There’s Only One Crackpot Isn’t There?

There’s only one Crackpot isn’t there? I’m not so sure. I was listening to the radio this morning, one of those phone-in’s where the presenter says which topic he’s going to be discussing, today’s topic being ‘Funniest Nicknames for Teachers!’ I wasn’t really paying attention, until one caller who said her name was Peggy Clutterbuck from Crackpot! Did I hear right? From Crackpot? Apparently so. It’s a village in North Yorkshire. I wonder what people who are born and bred there are known as? Like Mancunians from Manchester or Brummies from Birmingham are they known as Crack-potians? So many questions, I just had to look at the map to see where it was and to see if there are any other towns or villages with funny sounding names.

Twatt

It didn’t take me long to see there are many places with unusual names, some are quite rude too. Like Twatt in Orkney, (I’m not standing next to this sign for a photo) is another strange one. The mind boggles as to what the residents of this little outpost might be known. To be honest, it doesn’t take a genius to work this one out, but it’s not something complimentary.

Scratchy Bottom

How about this place. Scratchy Bottom! This is in Dorset. Fortunately, I don’t think anyone lives there. It’s just a cliff top valley and according to Wikipedia, the name is thought to refer to a rough hollow! Well, there’s more, apparently the place name came second to Shitterton in a 2012 poll for Britain’s worst place name. You can see Scratchy Bottom for yourself as it appeared in the opening of the 1967 film, Far From The Madding Crowd.

Dull

Not much going on here. Dull, in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It’s a row of houses with a church and graveyard at the one end. If you’re wondering how they came up with such an exciting name, Dull may mean ‘meadow’ in Gaelic. Why didn’t they just call it Meadow? Or even MacDull, has a little more Scottish ring to it.

Sandy Balls

If you like the outdoor life, camping and caravanning then Sandy Balls could be right up your street! This is the name of a holiday village situated in the New Forest in Hampshire. I can’t find how the name came about for this place, perhaps the guy who owns it had a personal reason at the time, maybe he’d just got back from a visit to the beach!!

Horni’ Police

It seems naming our towns and villages in a unusual manner isn’t unique to the UK. Horni’ Police is a village in the Czech Republic which conjurs up all sorts of images for me. I wonder what it really means? In Google translate, the Czech word for Police means ‘Shelves’ and Horni’ means Horni’. Horni’ Shelves. I don’t know if I’ll ever got to visit any of these places, I think I’m off to Punkydoodles Corner, which is in Canada. Look it up.