UK Stations with Foreign Place Names

[ANDREW_D_WEBB]

Theydon Bois always sounds continental to me

 

[yorksrob]

Belmont on the Epsom Downs branch sounds decidedly continental to me. In another twist it was actually called "California" when first opened !

 

[Calthrop]

Belmont on the Epsom Downs branch sounds decidedly continental to me. In another twist it was actually called "California" when first opened !

I know that the thread is basically about open stations; but beg a bit of indulgence for my passion for the late delightful Midland & Great Northern Joint system -- which had a halt also called California, some miles north of its Yarmouth (Beach) terminus.

 

[yorksrob]

I know that the thread is basically about open stations; but beg a bit of indulgence for my passion for the late delightful Midland & Great Northern Joint system -- which had a halt also called California, some miles north of its Yarmouth (Beach) terminus.

That one would probably have more in common with the spirit of Big Sur than South London !

 

[SargeNpton]

Chatelherault on the Glasgow Central-Larkhall line.

The suffix of Weston-super-Mare is, I'd guess derived from the French "sure mer".

 

[CaptainHaddock]

Chapel-en-le-Frith (French for "chapel in the forest" apparently).

 

[beano900]

Hartlepool

 

[Calthrop]

The suffix of Weston-super-Mare is, I'd guess derived from the French "sure mer".

According to Wiki, not French but Latin: devised in medieval times, by the Church which of course was then a big Latin-user -- initially "Weston-juxta-Mare" (beside the sea); then modified to "-super-Mare" (above the sea). These added "tags" were given, to distinguish this settlement from the many others in the Diocese of Bath & Wells, named Weston. We learn that the "-super-Mare" suffix disappeared between about the 14th and 17th centuries; then crept back into use.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

There's a station on the Larkhall branch in Scotland called Chatelherault which had me foxed as it isn't Scottish.
It sounds French but not quite the same as the town of Chatellerault in Aquitaine.

Chatelherault on the Glasgow Central-Larkhall line.

We've had that one already!

Have we had St. Helier or Chapel-en-le-Frith yet?

Chapel-en-le-Frith (French for "chapel in the forest" apparently).

And that one also!

How about the two St. Budeaux stations in South West England?

 

[EssexGonzo]

Theydon Bois always sounds continental to me

I came here to mention this.

When I moved to the area 25+ years ago, I presumed Bois was pronounced like the French for drink - “Bwa”. Whereas, this being Essex, it is of course pronounced “Boys”.

Heathens.

 

[XAM2175]

Bethesda, on the former branch from Bangor.

What's the origin of that name?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

What's the origin of that name?

Might have taken its name from the Pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem. (This being the location where Jesus miraculously healed a paralyzed man, as per a fairly well-known story in the New Testament).

The North Wales place had a different name two hundred years or so ago. (Was Glanogwen). This changed after the Bethesda chapel was built in the village in c. 1823.

P.S. The Jerusalem place name of "Bethesda" itself is likely to have had a Hebrew or Aramaic origin ("Beth Hesda") and possibly means "House of Grace" or similar.

 

[Leslie Fletcher]

No longer a station - but still a junction - Portobello in the East end of Edinburgh.....'beautiful port' in both Italian and Spanish.

Once the next station where unfortunately nothing remains of railway interest but a very intriguing name: Joppa

 

[WelshBluebird]

I guess most Welsh place names sound foreign to English people! But I am guessing that one is cheating a little!

 

[Leslie Fletcher]

Once the next station where unfortunately nothing remains of railway interest but a very intriguing name: Joppa

… apart, that is, from the ECML!

 

[D6130]

All fascinating stuff....but some of these places are wildly OT! We're looking for station names which correspond to a current or archaic word in a non-UK language other than English, Welsh, Gaelic or Irish. (For example, Maryland may be in the USA, but it is clearly an English language name, whereas California - also in the USA - is a Spanish name and therefore a station of that name in the UK would count.

Once the next station where unfortunately nothing remains of railway interest but a very intriguing name: Joppa

Oh, I don't know...I believe that there's still a siding called the Joppa Straight, which is sometimes used for stabling special trains visiting Edinburgh during their turnround period. Joppa is the old Hebrew name for the modern-day Israeli port of Jaffa, so I would be happy to accept that.

My latest offering is Etruria in the Potteries, which is named in Latin and Italian after the ancient pre-Roman domain of the mysterious Etruscan people, whose pottery designs were widely copied by Stoke firms from the eighteenth century onwards.

 

[Mordac]

Adelaide on the Belfast to Newry line. Used to be my local station when I lived in South Belfast.

 

[hst43102]

If the USA counts as a "foreign" place, then :

- Plymouth
- York
- Newark
- Washington
- Boston
- Manchester
- Northampton
- Bangor

 

[zwk500]

If the USA counts as a "foreign" place, then :

- Plymouth
- York
- Newark
- Washington
- Boston
- Manchester
- Northampton
- Bangor

All named for the UK towns, not the other way round...

 

[hst43102]

All named for the UK towns, not the other way round...

Hence the emoticon at the bottom!

 

[Calthrop]

D6130 said: "No longer a station -- but still a junction -- Portobello in the East end of Edinburgh -- 'beautiful port' in both Italian and Spanish.

I believe that there's still a siding called the Joppa Straight, which is sometimes used for stabling special trains visiting Edinburgh during their turnround period. Joppa is the old Hebrew name for the modern-day Israeli port of Jaffa, so I would be happy to accept that.

I've always been charmed by these -- geographically incongruous -- neighbours on this side of Edinburgh. (My atlas says that the place in Israel is now [Tel-Aviv]-Yafo; but -- "tomahto, tomayto", etc.)

I gather that one was named with religious; and the other with political / military; reference. Joppa, per Wiki, "biblical... referring to [the Israeli port]; name first bestowed on this part of Edinburgh in the 18th century -- apparently because like its namesake, it sits next to the sea." (As do lots of other places in the Holy Land; but ah well, the folk there had every right to call it what they wanted to...). Portobello here, arose from a veteran of the action in 1739, in the War of the Austrian Succession, when Britain captured the port of Portobello in then-Spanish Panama: who settled in this hitherto rural area, building a cottage which he called "Portobello Hut" -- the settlement grew from there.

I can't help liking the verse of the bellicose ballad about the 1739 engagement --

"We fell to drinking strong wine and rum,
Until we got quite mellow;
And we swore that never a house should stand
In the town of Portobello".

 

[rower40]

Klondyke sidings at various stations and marshalling yards.

 

[mmh]

All named for the UK towns, not the other way round...

Washington (DC and the state) are not named after the UK town, but something rather more famous!

 

[59CosG95]

Stoke d'Abernon. Surprised this hasn't come up yet!

 

[zwk500]

Washington (DC and the state) are not named after the UK town, but something rather more famous!

Did the man himself not take his name from the town?

 

[mmh]

Did the man himself not take his name from the town?

Now that I never knew! Every day is a schoolday!

 

[zwk500]

Now that I never knew! Every day is a schoolday!

Just looked into it, and he did not but his ancestors had adopted the family seat as the surname many centuries prior. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_family

Would be stretching it a bit to claim either American place is named directly for the English town though.

 

[YorksLad12]

Kirkstall Forge.

Kirk being Old Norse for 'church' and Stall being Old English for 'place'. Now: you could argue that Old English isn't foreign, but I've been to a place in Austria called Ötztal, the "Ötz valley". Kirkstall is in a valley, so I thing we got 'stal' from them and repurposed it slightly.

That's my theory, and I'm sticking to it

 

[zwk500]

Kirkstall Forge.

Kirk being Old Norse for 'church' and Stall being Old English for 'place'. Now: you could argue that Old English isn't foreign, but I've been to a place in Austria called Ötztal, the "Ötz valley". Kirkstall is in a valley, so I thing we got 'stal' from them and repurposed it slightly.

That's my theory, and I'm sticking to it

BIB - that would make it English, if you've changed the meaning of the word?

 

[Taunton]

Temple Meads, Bristol. They were the fields of the nearby Temple Church (destroyed in WW2 bombing, ruins still there), from the Knights Templar once based there, a quasi-religious Middle-ages organisation based in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount.

Paddington, after a bear from Peru