Towns changing names

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Bertiebus
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Re: Towns changing names

Post by Bertiebus »

trickstat wrote:
Bertiebus wrote: I know someone who says they live in St. Evenage. Ironically, I also happen to know someone who claims to be from St. Reatham in south London.
Quite a lot of people say St. Evenage but in my experience only as a kind of in joke.
I never said it was serious!
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Re: Towns changing names

Post by Bfivethousand »

Every day's a schoolday... In keeping with many other Midlands towns adopting a French influence within their names, there used to be a town called Beaurepaire in Derbyshire.

Actually there still is, only nowadays it's known as Belper.
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Re: Towns changing names

Post by Piatkow »

rileyrob wrote: Sun Dec 03, 2017 17:38
trickstat wrote:Despite living my whole life nearer to the other two places, it is Burnham-On-Sea that I think of first if I hear "Burnham" without any other context. This is because I went on holiday there a number of times as a child.
You poor soul, you have my sympathy :D Mind, you I went on holiday to Hertfordshire several times (to see my Grandparents), so not every holiday destination is exotic!!
We used to stay with my mother's sister at Varteg in the South Wales Coalfield. Actually a great jumping off place for the Beacons. It hasn't had a name change but it took a local campaign to stop the council switching the signage to Welsh orthography. Just up the valley Blaenavon seems to be resisting as well.
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Re: Towns changing names

Post by Bryn666 »

You can appreciate why in the case of Varteg though - they'll become a laughing stock, plus sign theft and vandalism will become a serious issue.

Blaenafon is harder to argue against other than "is it really even necessary" - but this counts especially given the UNESCO status of the area and it being well established as Blaenavon.
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Re: Towns changing names

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The town that I grew up knowing as Seaham Harbour has lost its "Harbour" and is now simply "Seaham". But the harbour is still there, now doing business out of leisure sailing rather than coal transit. Inland, on the old A19, now B1285, there used to be an area called "New Seaham", but this seems to have disappeared from maps altogether. It was the area just south of Seaham Colliery, and would be between B1404 and B1287 today, not including the estate known as "Deneside". OS Landranger seems to call it West Lea these days.
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Re: Towns changing names

Post by Chris Bertram »

And towns may change their names, but aristocratic titles don't change with them. There's a House of Lords byelection among the Crossbench peers to replace Earl Baldwin of Bewdley (a descendant of PM Stanley Baldwin), who has retired. Among the many candidates is the Earl of Carnarvon, resolutely sticking to the historic anglicised version of the town's name. Presumably it's not easy to amend the letters patent that created his title. Or perhaps he's just not bothered about it.
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Re: Towns changing names

Post by KeithW »

Chris Bertram wrote: Mon Jun 18, 2018 16:54 The town that I grew up knowing as Seaham Harbour has lost its "Harbour" and is now simply "Seaham". But the harbour is still there, now doing business out of leisure sailing rather than coal transit. Inland, on the old A19, now B1285, there used to be an area called "New Seaham", but this seems to have disappeared from maps altogether. It was the area just south of Seaham Colliery, and would be between B1404 and B1287 today, not including the estate known as "Deneside". OS Landranger seems to call it West Lea these days.
The area has a convoluted history but as I understand it the original settlement at Seaham was monastic on the site of Seaham Hall to the North. After the dissolution it became the Manor of Seaham and St Mary The Virgin was the church of Seaham Parish.

Seaham Harbour was built much later in the early 19th century by the then Lord Londonderry to handle the coal from the Rainton and Penshaw Pits. The Seaton and Seaham Collieries were then sunk and the community that developed between them and Seaham Harbour became known as New Seaham with its own Parish Church. The Londonderry's didnt want any confusion between a dirty industrial town and their little corner of Paradise. Just to add more confusion to the mix the name of the railway station was Seaham Colliery to distinguish it from the harbour station, called Seaham, used by coal trains. As these communities coalesced they were referred to by the OS as Greater Seaham which in 1890 consisted of Seaham, New Seaham and Seaham Harbour. By 1939 Seaham Harbour Station had been closed, Seaham Colliery Station had been renamed as Seaham, the local authority was Seaham Urban District Council and the OS Maps showed the whole area as Seaham.
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Re: Towns changing names

Post by silverfoxcc »

Seeing the Humphrey Lyttleton quote remind me of his introduction on 'I'm Sorry iI haven't a Clue' when it was being broadcast from Nottingham

IIRC

The punchline following a long ramble on the history of Nottingham ended with

Not many Nottingham residents realise that many of the towns in the Middle ages were prefixed by the letter S, thus Nottingham was once known as Snottingham. This was changed to its present name in the 18th century.

However the residents of Scunthorpe have so far resisted this move
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Re: Towns changing names

Post by Truvelo »

Has anyone mentioned Buttock's Booth yet? This is a suburb of Northampton which was renamed Boothville, no doubt for political reasons.
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Re: Towns changing names

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silverfoxcc wrote: Sat Dec 01, 2018 20:47 Seeing the Humphrey Lyttleton quote remind me of his introduction on 'I'm Sorry iI haven't a Clue' when it was being broadcast from Nottingham

IIRC

The punchline following a long ramble on the history of Nottingham ended with

Not many Nottingham residents realise that many of the towns in the Middle ages were prefixed by the letter S, thus Nottingham was once known as Snottingham. This was changed to its present name in the 18th century.

However the residents of Scunthorpe have so far resisted this move
Must be true, Snottingham was mentioned on QI not so long ago!
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Re: Towns changing names

Post by Rob666 »

First post, long time lurker.
The town of Nelson in Lancashire was originally called Marsden, a grouping of three hamlets.
When the trains turned up, they named the station after the local pub, which had been renamed to celebrate the victory of Lord Nelson following Trafalgar.
It stopped confusion with the tyke Marsden, over the big hills.
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Re: Towns changing names

Post by JohnnyMo »

Rob666 wrote: Fri Jan 03, 2020 06:55 First post, long time lurker.
Welcome
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Re: Towns changing names

Post by Bryn666 »

Rob666 wrote: Fri Jan 03, 2020 06:55 First post, long time lurker.
The town of Nelson in Lancashire was originally called Marsden, a grouping of three hamlets.
When the trains turned up, they named the station after the local pub, which had been renamed to celebrate the victory of Lord Nelson following Trafalgar.
It stopped confusion with the tyke Marsden, over the big hills.
Welcome to SABRE! Those pesky railways, eh... coming over 'ere, renaming our towns :laugh:

You're not also situated close to the A666 are you?
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Re: Towns changing names

Post by Chris Bertram »

Bryn666 wrote: Tue Jan 07, 2020 12:03 Those pesky railways, eh... coming over 'ere, renaming our towns :laugh:
Or respelling them. Whittlesey, near Peterborough, has a railway station ... called "Whittlesea". This is an historically correct spelling, though, so maybe the town has renamed itself.

I'm pretty sure that this isn't the only instance of this, but can't immediately recall any other examples.
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Re: Towns changing names

Post by Chris Bertram »

trickstat wrote: Thu Feb 22, 2018 23:22
Bertiebus wrote: I know someone who says they live in St. Evenage. Ironically, I also happen to know someone who claims to be from St. Reatham in south London.
Quite a lot of people say St. Evenage but in my experience only as a kind of in joke.
Don't forget St Ockwell on the Victoria Line.
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Re: Towns changing names

Post by Rob666 »

Bryn666 wrote: Tue Jan 07, 2020 12:03
Rob666 wrote: Fri Jan 03, 2020 06:55 First post, long time lurker.
The town of Nelson in Lancashire was originally called Marsden, a grouping of three hamlets.
When the trains turned up, they named the station after the local pub, which had been renamed to celebrate the victory of Lord Nelson following Trafalgar.
It stopped confusion with the tyke Marsden, over the big hills.
Welcome to SABRE! Those pesky railways, eh... coming over 'ere, renaming our towns :laugh:

You're not also situated close to the A666 are you?
I'm close to the junction from hell that is Brownhill, on the mighty highway itself.
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Re: Towns changing names

Post by Bryn666 »

Rob666 wrote: Tue Jan 07, 2020 13:21
Bryn666 wrote: Tue Jan 07, 2020 12:03
Rob666 wrote: Fri Jan 03, 2020 06:55 First post, long time lurker.
The town of Nelson in Lancashire was originally called Marsden, a grouping of three hamlets.
When the trains turned up, they named the station after the local pub, which had been renamed to celebrate the victory of Lord Nelson following Trafalgar.
It stopped confusion with the tyke Marsden, over the big hills.
Welcome to SABRE! Those pesky railways, eh... coming over 'ere, renaming our towns :laugh:

You're not also situated close to the A666 are you?
I'm close to the junction from hell that is Brownhill, on the mighty highway itself.
Lost my mirrors to fellow devils highway riders many times.
Gaffer tape left in drivers door now.
My sympathies. Still could be worse, you could have had the M65 on stilts there so...
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Re: Towns changing names

Post by roadtester »

silverfoxcc wrote: Sat Dec 01, 2018 20:47 Seeing the Humphrey Lyttleton quote remind me of his introduction on 'I'm Sorry iI haven't a Clue' when it was being broadcast from Nottingham

IIRC

The punchline following a long ramble on the history of Nottingham ended with

Not many Nottingham residents realise that many of the towns in the Middle ages were prefixed by the letter S, thus Nottingham was once known as Snottingham. This was changed to its present name in the 18th century.

However the residents of Scunthorpe have so far resisted this move
That's reminded me of another Humph introduction. I can't remember if it was actually coming from Grimsby but one of the panellists was the Labour MP for Great Grimsby, Austin Mitchell.

The introduction was something along the lines of "and our fourth panellist is Austin Mitchell, MP for Great Grimsby. Or as people from elsewhere call it...[perfectly timed comic pause]...Grimsby."
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Re: Towns changing names

Post by gaustin11 »

The town of Gillingham in Kent on the Medway used to be known as New Brompton. Gillingham used to be a small village in the area, around where Gillingham Green is.
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Re: Towns changing names

Post by the cheesecake man »

Bfivethousand wrote: Wed May 09, 2018 13:50 Every day's a schoolday... In keeping with many other Midlands towns adopting a French influence within their names, there used to be a town called Beaurepaire in Derbyshire.

Actually there still is, only nowadays it's known as Belper.
While in County Durham the same word turned into Bearpark
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