Places that have changed names

[Mcr Warrior]

Brokenhurst or Brpockenhurst? The golf club insists on the former

Have you introduced a typo there?

no, I don't run the golf club

Some sources claim that the golf club spelling was the original and preceded the coming of the railway in 1847 when the letter "c" was possibly added to Brockenhurst.

 

[D6130]

Eaglescliffe is reputed to have been so-called because of a clerical error by someone planning the Stockton & Darlington Railway mis-reading an old map. The nearest village - about a mile away - was Egglescliffe (meaning the church on the cliff), which overlooks Yarm from a rocky eminence across the River Tees. However the name of the station was adopted by the much larger suburb which developed around it.

 

[duncanp]

How did it get the name "Moscow", incidentally? Coincidence or named after the Russian capital? I've heard of various "Moscow"s in the USA, but never one in Scotland!

I believe the village in East Ayrshire is pronounced so that the second syllable rhymes with Cow, rather than the name of the Russian capital.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I believe the village in East Ayrshire is pronounced so that the second syllable rhymes with Cow, rather than the name of the Russian capital.

Isn't that how many US folk pronounce the Russian capital, i.e. "Moss Cow" rather than "Moss Co"?

 

[Calthrop]

I believe the village in East Ayrshire is pronounced so that the second syllable rhymes with Cow, rather than the name of the Russian capital.

Isn't that how many US folk pronounce the Russian capital, i.e. "Moss Cow" rather than "Moss Co"?

I'd gathered that in America, they do tend to say "Moss Cow". The original Russian -- written and spoken -- is "Moskva". And the French version is pronounced "Moss Coo". Really, it would seem: us non-Russian types may, and do, render it however we like !

 

[Basil Jet]

They could insist that it was pronounced 'Mosscock' as in the '80s Cockburns TV ad.

 

[D821]

The Guardian has a piece today on places with "rude" place names, a list several that have changed their name to avoid sniggering and sign theft:

https://www.theguardian.com/science...r-of-britains-fantastically-filthy-placenames

 

[philthetube]

I expected Haltwhistle to fit in this list but apparently not.

Hal meant hill and twistle refers to two rivers.

 

[AM9]

The Guardian has a piece today on places with "rude" place names, a list several that have changed their name to avoid sniggering and sign theft:

https://www.theguardian.com/science...r-of-britains-fantastically-filthy-placenames

How many people passing through have their photos taken whilst taking a rest on the bench outside the church?

 

[Gloster]

****t was the site of a Royal Navy Air Station, HMS Tern, during World War II. The first commanding officer is supposed to have suggested to My Lords of the Admiralty that a name change might not be a bad idea, but they could see why. It was also the site of Britain’s first helicopter crash.

 

[Noddy]

The village/parish/manor of Whitminster in Gloucestershire (on the A38) was originally called something along the lines of Wheatenhurst. The name was corrupted to what became Whitminster (there never was a minster) in the post-medieval period, but the name of the parish only officially changed in 1945. And the Wheatenhurst name survived in a hamlet to the west of the main village in the belief it must belong somewhere.

 

[Calthrop]

I expected Haltwhistle to fit in this list but apparently not.

Hal meant hill and twistle refers to two rivers.

It does strike me as a little bit eerie that a community with that name became, and remained for many years, a railway junction.

 

[317 forever]

Given that Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells are close, I wonder whether one town is a mis-spelling of its original name. Likewise, it could be an established spelling error that had led to the town Dumbarton in the county Dunbartonshire.

I am surprised that Pontefract in West Yorkshire has kept its Latin name, meaning Broken Bridge. (This is the reason the Wetherspoons there is called The Broken Bridge).

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Likewise, it could be an established spelling error that had led to the town Dumbarton in the county Dunbartonshire.

For many years, 'Dunbarton' and 'Dumbarton' were used interchangeably.

The place name derives from Scottish Gaelic.

Current practice uses Dumbarton for the town and Dunbarton(shire) for the former county and subsequent local authority areas, so a historical quirk, but not an error.

 

[weepingwillowb]

Appleby, the county town of Westmorland, had its name changed to Appleby-in-Westmorland before the county boundary changes in 1974, and Westmorland became part of Cumbria.

 

[Calthrop]

Given that Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells are close, I wonder whether one town is a mis-spelling of its original name.

According to Wikipedia, Tonbridge's name was spelt "Tunbridge" until 1870; in which year the name was changed by the General Post Office, for all postal purposes, to "Tonbridge": in an attempt to remedy the postal confusion which had come about, because of the name-similarity of the two towns. This was done, in spite of Tonbridge being a much earlier settlement, than Tunbridge Wells.

In the early-ish decades of nation-wide postal services, following from the introduction of postage stamps: quite a number of settlements in different parts of Britain were subjected in this fashion, to official changes in the spelling of their names; in the interests of making it easier for mail to get to its intended destination.

 

[Peter Sarf]

I believe Strood in Kent and Stroud in Goucestershire have shared each others spellings and iirc "Strude" as well.
(That last spelling in my mind could probably be the original name connected to a Saintly person of irreverent attitude /fabrication ).

 

[Bertone]

The Midland Railway "Nicky Line" from Harpenden to Hemel Hempstead or Hemel Hempsted!