Posted on 08/18/2012 3:24:01 AM PDT by Kukai
IT IS AN idyllic hamlet based around a single street of picturesque thatched cottages in rural Dorset.
But however lovely Shitterton is, the tiny collection of homes on the edge of the village of Bere Regis has been named as Britain’s most unfortunate place name in a new survey.
The tiny settlement between Dorchester and Poole beat the nearby valley of Scratchy Bottom, near Durdle Door in Dorset and Brokenwind in Aberdeenshire in the survey by findmypast.co.uk,
Shitterton is a very literal English translation of the village name recorded in Norman French in the 11th century Domesday Book as Scatera or Scetra which means a little town that is on the stream of a midden or sewer.
But Ian Ventham, chairman of Bere Regis Parish Council and proud Shitterton resident, said he does not find the name of the hamlet, with its long history, embarrassing.
“Shit is shit. Let’s not beat around the bush, that is where the name comes from,” the retired RNLI director said.
“But it isn’t a midden or shitheap now. It is a perfect rural hamlet with thatched cottages and idyllic Dorset countryside.
“Those of us who live here are not the least bit embarrassed by it.”
Shitterton hit the headlines in 2010 when residents got so fed up with pranksters stealing the standard road signs displaying the name that they clubbed together and bought a £680 one-and-a-half-tonne Purbeck stone version set in concrete.
According to the website, the valley of Scratchy Bottom is thought to take its name from the fact that it is a rough and rugged hollow.
Brokenwind was known as “Broken Wynd” in the 19th century, with wynd, the website said, a Scots word for a narrow path that snakes or winds between two larger roads.
Crapstone, a picturesque village on the western edge of Dartmoor in Devon, came fourth in the survey of 1,773 people, ahead of Golden Balls in Oxfordshire, Ugley in Essex, Crackpot in North Yorkshire, Backside in Aberdeenshire, Great Snoring in Norfolk and Happy Bottom in Dorset.
“If there were an Olympics for unlikely place names, Britain would surely be good for a medal, if not the gold”, said Debra Chatfield, a family historian at findmypast.co.uk.
“In the course of researching their family history, people can discover that their ancestors came from somewhere with an unlikely, unfortunate or downright embarrassing name.
“Some people are unsettled to discover that their forebears came from somewhere called, say, Crackpot, Ugley or Happy Bottom.”
I was in Cornwall last May and there’s a town called Mousehole. Not pronounced that way though...more like Mozzle. And one huge disappointment...not everyone in Cornwall speaks with the stereotypical Cornish accent. In fact, I only heard a few Cornish natives who sounded like Long John Silver. Drat. By the way, Cornish pasties are tremendous, and the best fish and chips in the world is at an inn called The Britannia near St. Austell.
And there’s one in Austria called “F..king”. No, not farking or funking. The sexual connotation. The town sign is stolen quite regularly.
Imagine being the head waiter at the Big Bone Lick Inn
I would have expected it to be , first, Brokenwind ... followed closely by Shitterton.
Fun discovery I just made: If you enter “Stadt Effing” (”Stadt” being Austrian for “town”) in Google Maps it takes you to F-ing, Austria!
Also, there’s a number of Effinghams in the US...
I live on Brown st. in......!
“There is a village in Yorkshire called Blubberhouses.”
Yes there is. On the A59 about halfway between Skipton and Harrogate.
Of course there were other places in the U.K. that they were too embarrassed to even mention:
Hickey-on-Butox
Exwyfe-off-Cliff
Emerod, Throbs.
Aynall, Bleeching
Peedofyle on Chylde
Direa
Queensroids
Buggerroff
Lynchwogs
Dogshiate
Just think how residents of our 7th planet feel....
There’s a Tickle C—t Creek somewhere back east, I think in Virginia.
Intercourse or Bird In Hand, Pa.
Is that where Barney Frank will retire?
It's well-fertilized, this we know.
I understand he visits often
Okay, am I the only one with XTC’s “Mayor of Simpleton” playing in my head?
“...I may be the mayor of Shitterton, but I know one thing and that’s I love you....”
Did you do a tour at MHS? Not many Yanks would know about these spots.
They called it “Hell” because “Detroit” was already taken.
I see your Big Bone Lick and raise you a Humptulips Washington.
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