15 of the strangest names of Yorkshire villages and hamlets from Blubberhouses to Booze

Some of these villages date back to the 11th century and the names derive from Old English or Anglo-Saxon. With some names that come from literal definitions like Jump to the funny names such as Wigtwizzle.

Strangest names of Yorkshire villages and settlements and their backgrounds

Blubberhouses

Blubberhouses is a small village located in the Washburn Valley in the Harrogate borough; the population of the village reduced from less than 100 in 2011 to 40 in 2015.

The name of the village derives from Anglo-Saxon ‘bluberhus’ which means ‘the house/s which is/are at the bubbling stream’. The name came in different forms including ‘Bluburgh’, ‘Bluborrow’ and ‘Bluburhouse’.

A forge was recorded at Blubberhouses in 1227 and in the 16th century, the village had metal smelters for lead and iron ore.

Booze

Booze is a hamlet in Arkengarthdale in Richmondshire and there are 11 households in the hamlet as well as a riding school nearby.

The earliest record of the name comes from 1473 as ‘Bowehous’, which derives from the Old English boga meaning ‘bow’ and hus meaning ‘house’ which means overall ‘house by the bow or curve’. The name may be a reference to the curved hill above Slei Gill and Arkle Beck.

The initial hamlet relied on hill farming and mining and in 1851 there were 41 houses in the settlement.

Bottom Boat

Bottom Boat is a village in Wakefield and 1,169 people lived there in 2011.

The majority of current houses in Bottom Boat were built for workers at the Newmarket Silkstone Colliery, which closed in September 1983, only a few months before the start of a year-long strike in the British mining industry.

Giggleswick

The village is located in the Craven district of North Yorkshire.

It was referenced in the 1086 Domesday Book as ‘Ghigeleswic’ which means ‘dwelling or (dairy) farm of a man called Gikel or Gichel’.

Jump

The village is situated in the metropolitan borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire.

According to legend, Jump was named by the local coal miners who had to ‘jump’ over the stream to get to work.

Around the Roebuck Hill area, flints from the late Mesolithic era have been found, as well as Neolithic and Bronze Age material, suggesting temporary settlement was around since then, however, there is no evidence of permanent settlement has been found from these periods.

Land of Nod

The hamlet is located in the East Riding of Yorkshire, at the far end of a two-mile-long road that joins the A614 road at Holme-on-Spalding-Moor.

‘Nod’ is the Hebrew root of the verb ‘to wander’ meaning to dwell in the land of Nod can mean to live a wandering life. Quite the opposite of ‘nodding off’.

New York

There is some irony here. We don’t mean the famous American city, but a little settlement in Nidderdale, North Yorkshire.

The settlement originated as terraces of weavers’ houses around a flax mill by William Hebden in 1814 on agricultural land by the River Nidd. In 1834 it was renamed New York Mill by new owner Francis Thorpe from Knaresborough and that year there were 150 people working at the mill.

Shelf

The village is located in Calderdale.

It was recorded in the Domesday Book as ‘Scelf’, an Anglo-Saxon word suggesting a broad and level shelf of land. In the period before 1700, Shelf developed from a mixed moorland and forested landscape to a few scattered farmsteads to a landscape full of activity.

Swallownest

The village is based in the civil parish of Aston cum Aughton in the metropolitan borough of Rotherham.

It borders the Sheffield suburb of Woodhouse to the west, Beighton to the southwest, the small village of Aston to the east and Aughton to the north.

According to White’s directory of 1833, Swallow Nest was the name of the Toll bar and public house, the home of J. Ward, a victualler and H. Ward, a wheelwright.

Thorngumbald

This is a village situated in the East Riding of Yorkshire in an area known as Holderness, just eight miles east of Hull.

Thorngumbald was once a Viking settlement and the official emblem of Thorngumbald is a Viking helmet with wings.

The name was first recorded in the Domesday Book as ‘Torn’, an Old English word meaning ‘thorn bush’. This name was still used in 1228 but by 1260 it had been renamed ‘Thorne’ and by 1297 it was changed to ‘Thorengumbald’. The second half of the name ‘gumbald’ came from a Baron Gumbaud who had settled in the area and added his name to the original and giving the village its current name.

Thwing

The village is located in the Yorkshire Wolds area about eight miles west of the North Sea coast at Bridlington.

The name ‘Thwing’ is thought to mean ‘narrow strip of land’, deriving from thvengr (Old Scandinavian) or thweng (Old English). The village is recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book as Tuennc.

There is evidence of human activity at least as far back as the Neolithic era.

Upperthong

Upperthong is a village roughly 807 feet above sea level near the town of Holmfirth, approximately seven miles south of Huddersfield.

The name may have derived from the Old English word ‘uferra’ (upper) and ‘thwang’ (narrow strip [of land]) and as there is also a Netherthong, situated on lower ground than Upperthong, the names could designate lower and higher strips of land.

Wetwang

This is a Yorkshire Wolds village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

There are two definitions of the name; one is from the Old Norse ‘vaett-vangr’, or ‘field for the trial of a legal action’, another theory is that it was the ‘wet field’ compared to the nearby dry field at Driffield.

The village is known for its Iron Age chariot burial cemetery at Wetwang Slack, and has been suggested that the unlocated Romano-British town of Delgovicia may have been at what is now Wetwang.

Wigglesworth

The village and civil parish is located in the Craven district of North Yorkshire and despite its small size, it has a public house called the Plough Inn.

The area consists of a few small scattered houses and farmsteads. The name is thought to have originated in the Anglo-Saxon period as ‘wicel’ meaning the name of a person with the last part ‘worth’ deriving from the Anglo-Saxon word ‘wory’ pronounced ‘worth’.

Wigtwizzle

The hamlet is located in the civil parish of Bradfield in South Yorkshire.

In the 15th century, the name of the hamlet was recorded as ‘Wigtwisle’, in the 16th century as ‘Wigtwizle’, and ‘Wiggtisle in the 17th century.

The name derives from an Anglo-Saxon owner Wicga which means Wicga’s land at the confluence of two streams (Allas Lane Dike, and Lee Lane Dike, both of which flow into Broomhead Reservoir).