Many of the most bizarre titles for the country’s towns, villages, hamlets and streets offer a fascinating insight into the history of that area.
In some cases, the origins are fairly clear, with the roots often found in Old English words or the names of the region’s wealthiest and most powerful families of yesteryear.
In other instances, the derivation is somewhat muddier, with several competing theories, from the poetic to the more prosaic.
Some of the local legends behind these place names certainly make fantastic stories, even if they’re not the most historically accurate.
This photo gallery takes you on a whistle-stop tour around the UK, stopping off at some of the places with the funniest and oddest names, and attempting to get to the bottom of how they came to be called what they are.
They include one place with two names, depending upon which direction you approach from; another named after an apocryphal encounter between Mary, Queen of Scots, and a fortune teller; and a third referring to the area’s disreputable past.
Some of the names are so brilliant that those places, including one of the UK’s shortest streets, have become tourist destinations in their own right.
Have you visited any of these places, and what is your favourite place name? If you enjoyed this article, you might like this look at some of the UK’s ugliest buildings which have been reduced to rubble.
1. Carlton Scroop
This small village near Grantham, Lincolnshire, is mentioned in the Domesday Book and was the scene of a deadly clash in the 1700s between two highwaymen, Thomas Watson and Spence Broughton, the latter of whom was hanged for murder. The name Carlton comes from a combination of the Old Norse word 'karl', meaning a freeman of the lower class, or peasant, and the Old English term 'tūn', which is an enclosure or farmstead. The Scroop is believed to have been added later and comes from the family name of Henry Scrop, who held land there in 1346. | Google
2. Pity Me
This village in Durham has one of the most interesting names in the UK There are several romantic theories about how it got its title. One is that when the coffin of St Cuthbert was dropped there on the way to Durham, the saint implored the monks bearing him to take pity on him and be more careful. Another is that a group of monks fleeing a Viking raid sang the 51st Psalm, including a phrase translating as 'Pity me, O God'. The truth is probably more quotidian, however, with the name believed to date only as far back as the 19th century and to refer, in playful fashion, to the area's desolation and the difficulty of cultivating the land. | Google
3. Cuddy Lane
This small street in the Morningside neighbourhood of Edinburgh has an intriguing name, with potentially quite insulting origins. Cuddy means 'donkey' or 'stupid' in Scottish dialect, and according to the late Edinburgh author Charles Boog Watson, Cuddy Lane is named after its residents. He didn't specify whether it refers to the animals or to the human inhabitants. | Google
4. Crackpot
This pretty village in North Yorkshire has one of the best names in the UK. It derives from the Old English word 'kraka', or crow, and the Viking word 'pot', usually denoting a pit or a deep hole, and in this case referring to a nearby rift in the limestone. | Google