Scratchy Bottom beats Brokenwind, but Shitterton takes the prize...for unfortunate place names

[AdamSmith]

Bit of an update to this thread: http://www.boytoy.com/forums/index.php?/topic/2449-zany-brits/

Scratchy Bottom beats Brokenwind, but Shitterton takes the prize...for unfortunate place names

London Evening Standard

Published: 15 August 2012

It is an idyllic hamlet based around a single street of picturesque thatched cottages in rural Dorset.

But however lovely Shitterton is, the tiny collection of homes on the edge of the village of Bere Regis has been named as Britain's most unfortunate place name in a new survey.

The tiny settlement between Dorchester and Poole beat the nearby valley of Scratchy Bottom, near Durdle Door in Dorset and Brokenwind in Aberdeenshire in the survey by www.findmypast.co.uk.

Crapstone, on the edge of Dartmoor, Devon, came fourth, while Golden Balls, which is five miles south of Oxford, is fifth, in the survey.

Shitterton is a very literal English translation of the village name recorded in Norman French in the 11th century Domesday Book as Scatera or Scetra which means a little town that is on the stream of a midden or sewer.

But Ian Ventham, chairman of Bere Regis Parish Council and proud Shitterton resident, said he does not find the name of the hamlet, with its long history, embarrassing.

"Shit is shit. Let's not beat around the bush, that is where the name comes from," the retired RNLI director said.

"But it isn't a midden or shitheap now. It is a perfect rural hamlet with thatched cottages and idyllic Dorset countryside.

"Those of us who live here are not the least bit embarrassed by it."

Shitterton hit the headlines in 2010 when residents got so fed up with pranksters stealing the standard road signs displaying the name that they clubbed together and bought a £680 one-and-a-half-tonne Purbeck stone version set in concrete.

According to the website, the valley of Scratchy Bottom is thought to take its name from the fact that it is a rough and rugged hollow.

Brokenwind was known as "Broken Wynd" in the 19th century, with wynd, the website said, a Scots word for a narrow path that snakes or winds between two larger roads.

Crapstone, a picturesque village on the western edge of Dartmoor in Devon, came fourth in the survey of 1,773 people, ahead of Golden Balls in Oxfordshire, Ugley in Essex, Crackpot in North Yorkshire, Backside in Aberdeenshire, Great Snoring in Norfolk and Happy Bottom in Dorset.

"If there were an Olympics for unlikely place names, Britain would surely be good for a medal, if not the gold", said Debra Chatfield, a family historian at findmypast.co.uk.

"In the course of researching their family history, people can discover that their ancestors came from somewhere with an unlikely, unfortunate or downright embarrassing name.

"Some people are unsettled to discover that their forebears came from somewhere called, say, Crackpot, Ugley or Happy Bottom."

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/scratchy-bottom-beats-brokenwind-but-shitterton-takes-the-prize-for-unfortunate-place-names-8049392.html

Welcome to the hilariously-named villages locals insist are lovelier than they sound

By Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 18:16 EST, 14 August 2012 | UPDATED: 10:44 EST, 15 August 2012

Britain's worst place name: Shitterton in Dorset has been voted the UK's most embarrassing place name

Fighting for the top spot: Shitterton even beat off competition from Crapstone in Devon

Picturesque: Sandy Balls, situated in the New Forest, was named after the dome-shaped gravel and known as Sandyballas during the reign of Henry VII

Shitterton came above the nearby valley of Scratchy Bottom, named after the rugged and rough hollow, which was used as a location for the 1967 film

Rude place names: Slag Lane in Haydock , Merseyside, was also on the list. The name simply refers to the slag heaps that were formerly a characteristic of the area

A small village in Kent called Pratts Bottom - Pratt coming from the Latin word Pratum meaning Meadow- was also in list

Ancient names: The name of the Gloucestershire village of Old Sodbury comes from corrupted Old English that would have meant ' The fortified village of Soppa' referring to a Roman fort

Back Passage in the city of London, close to Smithfield market and the Barbican, derives its name from the fact that it is a passageway running around the back row of a number of buildings allowing access to their rear entrances

All in the saying: Ugley, in Essex, is commonly pronounced as 'Usley '

The town of North Piddle, in rural Worcestershire, got its name from the old English word piddle referring to a marsh or fen, which, overtime lent its name to the nearby stream Piddle Brook

Hooker Road in Norwich was named after William Jackson Hooker - a Botanist whose career eventually led him becoming Director of the Royal Gardens at Kew - who was born in Norwich in 1785

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2188441/Shitterton-comes-list-Britains-worst-place-names-including-Pratts-Bottom-Crapstone-Slag-Lane--live-insist-lovely-place-live.html#ixzz2Z7EDRElx

And the most embarrassing place to live in Britain is... Shitterton

Daily Mirror 15 Aug 2012 00:00

Residents of the Dorset village are braced for more toilet humour after it topped a poll of places with the most embarrassing names

They have been the butt of jokes for years.

Now the residents of Shitterton in Dorset are braced for more toilet humour after it topped a poll of places with the most embarrassing names in Britain.

The village beat Scratchy Bottom, also in Dorset, and Brokenwind in Aberdeenshire to top the list of places with the most unfortunate names in the UK.

Dorset can boast three of the top ten, with Happy Snoring coming in tenth in the table which came as a result of polling 1,773 people.

Crapstone, on the edge of Dartmoor, Devon, is fourth while Golden Balls, which is five miles south of Oxford, is fifth, in the survey carried out by family history website, findmypast.co.uk.

Shitterton, which lies in Dorset’s Piddle Valley, has been called ‘the village that dare not speak its name’.

However, residents recently clubbed together to pay for a 1.5 ton slab of local marble, carved with the Shitterton name, to be placed by the roadside at the hamlet’s entrance.

This replaced a more conventional Shitterton road sign, which kept getting stolen by souvenir hunters.

The origins of the name Shitterton are uncertain but one theory has it that it means simply ‘the village on the stream that is used as an open sewer’.

Local blacksmith Eddie Butterfield, 50, has proudly lived in Shitterton for 20 years.

He said: “I am well used to all the comments you get from people you speak on the phone and the interest from visitors.

“I suppose it is titillating to people from outside the area but to me Shitterton is home.

“People come here and have their picture taken by the sign. If coming first in this survey brings more people to the village then that is a good thing.”

Ian Ventham, chairman of the parish council, said: “The name doesn’t bother us in the slightest.

"Shitterton also lies in the Piddle Valley, but so what?”

Scratchy Bottom is a cliff-top valley in rural Dorset, near the village of Chaldon Herring.

The valley’s name is thought to refer to the fact it is a rough and rugged hollow.

Debra Chatfield, of findmypast, said: “Dorset is definitely the top county for unfortunate place-names, with three in the top 10.

“You can perhaps judge the strength of the short-list from the quality of the names that failed to make it.”

These included Sandy Balls (Hampshire), Pratts Bottom (Kent) and North Piddle (Worcestershire).

Mrs Chatfield, a family historian, added: “If there were an Olympics for unlikely place-names, Britain would surely be good for a medal, if not the gold.

“It would face some strong competition, from U.S. place-names such as Toad Suck (Arkansas), Climax (Georgia) and Boring (Oregon).

“In the course of researching their family history, people can discover their ancestors came from somewhere with an unlikely, unfortunate or downright embarrassing name.

“It’s not the worst thing you might unearth when tracing your ancestry but some people are unsettled to discover their forebears came from somewhere called, say, Crackpot, Ugley or Happy Bottom.

“It can puncture the magic of making a genealogical discovery.”

Top 10 ‘most embarrassing or unfortunate’ UK place names

1 Shitterton (Dorset)

2 Scratchy Bottom (Dorset)

3 Brokenwind (Aberdeenshire)

4 Crapstone (Devon)

5 Golden Balls (Oxfordshire)

6 Ugley (Essex)

7 Crackpot (North Yorkshire)

8 Backside (Aberdeenshire)

9 Great Snoring (Norfolk)

10 Happy Bottom (Dorset)

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/shitterton-most-embarrassing-place-name-1261430#ixzz2Z7FrHzn3

[AdamSmith]

More from around the world (first 2 from N.C.)...

[Guest NCBored]

More from around the world (first 2 from N.C.)...

Decades ago, while trying to find some potteries in rural NC, I saw a road sign at a small crossroads for 2 towns/communities:

ERECT

WHYNOT

Alas, this was before the days of cellphones & I didn't have a camera with me.

[AdamSmith]

Here we are...

...much obliged!

[AdamSmith]

Furthermore...

[lookin]

It's a crappy day

in Shitterton, and

Sir Henry decides

he could do with

a bit of fresh air.

[Guest CharliePS]

OK, I'll admit it: I actually had intercourse once in Intercourse, a lovely little town in the Pennsylvania Dutch country near Bird-in-Hand.