Telling people your address is a common occurrence for most of us. But for some West Midlands residents, they may be left red-raced each time they tell someone where they live.
There are a number of interesting street names in the region whose monikers date back decades. However, the modern mind may take them as meaning something else.
This is the case for Bell End in Rowley Regis. The street was reportedly named after a bell tower which used to stand at the end of the road.
POLL: Do you agree with the DWP taking money from bank accounts or wages?
A postal worker previously previously told BlackCountryLive: “I love telling people I’m the Bell End postman. There was a petition to get it changed about three years ago.”
The 2018 petition to change the name managed to get around 100 signatures but a counter-petition was also launched to save it and that amassed nearly 4,800 signatures and so the name stuck.
Elsewhere in the West Midlands we have other interesting place names including Hardon Road in Wolverhampton, Old Butt Lane in Stoke-on-Trent and Willey in Warwickshire.
In Worcestershire, residents call Minge Lane home as well as Lickey End. Other place names in the UK which may cause a giggle are Twatt, Cockermouth, Brokenwind and Slag Lane.
Funny UK place names:
- Brokenwind – Aberdeen
- Brown Willy – Cornwall
- Balls Cross – West Sussex
- Bell End – Rowley Regis
- Bitchfield – Lincolnshire
- Boggy Bottom – Hertfordshire
- Butthole Lane – Loughborough
- Catbrain Hill – Gloucestershire
- Crackpot – North Yorkshire
- Crapstone – Devon
- Cockermouth – Cumbria
- Cockfosters – London
- Cocks – Cornwall
- Crotch Crescent – Oxford
- Droop – Dorset
- Dicks Mount – Suffolk
- Ding Dong – Cornwall
- Fanny Barks – Darlington
- Fanny Hands Lane – Ludford
- Fingringhoe – Essex
- Hooker Road – Norwich
- Hardon Road – Wolverhampton
- Loose Bottom – East Sussex
- Minge Lane – Worcestershire
- Mudchute – London
- Nob End – Greater Manchester
- Penistone – South Yorkshire
- Pratt’s Bottom – London
- Rotten End – Essex
- Spunkie – Scotland
- Sandy Balls – New Forest
- Scratchy Bottom – Dorset
- Sluts Hole Lane – Norfolk
- Slag Lane – Warrington
- Shitterton – Dorset
- Twatt – Orkney
- Upperthong – West Yorkshire
- Upper Dicker – East Sussex
- Wetwang – Yorkshire
BrumWish 2024 is Birmingham Live’s festive drive to get thousands of gifts to children and young people across our city – among them the homeless, the vulnerable, kids in care, kids who are poorly or struggling, and kids who have little.
There are THREE simple ways to help.
- Buy a new gift from the Brumwish 2024 Amazon giftlist. In just a click your donation will be whizzing its way to our volunteers at Edgbaston Stadium.
- Donate money to the appeal fund hosted by Thrive Together Birmingham – this will help pay for gifts for kids with specialist needs or specific wishes.
- Buy a gift and, even better, rope in friends, neighbours and workmates to do the same, then drop off your pressies at Edgbaston Stadium, Edgbaston Road, B5 7QU on Friday 6th December, 10am – 3pm; Saturday 7th December, 10am – 1pm; or Monday 9th December, 10am – 1pm. Volunteers will be there to help you. Please don’t wrap your gifts. You can also drop off by arrangement until Monday 16th December – contact Louise on 07469 979286.
Thanks to our partnership with #Toys4Birmingham, every single gift will find a good home in the loving care of a child living in B&Bs or hotels, hostels or refuges, children receiving support from specialist organisations and charities, and families being supported by children’s centres and charities around the city.
Making up the Brumwish and Toys4Birmingham gang are Thrive Together Birmingham, Birmingham Playcare Network, Warwickshire Cricket Foundation (the charitable arm of Warwickshire County Cricket Club), Birmingham Forward Steps and BirminghamLive/Birmingham Mail.
Thank you to Amazon UK and the amazing team at the Sutton Coldfield depot for their support.