100+ Funny British Place Names
April 26, 2013 update from Steph: Updated this page to add links to as many of the towns and streets as I could find in google maps. I originally added this list to my site on September 26, 2005, but I never verified whether the names were real places or not, until someone asked in comments. As far as I can tell, none of the thousand other sites that have this same list did either. It turned out that most of the names are of streets, rather than towns, so I updated the title of the page. If you have any names to add this list, feel free to contact me.
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- Jeffries Passage, Surrey
- Prince Albert Court, Surrey
- Nork Rise, Surrey, United Kingdom. There is also a Nork Way, Banstead, UK and Nork Park, Banstead, United Kingdom. All in the same little area. Street and park names.
- Brown Willy, Cornwall – Cornwall’s highest point!
- Great Tosson, Northumberland
- Trump Street, London
- St. Mellons, Cardiff
- Percy Passage, London – This one was hard to track down – you basically have to use Google Street View because Google Maps doesn’t note this as an actually street. Do look around, because this is a cool little place. It’s a street that goes through buildings and then winds around in alleys. Londonist put together a helpful map of all of London’s Back Passages.
- Booty Lane, North Yorkshire
- Nether Wallop, Hampshire
- Honeypot Lane, Husbands Bosworth, Leicestershire, United Kingdom
- Mudchute, London – this is an London Underground Station
- Juggs Close, East Sussex
- Cockermouth Green, Newcastle – I can find a Cockermouth Road, Sunderland, United Kingdom
- Six Mile Bottom, Cambridgeshire
- Cock and Bell Lane, Suffolk – This is in Long Melford.
- Little Bushey Lane, Hertfordshire
- Titlington Mount, Northumberland – The town of Titlington exists in Northumberland.
- Slippery Lane, Staffordshire
- Hooker Road, Norwich Also, Hooker Street, Northwich, United Kingdom
- Cumloden Court, Dumfries and Galloway
- Tinkerbush Lane, Oxfordshire
- Ugley, Essex
- Pratts Bottom, Greater London
- Ramsbottom Lane, Ramsbottom, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom
- Prickwillow, Cambridgeshire
- Old Sodbury, Gloucestershire
- Upper Dicker, East Sussex
- Swell, Somerset
- Bladda Lane, Paisley, United Kingdom
- Snatchup, Hertfordshire
- Spital in the Street, Lincolnshire
- Shingay cum Wendy, Buckinghamshire
- Pump Alley, Middlesex
- Old Sodom Lane, Wiltshire
- Long Lover Lane, Halifax
- East Breast, Inverclyde
- Norfolk Broads, Dicks Mount, United Kingdom
- Staines, Surrey
- Crapstone, Devon
- Three Cocks, Powys
- Feltwell, Norfolk
- Pant, Shropshire
- Balls Cross, West Sussex
- Ogle Close, Merseyside
- Friars Entry, Oxfordshire
- North Piddle, Worcestershire
- Mincing Lane, London
- Bottoms Fold, Lancashire
- Backside Lane, Oxfordshire
- Winkle Street, Southampton
- Wham Bottom Lane, Rochdale, United Kingdom
- Upperthong, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
- Tosside, Lancashire
- The Furry, Cornwall
- Lower Swell, Gloucestershire
- Lickers Lane, Merseyside
- Honey Knob Hill, Wiltshire
- Boghead, Ayrshire
- The Bush, Buckinghamshire
- Hill o’Many Stanes, Scotland – This is an historic site. More than 22 rows of low slabs arranged in a slightly fan-shaped pattern, which may have been a prehistoric astronomical observatory.
- Grope Lane, Shropshire – there is a Gropers Lane, Ipplepen, United Kingdom
- Willey, Warwickshire
- Happy Bottom, Dorset – This one exists, but was hard to find. Google Maps didn’t show it until I found an address with a postal code on this street elsewhere, then searched the address.
- Feltham Close, Hampshire
- The Knob, Oxfordshire – not finding this. Knob Hall Lane, Southport, United Kingdom, and other Knobs exist.
- Menlove Avenue, Liverpool
- Titty Ho, Northamptonshire
- Crotch Cresent, Oxfordshire
- Blairmuckhole & Forestdyke road, Lanarkshire
- Pant-y-Felin Road, Swansea
- Beef Lane, Oxfordshire
- Merkins Avenue, West Dumbartonshire
- Pork Lane, Essex
- Moisty Lane, Staffordshire
- Wetwang, East Yorkshire
- Scratchy Bottom, Dorset – This exists, all though it’s hard to find on maps. The link is to the wikipedia page. The location is a valley between Durdle Door and Swyre Head in Dorset, England. Also “Durdle Door”? Wow.
- Swallow Passage, London – like Percy’s passage, Swallow Passage is an alley that passes under buildings, and isn’t marked by name on Google Maps. You have to use street view to find it.
- Lickey End, Worcestershire
- Bitchfield, Lincolnshire
- Spanker Lane, Derbyshire
- Rimswell, East Riding of Yorkshire
- Lickfold, West Sussex
- Dick Court, Lanarkshire
- Beaver Close, Surrey – there are a number of streets named “Beaver Close” throughout the UK. Must have a lot of beavers nearby.
- Fanny Avenue, Derbyshire
- Cockshoot Close, Oxfordshire
- Inchinnan Drive, Renfrewshire – Inching in?
- Fanny Hands Lane, Lincolnshire
- Hole of Horcum, North Yorkshire – Saltergate, Hole of Horcum
- Slag Lane, Merseyside
- Shitterton, Dorset
- Back Passage, London – Another one of those London alleyways that doesn’t pop up on google maps. The famous “Ye Old Cheshire Cheese Shop” is located on this passage just off of Fleet Street.
- Fingringhoe, Essex
- Muff, Northern Ireland – Northern Ireland isn’t in Britain, obviously.
- Sandy Balls, Hampshire
- Twatt, Orkney Unlike many of these, Twatt is actually a town.
- Bell End, Wollaston – I’m not sure why Bell End is funny. Urban Dictionary: Bell End. Nevermind, I get it.
- Minge Lane, Worcestershire
- Cocks, Cornwall – There is a Cock’s Hill, Cornwall, and a Cock’s Lake Lane, Cornwall.
There. Aren’t you happy that I’ve taken a survey of all the Cocks, Tits, Snatches, Mounds, Swells and Scratchy Bottoms in the United Kingdom so you don’t have to? List inspired by and contributed to from Rude Britain.
Other funny or unusual British towns and place names
While I was hunting down the above place names, I discovered others that were funny or interesting.
- Butt Hole Road, Conisbrough, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom
- Fudgepack upon Humber, Humberside (ed note – Other than this reference, I can’t find any evidence this is real. There is a Barton-upon-Humber, North Lincolnshire, UK. )
- Golden Balls Roundabout, Oxford, Oxfordshire OX44, UK
- Great Snoring, Norfolk
- Little Snoring Road, Kettlestone
- Crackpot, North Yorkshire
- Backside Ln, Oxford
- Tickle Cock Bridge, Marshall Mews, Wakefield, United Kingdom
- Slutshole Lane, United Kingdom
- Hornyold Road, Malvern, Worcestershire, England
- Fine Bush Lane, Ruislip
- Horncastle, Linconshire
- Deeping St James, Lincolnshire
- Waddington, Lincolnshire
- Three Legged Cross, Dorset
- Wool, Dorset
- Puddletown, Dorset
- Affpuddle, Dorset, United Kingdom
- Briantspuddle, Dorset, United Kingdom
- Piddlehinton, Dorset, United Kingdom
- Piddletrenthide, United Kingdom
- Ansty, Warwickshire, United Kingdom
- Ashton under Lyne, Greater Manchester
- Cockermouth, Cumbria
- Dent, Cumbria
- Hockwold cum Wilton, United Kingdom
- Swyre Head, Dorset