Share on other sites

My sister-in-law lives in Sydenham.  Her nearest station is Penge East.  She habitually refers to it, whimsically, as "Ponge Est" (with a hint of a French accent).

 

This was all well and good until, a few years back on a visit to That London, my other half actually walked up to a ticket office window at Victoria and demanded two singles to "Ponge Est", causing much puzzlement for the booking clerk.  Fortunately I overheard her request and was able to jump in with a swift correction before the ever-growing queue behind us became too irate...

Link to post
Share on other sites

      My sister-in-law lives in Sydenham.  Her nearest station is Penge East.  She habitually refers to it, whimsically, as "Ponge Est" (with a hint of a French accent).

  This was all well and good until, a few years back on a visit to That London, my other half actually walked up to a ticket office window at Victoria and demanded two singles to "Ponge Est", causing much puzzlement for the booking clerk.  Fortunately I overheard her request and was able to jump in with a swift correction before the ever-growing queue behind us became too irate...

 

        Did not Terry Wogan, as he then was, in his daily & morning programme refer to that part of London as 'Penge, les deux eglises.'? 

 

        :locomotive:

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

Not a spelling issue, but confusion as to what the town name means.

 

I was born in Southend-on-Sea (actually Rochford Hospital), to give it its correct title, rather than Sarfend!

 

When people in Australia, ask me where I'm from, they wonder where it is, so I describe it as about 60km east of London on the North side of the Thames. This description gives me a look as if I have two heads - how can it be called Southend, if its on the NORTH side of the Thames? It is of course because Southend, is located at the 'south end' of the old village of Prittlewell.

 

To make things easier I tell them that Southend is famous for its long pier - long enough to run a train service. This of course depends on whether or not, fire has ravaged either end, yet again, or even if a ship has run through it!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Harringay, Haringey and Hornsey are all variant spellings of the same name (Dictionary of British Place Names) and have been used variously over the years, not one is either correct or incorrect. Haringey is not a modern invention.

 

Keith

Harringey was used, so I am informed by a former local resident, to avoid the political incorrectness of Harringay. Happy days.

Link to post
Share on other sites

St Erth, well known junction for St. Ives and which was once called St. Ives Road, is not in the village of St. Erth. It is in the village of Rose-an-Grouse while St. Erth lies a mile or more away.

 

Grampound Road served the more distant Grampound but a larger settlement grew up around the station and adopted its name.

 

Halwill Junction (never so named and always correctly Halwill for Beaworthy) was another similar case where the settlement of Halwill Junction has grown to be larger than both the two villages the station was named for combined. In this case the village has adopted the name by which the station was commonly known and not its actual name which is a little less common

 

Maddaford Moor halt was in the village of Thorndon Cross; Maddaford itself lies high above on the moors;

 

Hole (between Torrington and Halwill) seems to have been a random choice as there is no settlement of that name and no farm either that I can trace. Ostensibly it served distant Black Torrington though was closer to Highampton and its name was appended to avoid confusion with "Torrington" which actually serves the town of Great Torrington.

 

In terms of pronunciation there can be a World of difference between a dyed-in-the-wool local, regional custom and the wider world. "Southwick" in West Sussex is always "South-wick" but the one in Hampshire (not rail-served) is always "Su'thick". Ian referred above to "Lyghe" which is now "Leigh" but pronounced "Lye" as is another Leigh near Redhill (also not rail-served).

 

Most parts of the country have local pronunciations which will trip the unwary but for my money Glasgow must come top of the list. "Milngavie" is Mull-guy as many of use here know but perhaps less well known is "Shat-ler-oh" which is spelled Chatelherault.

Lye-on-Sea or Leon Sea? Near Sarfend mate.

Link to post
Share on other sites

G'day all

Seen on a bus stop at Coulsdon South station; towards Mertsham, where the next village is called Merstham

Earlswood Nob

Pronounced Merstrum. Not to be confused with my local village Mersham (Kent), pronounced Mers Ham, and Hersham, always pronounced Hersham. I'm glad Horsham hasn't been split to be pronounced Hors Ham!!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Not quite what the OP had in mind but this creates an opportunity for a grouse about frequent references to Edinburgh (Princess St.),sometimes by those (including journos) who ought to know better. Glad I got that off my chest!

 

DR

 

I can't resist mentioning a couple of lines from "Oor Wullie" - 

 

"O young Lochinvar is come out of the west,

He burst his new shirt when he threw out his chest..."

 

Hope that no garments were harmed in the making of your post, DR!

Edited by bluebottle
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 8 months later...
  • 3 years later...
On ‎13‎/‎05‎/‎2011 at 10:37, Fenman said:

Wells-next-the-Sea in Norfolk was called Wells-by-Sea by both the LNER and BR (BR later changed it).

 

Watlington, also in Norfolk, started life as Watlington before becoming Magdalen Road, the name I knew it by when I was growing up and that survived through the NSE era. It's now Watlington again.

 

Paul

 

The last place that 'Wells-next-the-Sea' is next to ... is the sea.   It's a Bl...... long walk !  

Edited by Combe Martin
Link to post
Share on other sites

I don't know if this counts but it always amuses me that Wickham Market railway station in Suffolk is not actually in Wickham Market but is in the nearby village of Campsea Ashe. Also, just to confuse things further, Campsea Ashe is sometimes spelt Campsey Ash.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

On 18/01/2016 at 15:49, roythebus said:

Pronounced Merstrum. Not to be confused with my local village Mersham (Kent), pronounced Mers Ham, and Hersham, always pronounced Hersham. I'm glad Horsham hasn't been split to be pronounced Hors Ham!!

There was a Brizzle station announcer who used to announce the next stop to Dilton Marsh Halt as 'Whoreminster'

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Bailey Gate on the Somerset & Dorset line in Dorset serves the village of Sturminster Marshall.  I believe the name Bailey Gate refers to the rail connected dairy there, though I don't know the origins of why its called that.

 

Peter

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold
6 hours ago, Fat Controller said:

There was a Brizzle station announcer who used to announce the next stop to Dilton Marsh Halt as 'Whoreminster'

 

Was this the same guy that used to include what sounded like an explosion of spit with anything with a p in the name.  I've seen people standing back from the speakers when he announced the 13.15 P(xplsn)M train from Bristow Temp(xpln)le Meads to Londow P(xpln)addingtow, calling at Bath S(xpln)pa, Chippepp(double xpln), Swindow, Reading, and Londow P(xpln)ingtow is now standing on P(xpln)latfow 3.  Late 60s, early 70s.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold
5 hours ago, Combe Martin said:

Bailey Gate on the Somerset & Dorset line in Dorset serves the village of Sturminster Marshall.  I believe the name Bailey Gate refers to the rail connected dairy there, though I don't know the origins of why its called that.

 

Peter

Maybe rooted in the memory of a long vanished castle?  The bailey is the central tower, where the Norman overlord lived with his retinue and family.

  • Agree 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, Fat Controller said:

There was a Brizzle station announcer who used to announce the next stop to Dilton Marsh Halt as 'Whoreminster'

 

Or the station announcer at Earls Court who used to shout "this train f'Kew and Richmond.

Link to post
Share on other sites

On 12/05/2011 at 15:32, ess1uk said:

apart from the Welsh to English, can anyone think of stations that are not spelt the same as the town they serve?

start you off with Whittlesea

The railway used the traditional spelling which dated from early times, when Whittlesea was 'on the sea'. Whittlesey is modern. On the GWR Bletchington for Bletchingdon, and also north of Oxford, Handborough for (Long) Hanborough. At the latter, the Stationmaster would shout the name as the train arrived, "'Anboro' this here's 'Anboro'" giving yet another alternative. (CJL)

  • Informative/Useful 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

I do recall from the early 70s when the recorded station announcements were not always reliable (or there was something amiss with the schedule, a more likely reason) that one of the station staff was known to announce ' Hay'ds Heaf, this is Hay'ds Heaf...'

Link to post
Share on other sites

I grew up in St Annes on Sea, which is a minefield when it comes to inserting hyphens, capital letters and even putting 'The' before Sea as the local council now seems to do.  A quick look on Google shows a travel firm spelling out Saint in full, which I can't recall ever seeing in the town.  Sometimes Annes' comes up, which makes me wonder just what Anne has got.  Northern Rail uses St Annes-On-The-Sea which I can't recall seeing elsewhere - it is probably inherited from British Rail though.  Administratively it has been part of Lytham St Annes for something close to 100 years  but I don't think there has ever been an apostrophe used in this name - certainly not on the buses and trams. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...