How Yorkshire Post readers fared when trying to pronounce these Yorkshire place names

Last week, we asked you on our social media channels to name the places that are most mispronounced in Yorkshire, and you responded in your hundreds.

So, to put a few true Yorkshire folk to the test, we picked some out and challenged them to pronounce them correctly.

The place names we went with were Slaithwaite, Market Weighton, Masham, Mytholmroyd and Rievaulx.

First up was Slaithwaite, which is actually pronounced 'sla-wit', which comes from the Old Norse language for a timber-fell clearing.

Next up was the slightly easier to work out Market Weighton, pronounced 'wee-tn'. The town was listed in the Domesday book as Wicstun, which probably explains how the unusual pronunciation evolved. It was also suggested by a lexicographer that it is the location of the still-undiscovered Roman camp of Delgovicia.

Masham is a little simpler to explain, but harder to pronounce. Its name derives from the Anglo-Saxon for Maessa's Ham, or the home of Maessa.

Often known to locals just as 'royd', the pronunciation of Mytholmroyd is enough to fool even hardened Yorkshire folk. It was recorded in the 13th Century as 'Mithomrode' and in the 17th Century as Mitholmroide'. The name is probably derived from the Old English for river mouth (mythe) and field or clearing (rodu). It is thought the 'l' was included in the name out of confusion with the Old Norse word 'holm' which means a small island.

And finally Rievaulx, famed for its abbey. As you have probably worked out, the name is French in its origin. It comes for Rye (as in the nearby river) and val or valle, which is the Norman/French for valley. Curiously, it was previously pronounced as Rivers, but was changed to Reevo.

Are there any other unusual place name pronunciations in Yorkshire you'd like us to explore? Let us know here.