There is a station not so very far from Ilkley, with a most un-Yorkshire-like name. I refer to Ben Rhydding.
How should the phoenetic inflections be correctly uttered when saying the second word of the name of this particular station ?
That would be a hangover from when the local language was, what we now call, Welsh. The language was spoken in a large part of what is now the UK, from Cornwall (Kernow) to Scotland. The Cornish place names are nearly always obvious to a Welsh speaker except where they have been corrupted into Cornlish e.g. Launceston which is a corruption of Llanstephan. Scottish examples abound such as, Strathclyde (Ystrad Clud); Aberfeldy and Aberdeen. In the south of England there are fairly obvious place names, including Dover, which is a corruption of Dwfr (water); Minehead (Mynydd); Coombe Batch (Cwm Bach). There is also, at least, one Aber in Yorshire; Aberford.
As a Welsh speaker, its fun to travel into deepest England and spot a name, often corrupted, that has obviously come from the older language. My personal favourite is Bagwyllydiart ( a cluster of gates) in Herefordshire, which has survived unblemished.
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