h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

At the weekend I drove through Queen Camel in Somerset (although someone had white-painted the sign into 'Queer Camel' - an interesting synonymic choice of vandalism). Signposted off the road were other odd names: Sandford Orcas sticks in the mind - I have visions of killer whales roaming the Somerset hills. Anyway, it gave me an idea for a collaborative Edited Guide Entry.

I guess many of you will live in or near villages with odd, archaic names. Do you have any favourites? Post them below and if we get enough I'll happily collate them and send it through Peer Review.

I was thinking that rather than just list the well-known ones you've heard of, it would be great if you could perhaps research the derivation of your favourite village name or tell us something interesting about the place - it will make the final entry much more readable.

All contributions gratefully received

Icy

I've always been partial to Charlton Mackrell (*cough* A53919606 *cough*), and a friend's parents live in Long Load (what is it about Somerset and place names..?)

Nempnett Thrubwell.

Boothby Graffoe - a village in Lincoln (and the name of a stand-up comedian)

Zeal Monachorum - Devon

Wetwang - Yorkshire

Rogue's Alley - Cambs

New Invention - Near Wolverhampton

Fulking in Sussex

Pratt's Bottom, near Biggin Hill

"I was thinking that rather than just list the well-known ones you've heard of, it would be great if you could perhaps research the derivation of your favourite village name or tell us something interesting about the place"

Sorry, I just started listing names before reading the OP properly.

Zeal Monachorum means a place where Monks live - it was attached to Buckfast Abbey.

There are actually two New Inventions. One in Shropshire as well. Wiki says that the Shropshire one was named for a local legend of a blacksmith who put shoes on horses backwards in order to confuse enemies. Sounds a bit dodgy to me.

I don't know anything about Rogue's Alley, other than it is a tiny little settlement out in the fens.

I was bitterly disappointed that I couldn't afford a house in Slack Bottom.

In the *but, hey* department:

http://members.shaw.ca/kcic1/places.html

A link to A1152938 is probably also required...

In France, Montcuq enjoys a certain notoriety, despite frantic claims by the locals that the final letter should be pronounced.

Knew a fella once who lived in Bell End.

Somerset is nothing on Cornwall.

I can't help you on the provenance of these (except that they're probably Cornish),
but Cornish musician Aphex Twin released a characteristically unlistenable single
called Ventolin, which featured "mixes" (not remotely like the original) of the
title track, named after the following Cornish places.

Praze-An-Beeble
Marazanvose
Plain-An-Gwarry
The Coppice
Crowsmengegus
Carharrack
and Probus.

Middle Wallop in Hampshire isn't really a place - it is simply the convergence of the
parishes of Over Wallop and Nether Wallop. It is nevertheless mentioned on
road signs, has an airfield which is home to the Army Air Corps and is the venue
for one of the country's big air shows.

The name derives from waella (street) and hop (valley) or 'the place of springing water'

Indian Queens in Cornwall.

Torpenhow in West Cumbria...

There are two oddities there, firstly, it's pronounced 'Trepenuh', secondly, if you break the name down:
Tor = Hill
Pen = Hill
How = Hill

So the whole thing means "Hill on a Hill on a Hill"

Well, all those River Avons are River-Rivers.

I lived in Pity Me in County Durham for a while. Prefab Sprout recorded in the studios there.

Ben

I used to drive through two villages in Cheshire - one was called Over Peover and the other was Peover Superior. I imagined battles from previous ages about which village was top dog.

Tell me that the first one is pronounced "over-pover" - Please!