I’ve long had an interest in place names and how they came to be. I was reminded of this several weeks ago when driving across Texas and saw a sign on a bridge that read “Woman Hollering Creek”. I imagined a surveyor and map maker coming across yet another creek at the end of the day and wondering what to call this one. Someone in his crew says, “Hey, did I just hear a woman hollering”? So that’s what he named it.

England has it’s share of strange place names. About 50 years ago I was on a tour bus with my aunt somewhere in Scotland. We came to a T junction in the middle of nowhere with a sign by the road that read Lix Toll. No traffic light, no pub, no farm house, no other traffic, nothing; just rain, heather and gorse and rolling hills.

I asked the bus driver about it and he said that centuries ago, it was an outpost of the 59th Roman Legion.

This map appeared from somewhere yesterday showing silly place names in England. I was born in Surrey, not far from Dorking, which perhaps explains a few things so I thought I would share it with you. Here’s the link where you can see more and even buy a copy of the map. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/united-kingdom/galleries/Britains-silliest-place-names/map-full/