John_Hughes Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 One of the LBSC Terriers was named Tulsehill - though when I lived in Sarf Lunnon it was always Tulse Hill. But I can understand why no-one would want to tell Mr Stroudley about it! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gwiwer Posted April 9, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 9, 2013 Mr Stroudley had an unusual take on Engine Green let alone place names 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted April 9, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 9, 2013 Isn't Clun in Shropshire, England? A.E.Housman wrote, in A Shropshire Lad: Clunton and Clunbury, Clungunford and Clun, Are the quietest places Under the sun.which implies pronunciation the English way. The Welsh for the Shropshire Clun is Colunwy. There is a Clun in Swansea, which in English is Clyne. There are two rivers Clun in the UK, which may be the source of the confusion. One of these rivers is in Shropshire, and it runs through the town of Clun, rhyming with sun. The other river Clun, pronounced Clean, is in Rhondda-Cynon-Taf and Cardiff districts, and flows into the River Ely at Pontyclun (pronounced Pont-a-clean). A good explanation, Jane, TVM. Not least because the couple - Peter (deceased) and Anne (terminal and not yet 60) Sullivan(!) - came from South Wales, so would know the local pronunciation. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted April 9, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 9, 2013 Don't you mean Doood Loy? Excellent! My surname is Dudley. Some years ago I knew a girl from there - she was SM at Northampton for a while, I think. She made a point of addressing me as "Mr Dooodloy"! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRman Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 Does that make you "Old Dooders", then, Ian?? 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted April 9, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 9, 2013 Does that make you "Old Dooders", then, Ian?? At nearly 65, more like Old Dodderer! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 (edited) Yup! We do! And Pontefract as Pumfrit. And Daventry as Daintry, so there! Both extremely common medieval spellings of those place names (the former to the significant bemusement of a Francophone colleague who hadn't seen it before). A more general point is that standardised spelling of placenames are a rather recent - from the point of view of a medieval historian - and more or less arbitrary phenomenon. A place that never had a railway, Stoke-sub-Hamdon, Somerset, is referred to as Stoke under Ham on its own war memorial erected in the 1920s, yet both names, not to mention Stoke-by-Ham (and various Latinised eqivilents) have been in common use for centuries and remained so well into living memory. Since, in this case, the name is descriptive; the manor of Stoke below Ham Hill (Hamdon, sometimes referred to as Hamdon Hill), all are fair enough. Adam Edited April 9, 2013 by Adam Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 There are two towns called Gillingham, one pronounced with a hard 'G', the other a soft. I think the Kentish one is the soft 'G'... There's actually at least three (there's a village near Norwich too; I have no idea how that's supposed to be pronounced) and it's stretching things to call the one in Dorset a town! Adam Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gwiwer Posted April 9, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 9, 2013 Gillingham (hard G) is in Dorset; Gillingham (soft G as in Jillingham) is in Kent. Do we need to discuss Looga Barooga while we're at it? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Lurker Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 (edited) Both extremely common medieval spellings of those place names (the former to the significant bemusement of a Francophone colleague who hadn't seen it before). A more general point is that standardised spelling of placenames are a rather recent - from the point of view of a medieval historian - and more or less arbitrary phenomenon. A place that never had a railway, Stoke-sub-Hamdon, Somerset, is referred to as Stoke under Ham on its own war memorial erected in the 1920s, yet both names, not to mention Stoke-by-Ham (and various Latinised eqivilents) have been in common use for centuries and remained so well into living memory. Since, in this case, the name is descriptive; the manor of Stoke below Ham Hill (Hamdon, sometimes referred to as Hamdon Hill), all are fair enough. Adam Don't forget also that the Post Office started to change spellings to avoid confusion in Victorian times - for example Tunbridge became Tonbridge to avoid confusion with the newer settlement of Tunbridge Wells, Hutton Hole in Yorkshire became Hutton-le-hole. Mind you Kingston by Railway became Surbiton for entirely different reasons... edit - insert missing words Edited April 10, 2013 by The Lurker Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted April 10, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 10, 2013 Both extremely common medieval spellings of those place names (the former to the significant bemusement of a Francophone colleague who hadn't seen it before). Shortened forms of human names do exist, too. After all, Mr Cholmondeley prefers to be Mr Chumley, and as for Mr Bottomley, well..... One of my faves is Woolfardisworthy in N Devon, where I'm sure the village sign also gives us the local version - Woolsery. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gwiwer Posted April 10, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 10, 2013 One of my faves is Woolfardisworthy in N Devon, where I'm sure the village sign also gives us the local version - Woolsery. There are two places both in Devon by that name and both with the same spelling! Woolfardisworthy near Hartland (postcode EX39) is signposted in most places as "Woolfardisworthy (Woolsery)" and is pronounced either Wool-zery or Wool-zee. The one nearer Tiverton (postcode EX17) is only shown as "Woolfardisworthy" on the solitary sign I know of and the only time I heard the name spoken it was Wool-zree. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baby Deltic Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 The old closed station spelt Lavenham, but pronounced by the old boys of Suffolk "Laaaaaaaaaaaavenam" 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRman Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 Shortened forms of human names do exist, too. After all, Mr Cholmondeley prefers to be Mr Chumley, and as for Mr Bottomley, well..... One of my faves is Woolfardisworthy in N Devon, where I'm sure the village sign also gives us the local version - Woolsery. That's one of mine too! My grandmother moved to Bideford to stay with my cousin for a while and I saw a lot of the local circulars and newsletters, all of which referred to 'Woolsery', using that spelling. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluebottle Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 Between 1849 and 1925, the name of the station serving Livingston village in West Lothian was spelt “Livingstone”, and so the village which grew around the station became “Livingstone Station”. With the establishment of Livingston new town, the area was officially renamed “Deans”, angering most of the inhabitants who clung – as many still do – to the old name and spelling. What was troublesome to me as club captain of Livingston AAC was the widespread (and seemingly indelible) impression that our town's name was spelt with an “e”. I even heard it referred to on Radio 4's “Round Britain Quiz” as “... a town named after a famous explorer” – AAAAGH!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Etched Pixels Posted April 13, 2013 Share Posted April 13, 2013 Welshpool is another one. Apparently it was ok for the post office to arbitarily rename 'foreign' towns while leaving the English one as 'Poole'. Wouldn't the map be a little different if they'd invented postcodes in the 1840s 8) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 96701 Posted April 13, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 13, 2013 Can Air is baroo anybody? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mallard60022 Posted April 16, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 16, 2013 (edited) Surely not Conisborough? (Apologies, Consisburgh). Edoit for speelin orf Conysberret. P Edited April 17, 2013 by Mallard60022 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poor Old Bruce Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 I've got a DVD of a railway journey through Scotland where the mid-Atlantic narrator starts by travelling from Burr-wick to Edinborough. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluebottle Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 Can Air is baroo anybody? Surely not Conisborough? P I'll go for Knaresborough. Have I won anything? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 96701 Posted April 16, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 16, 2013 I'll go for Knaresborough. Have I won anything? Yes and no. In that order. Need I say more? 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbeagleowner Posted April 17, 2013 Share Posted April 17, 2013 Peak Forest station has a different spelling to the village it serves...peakdale... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted January 17, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 17, 2016 (edited) Wombourn station on the ex-GWR branch from Oxley (Wolverhampton) - the village it served is spelt Wombourne. According to this site, the spelling was changed to avoid confusion with Wimbourne.Novel as the station was Wimborne with no U, Wimbourne is several miles north nowhere near a railway line even in the 60's. We have a crossing called Couston Bottom while the OS map calls it Custom Bottom. Edited January 17, 2016 by PaulRhB 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
laurenceb Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 Burton upon Trent served by Burton-on-Trent station Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gwiwer Posted January 17, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 17, 2016 (edited) It's not uncommon for those unfamiliar with the locality to ask for "Suthick" when they mean Southwick. On the Sussex coast the name is pronounced in full. "Suth-ick" us up behind Portsmouth and has never had a railway station though was on the route of the one-time (but now totally vanished) bus route 38 between Portsmouth and Alton which partially replaced the erstwhile Meon Valley rail service. Gwinear Road station in Cornwall was geographically closest to the village of Horsepool, is signposted from the almost equidistant Carnhell Green yet is not even on a direct road from Gwinear. One must first pass through Carnhell Green which may be why the signpost remains extant there long after the station has been closed! In that same area Marazion station was situated closer to and strictly speaking in Long Rock which itself is mis-named Longrock on OS maps and in some other places. Edited January 17, 2016 by Gwiwer Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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