Ominous sounding roads.

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ravenbluemoon
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

Post by ravenbluemoon »

There's "Labour In Vain Hill" on the A4 at Beckhampton, which always seemed a little ominous to me.

Oh and I nearly forgot Hob Gate, in Acomb, York. It's actualy quite a smart suburban street, named after the nearby Hob Moor. Hob, if you didn't realise, is a type of trickster spirit, also as in Hobgoblin.
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vlad
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

Post by vlad »

Does the A666 count? :)

If it's actual street names you're after, there's a Foul Ford in Berwick, Grimmer Road in Hereford or a Guy Fawkes St in (of all places) Salford.
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PeterA5145
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

Post by PeterA5145 »

ravenbluemoon wrote:Oh and I nearly forgot Hob Gate, in Acomb, York. It's actualy quite a smart suburban street, named after the nearby Hob Moor. Hob, if you didn't realise, is a type of trickster spirit, also as in Hobgoblin.
There's a Hobb Lane at Moore near Runcorn.

Also in Cheshire is the oddly sinister Dark Ark Lane at Mouldsworth. I think this is actually a corruption of "Dark Arch", so called because further down the road runs under a railway viaduct.

A Streetmap search reveals a large number of simple Dark Lanes.
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nirs
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

Post by nirs »

It's not that sinister (unless you're an economist) but I can't help drawing attention to the name of the road leading to the Seagate factory in Londonderry.
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Tom
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

Post by Tom »

nirs wrote:It's not that sinister (unless you're an economist) but I can't help drawing attention to the name of the road leading to the Seagate factory in Londonderry.
:laugh: I wonder if Serena lives in 'Floppy Drive'?
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AJK1982
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

Post by AJK1982 »

nirs wrote:It's not that sinister (unless you're an economist) but I can't help drawing attention to the name of the road leading to the Seagate factory in Londonderry.
That is ridiculously groan-worthy, if nothing else.
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

Post by Brenley Corner »

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.
I grew up very close to that piece of road. So far as I am aware it was originally Gorse Hill, then was widened in the 1920s and became S3. Consequently because of the design, the gradient, and the three-lane layout it became a road with a high level of fatal accidents and earned the moniker of Death Hill which became semi-official. People also tended to drive more dangerously on their way to & from Brands Hatch perhaps thinking/dreaming that they were on the racetrack

After the S3 layout (and some right turns) were removed, and also after the M20 opened bypassing this section around 1977, the road claimed less victims. The council then formally reverted the name to Gorse Hill to shake off the image.

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owen b
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

Post by owen b »

Deadman's Hill, on the A6 north of Clophill. Ironically, there was a famous murder here, the Hanratty / A6 murder http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hanratty . An odd Sabristic point of interest is that the murder victim was a scientist at the Road Research Laboratory at Slough. "Michael J. Gregsten (December 28, 1924-August 23 1961) [9] was a scientist at the Road Research Laboratory at Slough. Valerie Storie, (born in Slough on November 24, 1938), was an assistant at the same laboratory, and was having an affair with Gregsten, although this did not become public knowledge until much later. Michael Gregsten's body was discovered in the lay-by on the A6 at Deadman's Hill at about 6:30 on 23 August 1961. Valerie Storie was lying next to him semi-conscious. The evening after the murder, Michael Gregsten's grey 1956 Morris Minor was found abandoned behind Redbridge tube station in Essex."
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

Post by steve618 »

Abbatoirs Road, Reading

http://www.google.com/maps?q=ABATTOIRS ROAD, RG1+7BL&hl=en&ie=UTF8&z=16

does what it says on the tin

Nearby are the villages of Crazies Hill, which contains Crazies Hill Church of England Primary School and Cockpole Green

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crazies_Hill

On the other side of town we have The Gutter, part of Tilehurst, and Trash Green near Burghfield.
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nowster
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

Post by nowster »

Not sinister, but Simister Lane, Prestwich?
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

Post by rileyrob »

Not exactly a road, but a popular picnic spot on the Quantock Hills is 'Dead Womans Ditch'. Its a lot nicer than it sounds!
Also, going back to 'Hob', Theres a Hobbs Boat Inn near Lympsham, but in this instance 'Hobb' comes from 'Hubba' - a Viking who settled apparently. He also gave his name to Uphill in Weston - Hubba's Pill.
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

Post by AndyB »

I always think that M25 sounds very ominous.
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

Post by SarahJ »

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.

Then there was movers lane in Barking on the A13 where until it was improved, traffic did anything but.

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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

Post by Sunil_of_Yoxley »

Not strictly speaking a road, but the Gallows Corner roundabout, the junction of the A12 and A127 northeast of Romford.
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

Post by nowster »

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.
"Minador"

It was a BBC TV serial first (their third Quatermass serial), written by Nigel Kneale, and lampooned by the Goons in their story "The Scarlet Capsule".
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

Post by DunsBus »

vlad wrote:Does the A666 count? :)

If it's actual street names you're after, there's a Foul Ford in Berwick, Grimmer Road in Hereford or a Guy Fawkes St in (of all places) Salford.
Foul Ford - the result of breaking wind in a Fiesta. :lol:
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

Post by B4591 »

vlad wrote:Does the A666 count? :)
No because as any QI viewer knows, the actual number of the beast is 616.

Which, as it turns out, seems appropriate:

"The A616 Stocksbridge bypass has found itself in the media for a number of reasons. Firstly the high number of accidents (and deaths) occurring on the road since its opening make it (statistically) one of the region's most notorious roads. Secondly the road (or more correctly the site on which the road is constructed) is said by many to be haunted. There are reports that security staff (and even police officers) allegedly reported strange happenings and sightings during its construction."
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

Post by MJN »

A 2002 Philips street map of mine falsely shows Cut-Through Lane at University Park in Nottingham as Cut-Throat Lane. Hopefully not too many prospective students noticed, there was enough panic about the spate of gun crime etc at the time. :twisted:
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

Post by bucephalus »

there is a Dog Pool Lane in Birmingham. Yeadon (WYorkshire) has a Whack House Lane which sounds rather violent. There is a Raynel Approach in Leeds, which could also be considered ominous to some
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Re: Ominous sounding roads.

Post by AJK1982 »

I only realised this morning that I live just down the road from a place called Goring-by-Sea which contains Goring Way, Goring Road and Goring Street. Just up the road from there there is also a Castle Goring.
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