Unusual British Place Names Trivia Quiz

Answer: North Piddle

North Piddle is a small parish located on Piddle Brook in Worcestershire, England. Listed in documents dating back to the 16th century and earlier, much of its area then was farmland, and the surrounding district today still reflects this early connection, in names such as Husband Acre and Gostell Field.

The famous Domesday Book of 1086 also records two areas in North Piddle that were held by the Norman medieval sheriff of Worcestershire at the time, on behalf of the Abbey of Westminster. Amazingly so, this area of England suffered a rather large earthquake in 1896 which would be enough to make anyone piddle - except that "piddle" when first introduced into the Engish language had nothing at all to do with urination, but was a term to describe a small stream instead.

Answer: Mincing Lane

Mincing Lane is a short thoroughfare in London linking Fenchurch Street to Great Tower Street. It was once quite renowned during the 19th century as the world's leading trading centre for spices and tea. It derives its modern name of Mincing Lane from Anglo-Saxon times through to the Middle Ages when it was known as Mynchen Lane. During this period, it was owned by the Benedictine nuns of the Saint Helen's Bishopsgate church as tenements.

The Anglo Saxon word for a nunnery was "minchery" and for a nun, it was "minicen".

Answer: Beer

Beer is a civil parish and beautiful little village facing Lyme Bay in Devon, England. This is an area of the world known as the Jurassic Coast, England's first World Heritage site. All of England should be a World Heritage site in this writer's opinion. Beer has a long history going back as far as the Domesday Book and earlier.

It was, at one time, an excellent site for smugglers to store their illegal goods in the many caves there. Once famous for the hard glassy stone found in the chalk hills nearby, many of Beer's old cottages are still faced with this material. Today though, it is tourism and fishing that provide much of the area's income.

There is no truth to the rumour that many Australian men are lured to this village because of its enticing name, for in fact, Beer's name isn't derived from an alcoholic drink, but from an old English "bearu" which meant a grove. Beer was once surrounded by lovely green forests.

Answer: Brown Willy

Brown Willy is a hill in Cornwall, England and is the highest point in that part of the world. Its name has gone through many changes over the centuries, depending on the dialects spoken. These include Brunwenely, in approximately 1200, Brown Wenely in 1239, Brenwenelyn in 1276 and so on through the years until it reached its modern name of Brown Willy. In 2012 a campaign was launched by a few local - and perhaps slightly puritanical - enthusiasts to have the name officially changed back to its original Bronn Wennili, in order that this would be "slightly more attractive to residents and tourists than Brown Willy" - but this was soundly defeated by the majority of other locals. Indeed, the Daily Telegraph ran an editorial supporting the familiar name under the headline "Hands off Brown Willy".

Oh Lord luv a duck, Brown Willy is regarded as a sacred site by members of a UFO religion founded there in 1954. The Aetherius Society, as it is known, believe that Brown Willy is charged with holy energy, and they gather there every year on 23 November to celebrate Charging Day when the sun is in alignment with positive and negative rocks. Brown Willy though IS known for an eerie meteorological rainfall effect in which heavy rainfall develops on the high ground and then travels in a long line of continuous showers along the coast, so perhaps I'd better not mock. (Cue the spooky music, Maestro).

Answer: Crackpot

Crackpot is a village in North Yorkshire, England. Its name is a combination of an Old English word for a crow (krakka) and an old Viking word, pot, which usually meant a deep hole in a river. In Crackpot's case, however, the pot refers to a large opening in the nearby limestone Scurvey Scar.

This notable site contains an example of a stalactite and a stalagmite which have linked up to form a column. So what that has to do with the original crow is anybody's guess. To get to see that famous column, however, you have to make your way through an aptly named entrance known as Knee Wrecker's Passage.

Answer: Pratt's Bottom

Pratt's Bottom is located in the London Borough of Bromley, and not far from the border with Kent. This small village has a shop, a pub, a hall, and two small churches. It once had a post office as well, but that was sacrificed by the government in widespread closures of smaller offices.

It also had its own parish, but that disappeared as well, when it was merged with Bromley. How the mighty have fallen, for Pratt's Bottom once was part of the estate of a noble and illustrious family. There are a lot of Bottoms in England one could say.

The name has nothing to do with the human anatomy, but it was a word which once meant a valley or hollow.

Answer: Nether Wallop

Nether Wallop, a village in Hampshire, England, is part of a group of three small villages known collectively as "The Wallops". The other two are Over Wallop and Middle Wallop. The name derives from the Old English words waella and hop which translated to "the valley of springing water". Nether Wallop is a very ancient place.

The Battle of Guoloph took place there between a combined invading force of Jutes and Saxons and the ultimately victorious Britons some time around 440 AD. Nether Wallop is also noted for an interesting fortress located nearby, which dates right back to the Iron Age.

Answer: Great Snoring

Great Snoring, another rural village, is located in North Norfolk. It has lovely old-fashioned homes made of flint and brick, and an old rectory and church. It is not too far from an inn and shop, known as, what else, Little Snoring. Must be the missus. Mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, Great Snoring was known as Snaringa or Snarringes back then, and so named after a resident by the name of Snear.

In 1611, the Lord of the Manor of Great Snoring, Sir Ralph Shelton, sold this area to the Lord Chief Justice, remarking as he did so that he "could sleep without Snoring". Over time since then, the village has been notable for a large workhouse constructed there for the poor in the 1830s, a smallpox hospital in the 1930s, and a Civil Defence site in the 1950s.

While researching this site, an old newspaper photograph and headline from circa 1920 caught my eye and made me smile. It read "Harry Stanley married local Snoring girl, Olive".

Answer: Barton in the Beans

Barton in the Beans is a small hamlet in Shackerstone Civil Parish, Leicestershire, England - so small, in fact, that it has neither shops nor pub (most unusual). It does have a post box though, you'll be pleased to know. Mentioned in records dating back to the Domesday Book, this area was part of the lands given to Hugh de Grandmesnil, who fought alongside a grateful William the Conqueror. Blimey, the King gave Hugh 100 manors in total as a sign of his appreciation. He must have been very grateful indeed. There's an amusing story about the hardy Hugh during the Battle of Hastings. The bridle on his horse broke, and it took off, galloping out of control, straight towards a group of English warriors. Clinging desperately on, Hugh prepared himself for death. However, the defending soldiers, seeing such an easy prey coming their way, gave such a shout of triumph that they scared the frisky horse out of its wits, and it changed direction again, galloping straight back in the direction from whence it had come.

The area of Leicestershire where Barton in the Beans is located was once noted for its cultivation of broad beans, hence the hamlet's name. A popular saying in that part of the world is "Shake a Leicestershire man by the collar and you may hear the beans rattle in his belly". Another interesting resident from this area of the world was a Baptist minister named John Goodman who was born in 1765. He moonlighted by hiring out leeches for bloodletting - very popular with the medical fraternity of the time. This sturdy fellow collected his leeches whenever he needed a fresh supply, by travelling down to Wales, or up to Cheshire, and wading bare-legged through the lakes there.

Answer: Scratchy Bottom

Scratchy Bottom is a dry clifftop valley (an interesting oxymoron) in the chalk in Dorset, England, along the Jurassic Coast. It is surrounded on three sides by farmland, and faces out to a breathtaking view over the ocean. This area of England is quite lovely in spite of its comical name. Also known as Scratchy's Bottom, this location came second in 2012 in a poll of Britain's Worst Place Names.

It would be impolite to tell you which area took out first place.