Strange place names

But it does make you wonder how these places ended up with amusing-sounding names so without more ado here are some of the finest in the Yorkshire Dales:

- Wigglesworth – derived from the Saxon name ‘wicel’ meaning the name of a person or ‘Wincel’ meaning ‘of the child’ and the Anglo Saxon word for ‘wory’ pronounced ‘worth’ which denotes homestead.

- Giggleswick – the village was once just a farm owned by a man called Gikel or Gichel with the ‘wick’ derived from Old English language of wic or wich referring to dwelling before it later became used to denote a settlement.

- Blubberhouses – legend has it that the name derives from children crying in the workhouse but in actual fact it comes from the Middle English ‘bluber’ which stands for bubbling spring and Old English ‘husum’ for houses. Worth thinking about as you saunter up Hardisty Hill passing the ‘Houses by the Bubbling Spring’.

- Booze – alas there’s a far more sober reason for this Arkengarthdale hamlet’s name than it being populated by beer drinkers. It’s actually a combination of Old English boga ‘bow’ and hus ‘house. Therefore if you stay in Booze you are in a house by the bow or curve, which is said to be a reference to the curved hill above Slei Gill and Arkle Beck.

- Wham – nothing to do with the 80’s pop duo and slightly different explanations for the name according to your research source. It could be derived from the Norse word hvammr meaning grassy slope or Old English hwamm meaning a corner or angle. There’s a Wham near Giggleswick while in Arkengarthdale there’s The Wham; and Wham Bottom in Swaledale.

Words by Amanda Brown