Ominous sounding roads.

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Jam35
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

Post by Jam35 »

Sunil_of_Yoxley wrote:Not strictly speaking a road, but the Gallows Corner roundabout, the junction of the A12 and A127 northeast of Romford.
Gallows are fairly common in street names, and seem to get increasingly so as one gets further north. Off the top of my head, there's a Gallowtree Gate (ex-A6) in the middle of Leicester; a Gallowgate (B1307, ex-A696) in Newcastle-upon-Tyne; another Gallowgate (mainly A89) in Glasgow; yet another Gallowgate (unclassified) in Richmond (Yorkshire); and a Gallows Hill in Coventry Outskirts Warwick University. There were once more: for instance, City Road in Cardiff has been renamed twice -- it started off as Heol y Plwcca [more standardly, "Plyciau"], roughly meaning Gallows Street, and then became Castle Road before the confusion with Castle Street saw it changed to City Road. I wouldn't be surprised if it were the same fit of early-19th Century seemliness -- the one that also killed the common street-name Grope Lane (and its more explicit versions) -- that is responsible for a depletion of gallows in street-names.
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

Post by TheKeymeister »

Lovely example in Sheffield, Deadmans Hole Lane...
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

Post by A21Will »

Ritchie333 wrote:In Kent there's Death Hill on the A20 near Brand's Hatch, which has since been renamed Gorse Hill. For some reason, I used to confuse it with Wrotham Hill a bit further along.
It was originally called Gorse Hill. The Death Hill name was applied for a few years officially as many people had known it as such unofficially for ages, principally due to the tendancy for bikers to kill themselves on it. Complaints locally lead to the Gorse hill name being restored.
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jcpren
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

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Not so sinister, but rather rude-sounding: Arrotshole Road in East Kilbride
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Chris Bertram
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

Post by Chris Bertram »

bucephalus wrote:there is a Dog Pool Lane in Birmingham.
This is famous for the frequency with which the final letter of the street sign is obscured.
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

Post by FosseWay »

Flesh Hovel Lane near Loughborough is not so much ominous as plain bizarre.
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

Post by ellandback »

Halifax has a Gibbet Street, Gaol Lane and a street which is simply called "Bottoms".

Hullenedge Lane in Elland used to be called Workhouse Lane, but that was just slightly before my time.
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

Post by MJN »

And what of the classic Long Tongue Scrog Lane at Houses Hill near Huddersfield?
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

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For sheer old-school horror, Skull House Lane takes some beating! :twisted:
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

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Pervs Corner in Haworth familar to Sabre recently.
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

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Paul wrote:For sheer old-school horror, Skull House Lane takes some beating! :twisted:
Just north of there is a crossroads called Dangerous Corner. Just which of the four corners is the dangerous one is not clear!
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Cian
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

Post by Cian »

vlad wrote:Does the A666 count? :)

The R666 is an ominous drive at any kind of speed, to match its numbering!
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

Post by autosignguy »

Hope Fold Avenue in Atherton, Hopefold Drive in Walkden... another two to add to the list.
Also, Bleakhouse Road in Birmingham... named after a Dickens novel I guess!
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ravenbluemoon
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

Post by ravenbluemoon »

Jam35 wrote:-- the one that also killed the common street-name Grope Lane (and its more explicit versions) --
You can bet a few bob on a lot of streets now called Grape Lane, were once Grope Lane - one in York comes to mind.
SarahJ wrote:Slightly off topic but seeing hobs reminds me of a classic film, quatermass and the pit, set around the fictional Hobbs lane tube station. In the film it was noted that Hobbs lane had been changed from Hobs lane, the old sign still showing, which is explained as an old name for hobgoblin or the devil. Good creepy 60's horror.

I used to live in Love lane in newcastle on the quayside. Whenenver you mentioned it on the phone, always got a comment.

SJ
Yes, I remember watching that film, and comes to mind often when crossing the moor.... with regards to Love Lane, I believe a lot of them got their moniker the same way as Grope Lane - i.e. a spot where "Ladies of the Night" were found.

Another odd one in York is "Mad Alice Lane".
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Jam35
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

Post by Jam35 »

ravenbluemoon wrote:
Jam35 wrote:-- the one that also killed the common street-name Grope Lane (and its more explicit versions) --
You can bet a few bob on a lot of streets now called Grape Lane, were once Grope Lane - one in York comes to mind.
Interestingly, Grape Lane seems to reflect a mediaeval regional pronunciation feature that has been preserved because it looks like it means something innocuous (unless it's been fermented, that is!). The other instances of that version are all in the north of England (Carlisle (in the plural), Durham, Pocklington, Whitby).

Grove Lane is also a common bowdlerization. One particularly odd piece of divergent bowdlerization happened in Oxford, where the authorities decided to rename a street to Grove Street after hoy polloy had already started euphemistically calling it Magpie Lane after a "pub" that stood on that street; eventually Magpie Lane won out.

And yes, Love Lane in Newcastle (and the one in Worcester too) are the same thing. As is Threadneedle Street (think about it) in London, which really gives a whole other flavour to referring to the Bank of England as the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street.

Of course, there are Grove Lanes that do actually refer to rows of trees, and I suppose it is conceivable that not all Love Lanes (and Lovers' Walks) are instances of this. And there has also been a tendency to re-re-naming the euphemistic streets over time: Nelson Street in Bristol, Union Street in Wells, and Milton Street in London are all instances of this (the last one having had the unusual bowdlerization of Grub Street).
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

Post by Octaviadriver »

PeterA5145 wrote:A Streetmap search reveals a large number of simple Dark Lanes.
There's one in Rhayader off the A470 that looks sinister as goes through a tunnel of large trees and leads to a Royal British Legion home.

There's a Chemical Road in Morrison, Swansea that's a residential area and not on an industrial estate. I used to occasionally visit a solicitor down there until they went bust and I'd often see files for houses bought and sold on that road. Mostly they seemed to be late 19th century.
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

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Octaviadriver wrote:There's a Chemical Road in Morrison, Swansea that's a residential area and not on an industrial estate.
I see your Chemical Road and I raise you Industry Street in Walkley, Sheffield. All terraced houses, but overlooking factories in the valley below...
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

Post by Mattemotorway »

Jam35 wrote:
ravenbluemoon wrote:
Jam35 wrote:-- the one that also killed the common street-name Grope Lane (and its more explicit versions) --
You can bet a few bob on a lot of streets now called Grape Lane, were once Grope Lane - one in York comes to mind.
Interestingly, Grape Lane seems to reflect a mediaeval regional pronunciation feature that has been preserved because it looks like it means something innocuous (unless it's been fermented, that is!). The other instances of that version are all in the north of England (Carlisle (in the plural), Durham, Pocklington, Whitby).

Grove Lane is also a common bowdlerization. One particularly odd piece of divergent bowdlerization happened in Oxford, where the authorities decided to rename a street to Grove Street after hoy polloy had already started euphemistically calling it Magpie Lane after a "pub" that stood on that street; eventually Magpie Lane won out.

And yes, Love Lane in Newcastle (and the one in Worcester too) are the same thing. As is Threadneedle Street (think about it) in London, which really gives a whole other flavour to referring to the Bank of England as the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street.

Of course, there are Grove Lanes that do actually refer to rows of trees, and I suppose it is conceivable that not all Love Lanes (and Lovers' Walks) are instances of this. And there has also been a tendency to re-re-naming the euphemistic streets over time: Nelson Street in Bristol, Union Street in Wells, and Milton Street in London are all instances of this (the last one having had the unusual bowdlerization of Grub Street).
It's interesting that you mentioned Grape Lane in Pocklingtoin, but not Love Lane in Pocklington! Mind you, it's just a path really....

And I should know! I only live a few miles from Pock myself!
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

Post by SarahJ »

I guess the Love lane that I used to live in got its name from ladies of the night. It was between two warehouses, down by the docks in a part of the city that was less than 'clean'.

It was only a tiny lane.

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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

Post by Klepsydra »

Paul wrote:
Octaviadriver wrote:There's a Chemical Road in Morrison, Swansea that's a residential area and not on an industrial estate.
I see your Chemical Road and I raise you Industry Street in Walkley, Sheffield. All terraced houses, but overlooking factories in the valley below...
There are plenty of examples of Gas Street. This one in Uttoxeter also has a street named "Cockstubbles" a few hundred yards away. What WERE they thinking of?
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