Strangest Place Names
Viewing comments for Chapter 6 "The Garden of England"Collection of odd place names and their histories.
29 total reviews
Comment from Janice Canerdy
This piece is really well written--vividly descriptive, informative, fascinating, and entertaining. The "Sandwich" passage especially jumped out at me--first part sounds made up. LOL!
reply by the author on 17-Jun-2022
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This piece is really well written--vividly descriptive, informative, fascinating, and entertaining. The "Sandwich" passage especially jumped out at me--first part sounds made up. LOL!
Comment Written 17-Jun-2022
reply by the author on 17-Jun-2022
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I couldn't resist coming up with silly ideas for the names before I revealed the real ones. Thanks so much for the great review :-)
Mike
Comment from Donna G. (aka Sam Duck)
These place names are very amusing. I imagine people that live in them are so used to them that they don't even see the humor. We have a lot of those in Canada as well and it's always fun to look into them a bit deeper. Great essay, full of interest and whimsy. Good job!
reply by the author on 17-Jun-2022
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These place names are very amusing. I imagine people that live in them are so used to them that they don't even see the humor. We have a lot of those in Canada as well and it's always fun to look into them a bit deeper. Great essay, full of interest and whimsy. Good job!
Comment Written 17-Jun-2022
reply by the author on 17-Jun-2022
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Thank you, Sam :-). I believe there were previous chapters covering Canada. This was lots of fun to out together.
Mike
Comment from barbara.wilkey
Thank you for sharing this interesting names post with us. I found it fascinating. I think part of it was your take on some of the names. LOL I do hope you have the time to add a part to it.
reply by the author on 18-Jun-2022
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Thank you for sharing this interesting names post with us. I found it fascinating. I think part of it was your take on some of the names. LOL I do hope you have the time to add a part to it.
Comment Written 17-Jun-2022
reply by the author on 18-Jun-2022
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Thank you, Barbara :-). Yes, coming up with the fictional anecdotes made this a lot of fun and hopefully amplified the already amusing truth.
Mike
Comment from Judy Lawless
OMG you win for the chapter that is the most fun to read, Mike! I love the little made-up stories you've thrown in to add even more humour to some of the names. Great research. Thanks for sharing.
reply by the author on 18-Jun-2022
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OMG you win for the chapter that is the most fun to read, Mike! I love the little made-up stories you've thrown in to add even more humour to some of the names. Great research. Thanks for sharing.
Comment Written 17-Jun-2022
reply by the author on 18-Jun-2022
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Hehe, the invented histories were definitely a guilt pleasure of writing this. I'd been thinking about writing it for a while then I found that image and knew it had to be done!
Mike
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I?m glad you did, Mike!:)
Comment from Beri Bee
Yes! I did enjoy reading this very much! Babies Castle had me LOLing! Great job! I will come back and read it again. No idea where Kent is, but I have a feeling the comedy could stretch beyond and on and on. I frequently make up what I consider English-sounding names for places I've forgotten their true names. I'm partial to Little Twitching, and Partying-on-the-Beach. Hope I've got the hang of it. As you know, I live in Gull Cottage in Carmel-by-the-Sea. Wonderful essay! Thanks!
reply by the author on 18-Jun-2022
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Yes! I did enjoy reading this very much! Babies Castle had me LOLing! Great job! I will come back and read it again. No idea where Kent is, but I have a feeling the comedy could stretch beyond and on and on. I frequently make up what I consider English-sounding names for places I've forgotten their true names. I'm partial to Little Twitching, and Partying-on-the-Beach. Hope I've got the hang of it. As you know, I live in Gull Cottage in Carmel-by-the-Sea. Wonderful essay! Thanks!
Comment Written 17-Jun-2022
reply by the author on 18-Jun-2022
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Thank you :-). This was so much fun to write, I just might have to return for some additional chapters at a future date. Is there Big Twitching, or Great Twitching?
Mike
Comment from Pantygynt
I am sure you could find a travel magazine in the USA that would print something like this and of course Kent doesn't have a monopoly on strange place names. Having lived in what is now the London Borough of Bromley for several years after leaving the Royal Marines I have a first hand experience of many of these, particularly Locks Bottom - Was this some kind of chastity belt I used to wonder?
Nothing to do with Kent but interesting nonetheless, the word 'Bottom' - also meant boat or ship in medieval times.
One bit of spag I noticed:
'Hang on a minute(s),'
reply by the author on 18-Jun-2022
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I am sure you could find a travel magazine in the USA that would print something like this and of course Kent doesn't have a monopoly on strange place names. Having lived in what is now the London Borough of Bromley for several years after leaving the Royal Marines I have a first hand experience of many of these, particularly Locks Bottom - Was this some kind of chastity belt I used to wonder?
Nothing to do with Kent but interesting nonetheless, the word 'Bottom' - also meant boat or ship in medieval times.
One bit of spag I noticed:
'Hang on a minute(s),'
Comment Written 17-Jun-2022
reply by the author on 18-Jun-2022
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Cool - I'm about a 15 minute drive from Bromley. So glad you like this and huge tha ks for the spag catch and additional etymology on bottom. :-)
Mike
Comment from Wayne Fowler
Very interesting. And well written.
Here in Arkansas we have Possum Grape, Bugger Hollow, Toad Suck, 56, Flippin, and a host of others. Some of them make sense.
Best wishes.
reply by the author on 18-Jun-2022
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Very interesting. And well written.
Here in Arkansas we have Possum Grape, Bugger Hollow, Toad Suck, 56, Flippin, and a host of others. Some of them make sense.
Best wishes.
Comment Written 17-Jun-2022
reply by the author on 18-Jun-2022
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Some of those sound as though they should never be combined! So glad you liked this one :-)
Mike
Comment from Sandra Stoner-Mitchell
Before we moved to Hampshire, I lived in Gillingham in the Medway Towns, as a child. When the summer school holidays came, the kids in my area loved to go with our mums hop picking. We'd all jump in the back of the truck, which was fun in itself! We'd get paid a whole sixpence (two and a half pence if you're too young to have used the old Pound Shillings and Pence) It was enough to get us in the Sarurday morning cinima and buy an ice-cream.
The names you've picked out are hilarious, but I doubt the Americans will understand the thong. To them, thongs are what we call flip-flops, I found that so funny when I discovered that.
I love all those you've found, there are many more really funny names, especially in Cornwall. Well done for finding them, Mike. Did you live in any of them? I live near Sandy Balls! LOL!! :)) Sandra xx
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reply by the author on 18-Jun-2022
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Before we moved to Hampshire, I lived in Gillingham in the Medway Towns, as a child. When the summer school holidays came, the kids in my area loved to go with our mums hop picking. We'd all jump in the back of the truck, which was fun in itself! We'd get paid a whole sixpence (two and a half pence if you're too young to have used the old Pound Shillings and Pence) It was enough to get us in the Sarurday morning cinima and buy an ice-cream.
The names you've picked out are hilarious, but I doubt the Americans will understand the thong. To them, thongs are what we call flip-flops, I found that so funny when I discovered that.
I love all those you've found, there are many more really funny names, especially in Cornwall. Well done for finding them, Mike. Did you live in any of them? I live near Sandy Balls! LOL!! :)) Sandra xx
This rating does not count towards story rating or author rank.
The highest and the lowest rating are not included in calculations.
Comment Written 17-Jun-2022
reply by the author on 18-Jun-2022
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Well, Sandra, I'm glad to hear you enjoy sandy balls ;-). We quite often head to Rochester at the weekends for some lunch and a stroll, so Gillingham is close by indeed. A lot of my school trips were to hop farms (and the inevitable Lullingstone Roman Villa, which I think is mandatory for all schools to this day, lol).
Thanks so much for sharing - it makes things way more interesting!
Moke
Comment from Michael Cassar
When I was younger England was a country which I visited quite often. This selection revives the memory of Bristol where I attended the Boy Scouts Golden Jubilee. This writing provides insight into the origins of town names. Quite interesting and gives new life to the township names. Babies Castle and Sandwich appealed to me. It exposes the relevance of a town's name to its origin. Excellent Information.
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The highest and the lowest rating are not included in calculations.
reply by the author on 18-Jun-2022
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When I was younger England was a country which I visited quite often. This selection revives the memory of Bristol where I attended the Boy Scouts Golden Jubilee. This writing provides insight into the origins of town names. Quite interesting and gives new life to the township names. Babies Castle and Sandwich appealed to me. It exposes the relevance of a town's name to its origin. Excellent Information.
This rating does not count towards story rating or author rank.
The highest and the lowest rating are not included in calculations.
Comment Written 17-Jun-2022
reply by the author on 18-Jun-2022
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Thank you, Michael :-). I may have to write additional chapters for other counties!
Mike