@@maxusboostusYou cannot drive through Oxford at all now.Big brother has installed CCTV cameras, by bus gates and large wooden flowerpots to prevent through - traffic.
Ticklecock Bridge in Castleford is named for the same reason. Luckily, local residents objected to plans by the local council to change it to something more innocuous. So Ticklecock bridge remains.
Yes!! My Mum lives in the neighbouring village, which has the unassuming name of Rowhedge. Sadly no Grope Lane or anything similar, but Essex also boasts Balls Green, Ugley, Cock Clarks, Butt Road and Burnt Dick Hill.
I don't know if it's still the case, but Scunthorpe was filtered out of some internet searches a few years ago because of those certain 4 letters appearing. 😊
I do a bit of research on Bristol (as I'm born & bred here), and like you stated, we had GC Lane (as I often refer to in polite company). We've got a few others too, like Whore St, that became Horse St, then eventually Host St. In the 1300's there was also a "Hither Fockynggrove" and "Inner Fockynggrove".
I had a son at Merton College Oxford, which is right by Magpie Lane, and he told me this. Students often act as guides to Oxford for a bit of money, and they take great pleasure in telling visitors the original name.
...well certainly it could've become a might difficult to explain initially to the massed ranks of parents ready to fight over their kids.perceived sporting performances.
10/10 for even suggesting the 'C' word and 11/10 for apologies to mum. My mother would have given me a 'certain un-approving look' leaving me in no doubt that I was in trouble. Like the time I tried to mention mushrooms were called "Phallus" or "Stinkhorn" or everyones favourite....... "Shiitake" Great content, interesting and probably like everyone watching this, we are thinking of roads especially in older areas of town and thinking "wow, I never knew that' Thank you, and tell Mum that you were not swearing, but educating Again, another reason why almost 100,000 people look forward to your posts . Love to mum also
I think Parliament Street in Exeter (purported to be the ‘narrowest Street in the world’ used to be called Gropecunt Lane. And I think the new name reflected what the residents thought of Parliament.
Shrewsbury still has a grope lane. It too, was originally called Grope C**t lane and, when the council decided that they name was offensive, they said that the name change was to shorten the name. As one of my colleagues pointed out if that was truly the purpose then it should have been changed to c**t lane as this had less letters.
Upton on Severn has a Minge Lane, Malvern has Cockshot Road, and there's a small village in Worcestershire called Bell End :) Also Wyre Piddle (sounds painful) and Little Piddle are in the same region. There's also a Sandy Balls on the road to Devon from the Midlands, past Marlborough Scotland has at least one village called Twatt, and also a Muff... Britain has some great place names
On a literary note, Geoffrey Chaucer, who was often notoriously earthy in his writing, referred rather explicitly to the activity after which that stree was originally named. In the Miller's Tale, he wrote "And prively he caughte hire by the queynte" etymologically speaking, queynte being a 13th century precursor to instant TH-cam demonetisation. Incidentally, Oxford may have lost it's most notorious street name, but it still has Crotch Crescent, voted the 5th most embarrassing street name in England in some random poll. However, rather boringly, it was actually named after William Crotch, an eminent Oxford music professor.
A "Grove" was normally a (double) line of trees ,often in a formal park , or a small forested area. I think there were "fertility activities" often associated with tree groves so the name Grove can give rise to Grope, or the name (area / street) Grove is quite innocent and refers to a (long gone) tree area in a grassed field/farm
I was thinking 'grove' is a very common name for roads, but rather than 'grove street' it would be 'something grove', implying grove was something other than a grope. So thanks for explaining that.
The was a mill in medieval Dublin where the Poddle Stream (i.e. the city sewer, such as it was) flowed out from under the city wall into the River Liffey. In Irish the mill was called Muileann a Chacca, or in English Shyttclapp Mill. The road that led to the city gallows was called Hangman's Lane. In those days they called things as they saw them. The names remain in modern Dublin as Mullinahack Place and Hammond Lane. 18th Century gentrification.
He he he, I lived on Magpie Lane twice in the 1980s and spent the summer of 1983 living at 7 Magpie Lane. I was a student at Corpus Christi College and they owned many of the properties in the street. I even walked to the Chemistry labs starting by travelling along Magpie Lane to get to the science park. And I never knew its history until today LOL
Ah, but there is a Corpus Christi College founded in 1352 to train priests to bury the dead in the black death - earlier than Trinity. It doesn't have tortoise races but it does have a fancy clock.
@@DavidNewmanDr There is Corpus Christi College Oxford (1517) and was connected to the new learning movement of the time. There is also Corpus Christi College Cambridge (1352) founded by local heilsamen. They are very different.
@@johncrwarner There aren't many people who can say that they walked through the red light district to get to the Dyson Perkins (correct - should be Perrins) lab! Trinity's claim to fame is being next to The White Horse....
😂😂 There is a bus in Birmingham that goes to Bangham Pit via Shaftmoor Lane , no 21 last time I looked . Also Cumwel Lane in Rotherham alongside Pocket Handkerchief Lane
Also in Retford are Grove Coach Road and Grove Lane which leads from London Road to a village called Grove. Basically there’s a lot of Grove around Retford. Perhaps a new series or special based on places named after people with dodgy professions?
Oxford also has a street named Crotch Crescent. It's a small residential crescent off Marston Road, also known as the B4150 (cooooool). Built in the 1930s and named after 18th century musician William Crotch.
I seem to remember a Slag Lane and Slapper Lane around the Leigh/ Wigan area and a area in the Peak District called Cockend but alas Google Maps has been sanitised. There is also a small town called Ramsbottom, so in my childish mind I am imagining a Lower Ramsbottom and a Upper Ramsbottom.
Bugger me, that's just the sort of important historical perspective that youtube was made for. There has to be more of this sort of Road related offensiveness in our fair land. keep digging Jon, you seem to have a nose for this sort of thing.
I wouldn't raise my child on Gropeсunt lane to be honest .. I'm against censorship in media and history, but letting a public street be called Gropeсunt lane is taking the рiss a bit.
@@YAMMASit’s one of those that was known for prostitution, that’s why. If you don’t want to raise your child there, then lucky you, there’s many more to choose from! If you MUST live on a street anyway
@jshood3353 - "The most important history is the history they want to hide" D'you know, JS, I think that should be emblazoned across the wall in every school. college and university in the country! It's one of those insights that make me wonder "Why did I never see THAT one before?"
It's like the uproar Black boy Lane in London caused. The woke lot jumped on the ethnicity blame and shame thing immediately. Not even having the brains or decency to find out how it got its name in the first place. It was an extremely poor slum area. Parents being ill with God's knows what and the only way to feed the family was for young white boys to climb inside and clean chimneys. Hence the black boy bit. It wasn't in anyway shape or form racist. But like everything else let's stamp our feet and I do believe the local Borough removed it. Which is as good as a history wipe! Like you say these things might not be be liked? But they're part of this Countries history!!
Of course it isn't. He knows nothing about history or etymology, just vehicles and motorways. He needs to keep to his own lane and only on TH-cam would the uneducated like him think this video is good.
Read about this ages ago. The etymology of the word is quite interesting. C**t literally means "a purse". The word Country is related as a c*** was a holster for a scythe, used for reaping and cutting grass in farming. I can't remember which of his plays but Shakespeare refers to "Country matters"as a euphemism for sexual intercourse. I thank you.
Aside from the hilarity included as a bonus, that was actually quite fascinating! I hadn't even realised that the 'c' word was that old and always imagined that it was modern slang to be honest. You live and learn as they say.
I heard once that the c word was the normal word for that part of the female anatomy in Shakespeare's time, don't recall reading it in any of his plays, could have missed it though 🤣
@@mikehipperson If memory serves, the earliest recorded use of the word "fuck" is in a monastery's inventory records; in the margins, an Anglo-Saxon monk wrote "fucking abbot". I guess he was having a bad day.
What, no mention of Opie Street in Norwich? Used to be known as Gropec**t Alley in medieval times. Keep up the good work, John - getting near to 100k subs.
I didn't know that but it doesn't surprise me, given the city was famous for having a pub for every night of the year and a church for every Sunday at one time, & invented the madder red dye colour there was guaranteed to be the extra shenanigans going on too in a well defined spot
The amount of times I've walked up and down Magpie Lane and didn't know this, as well as Parsons Street in Banbury. Fun fact, by the 1960's Oxford's red light had moved to the Jericho area of Oxford, apparently... I assume the locals moved it because they weren't satisfied with groping magpies.
I've only got to know Oxford quite recently and have heard that Jericho had a slightly dodgy reputation, but over the past year I've been there quite a lot as my daughter was living there this year, and it seems like a really nice area - good pubs and restaurants. Sadly she's moving to new accommodation from October so I doubt I'll be back.
@@capitalb5889 I lived on Kingston Road in the late 1980s and Jericho was absolutely fine then. I think this part of Jericho's reputation was from the pre-1960s.
@@Mike-H_UK Jericho was basically an area of small terraced houses that became trendy and gentrified and went upmarket from the 1970s onwards as house prices rose. Not an area I ever wanted to live as it reminded me of the back streets of my home town, no front gardens etc. and I bet parking is a nightmare.
Well, it's to the point and easy to remember.....brilliant piece of street naming if you ask me. Probably wouldn't work anymore though: "Ladies of the night from parts far and wide, although mostly to the east if you want a reasonable tariff lane" would be a bit long
I well remember The Gloucester Arms in Friar's Entry. To us kids growing up in Oxford in the 60s it was thought to be an 'exotic' pub, though we didn't understand what went on there!. We also thought the houses around the area in Oxford called 'The Plain' were brothels!.
I have a friend who is a council’s street naming and gazetteer officer so I did know about this! She did recently let someone call their house Castle Grayskull!
I think that as well as making sure street names don't have any, erm, distracting connotations, councils in charge of these things have to look into what would happen if letters were altered by a wag with a black marker / white paint. The Manchester gay village's Canal Street is a prime example: People regularly give the sign some context by whiting out the C and S.
You mentioned Bristol. It was Nelson St that used to have that name, it runs past the old city gates. Between it and the river Frome, which is now been built over.
Yeah History stories are so often like Sunday School, where they censor out all the realy interesting Bible stories. The Old Testament book of Judges chapter 4, story where there were 2 armies in a sorta standoff. But the commanders would visit local civilians etc in a sort of "Neutral Zone". One woman "Jael" who was really supportive of the "other" army, had an evening of, shall we say politely "feasting and merriment" with the other Army Commander in her home tent. After copious amounts of wine drinking and copious amounts of, say "bonking-up-and-down", the guy was sound asleep enjoying a well earned rest. So she takes a tentpeg and drives it right through his head and out the other side into the ground. The Bible is quite specific about the details. Remember also NOT a modern day tent peg, 6 inches long intended for a thin nylon tent. It would have been a sharpened wooden stake, half a metre to a metre long, intended to secure thick animal hide tents against desert winds, hammered into the ground (or someone's head) with a large wooden or stone headed mallet. Fun Bible stories that Sunday School never taught ! (An old friend of mine was from an old school Baptist family, she knew the Bible inside-out).
@@KiwiCatherineJemmaIt's the same when they always stop when Lot's wife looks back & gets turned into a pillar of salt. They kinda miss out the bit where his daughters get him drunk & jump him in a cave so they can get knocked up. It's a very dodgy set of myths & fables!
@@Aengus42 Yep, I know that story well, and NO that one is never taught at kids Sunday School either. As I said, an old friend who'd grown up in a strictly religious family, (before "finding her own way, in the world") she knew her Bible inside out and backwards. Her mind was like a steel trap for details. Hey, in 'The Wizard of Oz', what colour were Dorothy's magic Shoes (that she inherited from the dead witch that her house fell on, when she landed in Oz at first ?) The shoes were of course SILVER. But "No they were "Ruby Red" you say". Nar, that was changed from the original book, because they wanted to show off the Colour of the film. Remember Wizard of Oz started off as a Black-and-white movie. Of course we're talking about the famous one, from my memory Judy Garland starred in 1939, but that was about the eighth version of WOO, they'd started to do adaptations of the books, right from the Silent Films era. There was actually a well done animated series of WOO, I think it was French made about the late 1980's, but in English language and they stuck closer to the books, including the Magic Shoes being Silver in colour.
Many moons (sic) ago, I studied in Oxford - this lane is an historical gem - demonstrating the rich plethora of the English language, with all its attendant customs, nuances, & of course, blatant, no-nonsense descriptives. Having said all this, I don't find it any more (or less) offensive than modern terminologies which are not exclusive to the UK alone - Germany has some less-than-charming appelations for Towns.... 🤨 Prostitution has to be one of the oldest occupations in the history of humanity; rather than make avoidance of same, we should embrace it as part of the rich tapestry that is the human condition..
Great video thanks John. Having lived in and near Banbury since about 1972, I'd always heard that Parsons Street had that history about prostitution but not so much that name. I can't recall what somebody said it was but I didn't think it was this. Interestingly how was it decided to name it Parsons Street? Sad too see that all of the shops that are within Banbury old town are dying rather rapidly.
A few years ago I lived near Oxford, and it soon became clear the town was populated by snobs or slobs, must have been quite a battle between those two factions to change the name to Magpie Lane.
I complained to the council that prostitution was conspicuous in my village. They sent an inspector who reported that he couldn't find any prostitutes. I replied that I meant conspicuous by its absence
@@rymic72ah yes, it’s much better when local people desperate for money to survive by renting their bodies forsaking any dignity and respect were outside where you had to go to, not a tap away… damn the internet making using other equals a sex objects so much easier… where’s the effort…
@@Cassxowary I’ve been told by incredibly reliable sources that sex work is real work and that we must celebrate women who choose this career path. Far be it from me to be a misogynist who attempts to mansplain that they are being exploited and used. I must at all costs attempt to eradicate the toxic masculinity from my thoughts and forego my natural tendencies towards desiring to protect women lest I be labeled a dinosaur or a relic of a past that is best left to die off.
@@rymic72Tbh you are a relic mate. So am I. Only recently have I discovered that this business is done via the internet now, and not down an infamous street. And I'm not new to the Internet... It just hadn't occurred to me. But at least I know that it's not a world where men are expected to protect women. I'm not that daft. No offence
Until recently we had the less offensive but likely funnier "Butthole Road" in Conisborough, just off the A630. It has since been renamed to "Archer's Way", which is far more boring as the road was the number one tourist attraction in the town, a title which has now been handed over to a pile of rubble on a nearby hill.
Disgusting! The A420 should never be mentioned in polite society.
Filthy A420😲 How dare you 😠
How about A34 - Stratford Road, Birmingham?
And the M69 between Coventry and Leicester. Dirty people. Dirty!
We have the B380 near me, I often find this amusing, as Boeing would never build an A380. I know it is not rude.
The A420 is a b!t@h of a road especially between Swindon and Oxford 😮
PS: If you're looking to be shafted in Oxford, try parking in the city center.
Either way there was some kind of "shafting" going on, eh?
😆
ooof
I tried to drive through in the 1990s and had to give up goodness knows what it's like now.
Lol
@@maxusboostusYou cannot drive through Oxford at all now.Big brother has installed CCTV cameras, by bus gates and large wooden flowerpots to prevent through - traffic.
Ticklecock Bridge in Castleford is named for the same reason. Luckily, local residents objected to plans by the local council to change it to something more innocuous. So Ticklecock bridge remains.
Would be a lot worse if it was a moveable bridge that raises and lowers
😆
I am glad, this pussifying (no, not sorry) of history needs to stop.
Glad they kept the name. Long live Cas Vegas!
@@djhrecordhound4391 Your comment made me burst out laughing! Brilliant!!
Isn’t Ticklecock Bridge just off Strokesack Lane?
There's a village in Essex called Fingringhoe, it most likely has a "Grove" lane.
Ive been there, once broke down in a back ally there 😇
There's a main road near where I live called Hoe st.
@@catherinebirch2399 Someone from near Walthamstow😜😜😜
Yes!! My Mum lives in the neighbouring village, which has the unassuming name of Rowhedge. Sadly no Grope Lane or anything similar, but Essex also boasts Balls Green, Ugley, Cock Clarks, Butt Road and Burnt Dick Hill.
Back passage can be found in Chingford
So basically, all we're left with is Scunthorpe then...
Plenty of Scunnies there.
I don't know if it's still the case, but Scunthorpe was filtered out of some internet searches a few years ago because of those certain 4 letters appearing. 😊
@@adyf397known it IT circles as the Scunthorpe problem
Apologies. only saw your post after.
Sgrovethorp it is then! 😂
I do a bit of research on Bristol (as I'm born & bred here), and like you stated, we had GC Lane (as I often refer to in polite company). We've got a few others too, like Whore St, that became Horse St, then eventually Host St. In the 1300's there was also a "Hither Fockynggrove" and "Inner Fockynggrove".
Don’t forget bell end drive 😂
In Wellington, Telford they have Groom's Alley leading onto Saville Close. Now then now then.
Jim'll Fix it!
SOME COMMENTS ARE A BLAST 😂 👌
Oops!
From Telford myself here. I didn't think Grooms Alley sounded that bad but I have heard of both those streets
Yeah they lead into Aldi, just taking the pi$$.
@@Cpr1234
I couldn't help giggling every time I heard the beep...I am such a child 😆
The "sorry mum" line had me. Excellent video, Jon!
I left my like immediately after this line was said
The amount of beeps in the video is borderline a Morse code Training video 🤣
I'm South African. The Beeps remind me of an interview TV crew had with a guy on the street in Cape town... mostly beeps🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂😂
If only he'd timed the beeps to spell out ...
I like Snatchup Alley in St Alban's. However it's apparently related to thieves snatching belongings rather than a ladies snatch
History is cowardly that way, sometimes.
I had a son at Merton College Oxford, which is right by Magpie Lane, and he told me this. Students often act as guides to Oxford for a bit of money, and they take great pleasure in telling visitors the original name.
Watching this at my kids gymnastics class trying not to lose it with laughter 😂 Great video!
With headphones?
@@paulsengupta971 yes, definitely too much c**t for the other parents to hear 😂
...well certainly it could've become a might difficult to explain initially to the massed ranks of parents ready to fight over their kids.perceived sporting performances.
10/10 for even suggesting the 'C' word and 11/10 for apologies to mum.
My mother would have given me a 'certain un-approving look' leaving me in no doubt that I was in trouble.
Like the time I tried to mention mushrooms were called "Phallus" or "Stinkhorn" or everyones favourite....... "Shiitake"
Great content, interesting and probably like everyone watching this, we are thinking of roads especially in older areas of town and thinking "wow, I never knew that'
Thank you, and tell Mum that you were not swearing, but educating
Again, another reason why almost 100,000 people look forward to your posts .
Love to mum also
I think Parliament Street in Exeter (purported to be the ‘narrowest Street in the world’ used to be called Gropecunt Lane. And I think the new name reflected what the residents thought of Parliament.
Dominic Raab lives his life as tho he's a resident and trying uphold the history single handed...no pun intended
I read an article recently talking about how predatory the culture is in Westminster, so, given no other evidence, I fully believe your assertion lol
You will find many in Parliament!
Shrewsbury still has a grope lane. It too, was originally called Grope C**t lane and, when the council decided that they name was offensive, they said that the name change was to shorten the name. As one of my colleagues pointed out if that was truly the purpose then it should have been changed to c**t lane as this had less letters.
Great video, John, and the comments section is hilarious. Well done everybody.
Grope lane on Shrewsbury is my favourite. It still has a unique odour later at night......
I never thought of John as the Susie Dent of You Tube until now! Looking forward to more explanations of street names.
Upton on Severn has a Minge Lane, Malvern has Cockshot Road, and there's a small village in Worcestershire called Bell End :) Also Wyre Piddle (sounds painful) and Little Piddle are in the same region.
There's also a Sandy Balls on the road to Devon from the Midlands, past Marlborough
Scotland has at least one village called Twatt, and also a Muff...
Britain has some great place names
There’s a place called “Wet wang” in Yorkshire 😂
I'm in Canada and years ago I saw a meme...
It had a road sign pointing toward Twatt and the caption said, "I just found your house."
😆😅😂🤣
There's also a sandy balls on the western edge of the New Forest... it's a holiday destination
@@djhrecordhound4391 yep that's the very village
Don't forget Pratts Bottom in Kent.
On a literary note, Geoffrey Chaucer, who was often notoriously earthy in his writing, referred rather explicitly to the activity after which that stree was originally named. In the Miller's Tale, he wrote "And prively he caughte hire by the queynte" etymologically speaking, queynte being a 13th century precursor to instant TH-cam demonetisation.
Incidentally, Oxford may have lost it's most notorious street name, but it still has Crotch Crescent, voted the 5th most embarrassing street name in England in some random poll. However, rather boringly, it was actually named after William Crotch, an eminent Oxford music professor.
I wondered where the name "Kent" came from!
@@wiseoldfool Ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom
So, orange headed POTUS had read Chaucer.
@@20chocsaday A veritable witty riposte. It doth cause me much mirth.
@@jacklovejoy5290 Sorry, I was being facetious, implying that "Kent" was derived from "queynte"! No offense intended to Kentish folk or folk of Kent.
A "Grove" was normally a (double) line of trees ,often in a formal park , or a small forested area. I think there were "fertility activities" often associated with tree groves so the name Grove can give rise to Grope, or the name (area / street) Grove is quite innocent and refers to a (long gone) tree area in a grassed field/farm
Ideal for dogging then?
I was thinking 'grove' is a very common name for roads, but rather than 'grove street' it would be 'something grove', implying grove was something other than a grope. So thanks for explaining that.
The was a mill in medieval Dublin where the Poddle Stream (i.e. the city sewer, such as it was) flowed out from under the city wall into the River Liffey. In Irish the mill was called Muileann a Chacca, or in English Shyttclapp Mill. The road that led to the city gallows was called Hangman's Lane. In those days they called things as they saw them. The names remain in modern Dublin as Mullinahack Place and Hammond Lane. 18th Century gentrification.
There's a road in the Basingstoke area called "Swing Swang Lane" - I dare not imagine what went on there...
Only way that could be innocent...? There is/was a swing bridge on a local canal(????)
Weird stuff going on in Old Basing
I know the area well, Jayfive - but not that well 😉
In Germany those streets were called Rosenstrasse because of the similar look to a rose flower.
Very poetic!
Renowned Science Fiction author Michael Moorcock wrote a novel in the early '70s 'The Brothel on Rosenstraße'
Make sure you don't get prickled.
In Portugal the name "Rosa Maria" implies prostitute. Very unfair to girls called that who aren't on the game.
Thanks
Thanks a lot mate!! :)
@@AutoShenanigans no worries mate, keep up the great work!!
I grew up in Oxford and remember 'Tit Up Hall Drive', in Headington.
Yes, that all the local boys called "Titup Ball Drive"
And let's not forget Crotch Crescent in New Marston.
He he he, I lived on Magpie Lane
twice in the 1980s
and spent the summer of 1983
living at 7 Magpie Lane.
I was a student at Corpus Christi College
and they owned many of the properties
in the street.
I even walked to the Chemistry labs
starting by travelling along
Magpie Lane to get to the science park.
And I never knew its history until today LOL
Blooming tortoise races sums up CCC. 🙂
Floreat Trinity!
@@Mike-H_UK
And the most uneven croquet pitch
in Christendom too
Ah, but there is a Corpus Christi College founded in 1352 to train priests to bury the dead in the black death - earlier than Trinity. It doesn't have tortoise races but it does have a fancy clock.
@@DavidNewmanDr
There is Corpus Christi College Oxford (1517) and was connected to the new learning movement of the time.
There is also Corpus Christi College Cambridge (1352) founded by local heilsamen.
They are very different.
@@johncrwarner There aren't many people who can say that they walked through the red light district to get to the Dyson Perkins (correct - should be Perrins) lab! Trinity's claim to fame is being next to The White Horse....
My favourite street name is fanny hands lane in market rasen , always make me chuckle
Brings a whole new meaning to "if you want to get in touch" at the end of the video. 😳
There is a Fanny Hands Lane in the village of Ludford, near Market Rasen, Lincolnshire.
Glad you're covering this, my friends in Banbury are genuinely amazed when I tell them the tidbit about Parson's Street
Even more so if you used what I think is the original and proper word, "titbit".
😂😂 There is a bus in Birmingham that goes to Bangham Pit via Shaftmoor Lane , no 21 last time I looked . Also Cumwel Lane in Rotherham alongside Pocket Handkerchief Lane
In Northampton we used to have "Hairy Minge Ave" but it's all been paved over now.
Also in Retford are Grove Coach Road and Grove Lane which leads from London Road to a village called Grove. Basically there’s a lot of Grove around Retford. Perhaps a new series or special based on places named after people with dodgy professions?
it's always good to know exactly where one needs to go for fish, meat, bread,, vegetaties, fruit, rumpy pumpy
and SITTING (Protein Man reference en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Green )
Oxford also has a street named Crotch Crescent. It's a small residential crescent off Marston Road, also known as the B4150 (cooooool). Built in the 1930s and named after 18th century musician William Crotch.
I seem to remember a Slag Lane and Slapper Lane around the Leigh/ Wigan area and a area in the Peak District called Cockend but alas Google Maps has been sanitised. There is also a small town called Ramsbottom, so in my childish mind I am imagining a Lower Ramsbottom and a Upper Ramsbottom.
Bugger me, that's just the sort of important historical perspective that youtube was made for. There has to be more of this sort of Road related offensiveness in our fair land. keep digging Jon, you seem to have a nose for this sort of thing.
So was "Fanny Moor Lane" in Yorkshire for the more conscientious spender you recon?
I’d love to know how Tickle Cock Bridge in Castleford got its name 😳
@@rhyslister2754because what happens in CasVegas stays in CasVegas
Moor was a common term for darker skinned people at one time so maybe it was just trying to better describe the options available.
@@alang5764 Probably more like is that the land ran along side a moor. ie an area of grassland.
Shame to hide these street names..such History shouldn't be hidden. It is interesting 😊
I agree, I hate it when place names are changed, it's so stupid, some people are too easily offended by things that don't matter.
I wouldn't raise my child on Gropeсunt lane to be honest .. I'm against censorship in media and history, but letting a public street be called Gropeсunt lane is taking the рiss a bit.
@@YAMMASit’s one of those that was known for prostitution, that’s why. If you don’t want to raise your child there, then lucky you, there’s many more to choose from! If you MUST live on a street anyway
And yet he hides the name in the video also.
Well said
Good history lesson. The most important history is the history they want to hide.
@jshood3353 - "The most important history is the history they want to hide"
D'you know, JS, I think that should be emblazoned across the wall in every school. college and university in the country! It's one of those insights that make me wonder "Why did I never see THAT one before?"
@@jackx4311 Correct. But remember, the Democrats demand the removal of famous Civil War statues of Democrats.
It's like the uproar Black boy Lane in London caused. The woke lot jumped on the ethnicity blame and shame thing immediately. Not even having the brains or decency to find out how it got its name in the first place. It was an extremely poor slum area. Parents being ill with God's knows what and the only way to feed the family was for young white boys to climb inside and clean chimneys. Hence the black boy bit. It wasn't in anyway shape or form racist. But like everything else let's stamp our feet and I do believe the local Borough removed it. Which is as good as a history wipe! Like you say these things might not be be liked? But they're part of this Countries history!!
Of course it isn't. He knows nothing about history or etymology, just vehicles and motorways.
He needs to keep to his own lane and only on TH-cam would the uneducated like him think this video is good.
4 replies, only one visible. Ironic.
There's a Fanny hands lane in Lincolnshire,it made me chuckle when I first seen it and probably has the same meaning.
I love historic facts & this is absolutely brilliant! Do more !
Read about this ages ago. The etymology of the word is quite interesting. C**t literally means "a purse". The word Country is related as a c*** was a holster for a scythe, used for reaping and cutting grass in farming.
I can't remember which of his plays but Shakespeare refers to "Country matters"as a euphemism for sexual intercourse. I thank you.
Hamlet.
@@digitig Thank you.
Minge Lane in Upton on Severn always make me smirk !!
I live near a "Harlot Street" which backs on to "Trade street" i have a feeling I know what the Trade is.
Contraceptives, obviously.
@@hotelmario510 Or special itch creams, and leaches, as they were a bit of a cure all according to Blackadder history.
That "maybe it still is" properly got me. 🤣
Aside from the hilarity included as a bonus, that was actually quite fascinating! I hadn't even realised that the 'c' word was that old and always imagined that it was modern slang to be honest. You live and learn as they say.
I heard once that the c word was the normal word for that part of the female anatomy in Shakespeare's time, don't recall reading it in any of his plays, could have missed it though 🤣
It's old Anglo Saxon as are most of our British swear words!
It's the Anglo Saxon equivalent of the Latin 'Vagina'
@@mikehipperson If memory serves, the earliest recorded use of the word "fuck" is in a monastery's inventory records; in the margins, an Anglo-Saxon monk wrote "fucking abbot". I guess he was having a bad day.
@@eruantien9932 …or a good day, depending on your preferences
There is also a Fanny Hands Lane in Ludford, Market Rasen, Lincolnshire,
Between Lincoln & Grimsby,
🇬🇧😎👍🏼
What, no mention of Opie Street in Norwich? Used to be known as Gropec**t Alley in medieval times. Keep up the good work, John - getting near to 100k subs.
Orrroit bor! Hew ya getting on? Ex Norricher an I dint 4:06 even no that! Blass me, I spose as wot ya git from growin up in Lakenham.... lol 👍🏻
@@ikarus_incarnateGo you steady and make sure you glove up 😊
I never knew there was that sort of thing in Norwich- some people didn't have sisters or female cousins, I suppose.
I didn't know that but it doesn't surprise me, given the city was famous for having a pub for every night of the year and a church for every Sunday at one time, & invented the madder red dye colour there was guaranteed to be the extra shenanigans going on too in a well defined spot
Norwich also has a Grape Hill which now part of the inner ring road (A147) adjacent to Unthank road, where i assume you didn't need to leave tips.
We still have Scunthorpe..... as a bonus, town where my mate (Also called John) used to live called Driffield, neighbouring place called Wetwang :D
Hahaha yes wetwang is a good one. Not much to see there tho. Slip in and slip out. Done😊
God I love your content hahaha genuinely fascinating piece of local history!
Arnos Grove a couple of stops from Cockfosters on the Piccadilly Line
"No, miss, it's mine..."
Grape lane in Whitby was well known for houses of illrepute
Awesome, hilarious and educational! 😂😂 I only knew about the London one, I'd no idea the rest of the country had so many. Brilliant video cheers 😂😂
Judging by the comments... it seems there's loads of them!!
Great upload Jon. A lot a fun in the making too i bet! Keep 'em coming! 👍🏻👍🏻
There's still a Grope Lane, formerly Grope C**t Lane in Shrewsbury, and I used to work on Minge Lane in Upton on Severn!
The amount of times I've walked up and down Magpie Lane and didn't know this, as well as Parsons Street in Banbury. Fun fact, by the 1960's Oxford's red light had moved to the Jericho area of Oxford, apparently... I assume the locals moved it because they weren't satisfied with groping magpies.
I've only got to know Oxford quite recently and have heard that Jericho had a slightly dodgy reputation, but over the past year I've been there quite a lot as my daughter was living there this year, and it seems like a really nice area - good pubs and restaurants. Sadly she's moving to new accommodation from October so I doubt I'll be back.
@@capitalb5889 I lived on Kingston Road in the late 1980s and Jericho was absolutely fine then. I think this part of Jericho's reputation was from the pre-1960s.
@@Mike-H_UK Jericho was basically an area of small terraced houses that became trendy and gentrified and went upmarket from the 1970s onwards as house prices rose. Not an area I ever wanted to live as it reminded me of the back streets of my home town, no front gardens etc. and I bet parking is a nightmare.
Slutshole Lane, near Attleborough in Norfolk. No road sign at the moment as it tends to get stolen.
Great video Jon, it's another learning experience 😊
BRILLIANT !
Absolutely BRILLIANT !
Thoroughly humorous, I laughed more and More as the piece went on.
Definately sharing with My mates. 👍
Nice one, thanks mate
Well, it's to the point and easy to remember.....brilliant piece of street naming if you ask me.
Probably wouldn't work anymore though: "Ladies of the night from parts far and wide, although mostly to the east if you want a reasonable tariff lane" would be a bit long
I’m surprised you didn’t make the 10 minute walk across town and find Friar’s Entry. Used to be a wicked pub down there, the Gloucester arms.
I well remember The Gloucester Arms in Friar's Entry. To us kids growing up in Oxford in the 60s it was thought to be an 'exotic' pub, though we didn't understand what went on there!. We also thought the houses around the area in Oxford called 'The Plain' were brothels!.
Great video as usual, more quirky road name content ect would be fantastic please. Thank you, 👍👊✌️💚🌍.
There is Knob Hall Lane near Cockle Dicks Lane in Southport, Merseyside!!😄
I have a friend who is a council’s street naming and gazetteer officer so I did know about this! She did recently let someone call their house Castle Grayskull!
It would be cool to see a "Battlecat Lane" or "SheRa Drive"
😉
Since when do you need council permission to name your house? I honestly wouldn’t have guessed that.
@@xr6lad - if you want it officially than I think it’s been the case for decades
@@MrGreatplum I just put up a sign I didn't know I was supposed to ask the government nobody has ever said anything.
I think that as well as making sure street names don't have any, erm, distracting connotations, councils in charge of these things have to look into what would happen if letters were altered by a wag with a black marker / white paint.
The Manchester gay village's Canal Street is a prime example: People regularly give the sign some context by whiting out the C and S.
You mentioned Bristol. It was Nelson St that used to have that name, it runs past the old city gates. Between it and the river Frome, which is now been built over.
Oh god! I used to live in a Grove Cottage... whelp, that's me about to go take a shower with bleach.
Some Grove things were actually named after a group of trees... what went ON in the grove of trees... is up to the imagination
@@TheChipmunk2008
i knew somome who lived at 22 acacia avenue in tottenham
for those iron maiden fans :)
@@Dirt-Diggler Dam beaten to the Iron Maiden reference. 😂 but pleased that at least one other person is on that wave length.
There's a crossroad named "Cockramsbutt" in north Devon, I went there and took a picture it was glorious.
Keep em up! Love ol British history ;P
We have a Hardon Road here in Wolverhampton... I'm 67, and it still makes me giggle like a juvenile when I pass there.
Brilliant Bud! I love your sense of humour 😂
A Classic Jon video - had me in stitches laughing - Cheers. 96k Subs - nearly there, well deserved.
I used to frequent this street often, but found it easier slipping down the back alley.
Very good😅
There's a Grove Road near me, but sadly it's where a fruit farm used to be.
However - there's a Ball Lane in the town centre ...
Fruit farm or not, could it have been an "alternative" district...?
(There was that derogatory term for gays.)
I lived in Oxford for seven and a half years, and never knew that. Why were we never told this important and valuable information?
Yeah History stories are so often like Sunday School, where they censor out all the realy interesting Bible stories. The Old Testament book of Judges chapter 4, story where there were 2 armies in a sorta standoff. But the commanders would visit local civilians etc in a sort of "Neutral Zone". One woman "Jael" who was really supportive of the "other" army, had an evening of, shall we say politely "feasting and merriment" with the other Army Commander in her home tent. After copious amounts of wine drinking and copious amounts of, say "bonking-up-and-down", the guy was sound asleep enjoying a well earned rest. So she takes a tentpeg and drives it right through his head and out the other side into the ground. The Bible is quite specific about the details. Remember also NOT a modern day tent peg, 6 inches long intended for a thin nylon tent. It would have been a sharpened wooden stake, half a metre to a metre long, intended to secure thick animal hide tents against desert winds, hammered into the ground (or someone's head) with a large wooden or stone headed mallet. Fun Bible stories that Sunday School never taught ! (An old friend of mine was from an old school Baptist family, she knew the Bible inside-out).
@@KiwiCatherineJemmaIt's the same when they always stop when Lot's wife looks back & gets turned into a pillar of salt.
They kinda miss out the bit where his daughters get him drunk & jump him in a cave so they can get knocked up.
It's a very dodgy set of myths & fables!
@@Aengus42 Damn, didn't know the Bible was based like that
@@Aengus42 Yep, I know that story well, and NO that one is never taught at kids Sunday School either. As I said, an old friend who'd grown up in a strictly religious family, (before "finding her own way, in the world") she knew her Bible inside out and backwards. Her mind was like a steel trap for details. Hey, in 'The Wizard of Oz', what colour were Dorothy's magic Shoes (that she inherited from the dead witch that her house fell on, when she landed in Oz at first ?) The shoes were of course SILVER. But "No they were "Ruby Red" you say". Nar, that was changed from the original book, because they wanted to show off the Colour of the film. Remember Wizard of Oz started off as a Black-and-white movie. Of course we're talking about the famous one, from my memory Judy Garland starred in 1939, but that was about the eighth version of WOO, they'd started to do adaptations of the books, right from the Silent Films era. There was actually a well done animated series of WOO, I think it was French made about the late 1980's, but in English language and they stuck closer to the books, including the Magic Shoes being Silver in colour.
A few years ago whilst passing through Upton on Severn I noticed a Minge Lane. I did wonder about this.
Many moons (sic) ago, I studied in Oxford - this lane is an historical gem - demonstrating the rich plethora of the English language, with all its attendant customs, nuances, & of course, blatant, no-nonsense descriptives. Having said all this, I don't find it any more (or less) offensive than modern terminologies which are not exclusive to the UK alone - Germany has some less-than-charming appelations for Towns.... 🤨 Prostitution has to be one of the oldest occupations in the history of humanity; rather than make avoidance of same, we should embrace it as part of the rich tapestry that is the human condition..
Where i live in Dudley, we have a road called "Bell End" !!!
Last time i went to Scunthorpe they had actually sprayed over the S of there own sign.
The Canal Street area of Manchester also lost its capital letter.
Not as painful as the road signs here saying "Opening Canal Bridge" with the C sprayed out
😆
Same with the Lancaster canal as u pass over northbound on the m6
There's also Horsleydown Lane near Tower Bridge in London which was originally Whoresliedown Lane.
Auto Shenanigans indeed!
There used to be a road in Upton -upon-Severn called Minge lane.
Hilarious and educational. Good effort. 😂
Great videos and research...
I past a lane yesterday called Tom Tit Lane in Essex... Made me laugh..
week, this makes me question the historical events occurring on Three Cocks Lane in Gloucester
...luckiest dude in Gloucester...????
😉
Three Cocks is in Wales, north of Brecon, not too far from Gloucester. There's a nice garden centre there.
Probably named after someone who had lots of chickens,
And a really randy wife. 🤣
@@medler2110 or one really big.......
chicken
@@jamescullis7768 Well even hens have a pecker 😆😅😂🤣
In the lake district is a hill called Great Cockup. Further north is Cockermouth
In a grove, you grab the fruits of nature, so it's really not that much of a different name.
Could have called it Grovepie Lane.
In Shrewsbury we've got a passage called Grope Lane...
It used to be part of the towns brothels.. back in like the medieval days!
Great video thanks John. Having lived in and near Banbury since about 1972, I'd always heard that Parsons Street had that history about prostitution but not so much that name. I can't recall what somebody said it was but I didn't think it was this. Interestingly how was it decided to name it Parsons Street? Sad too see that all of the shops that are within Banbury old town are dying rather rapidly.
Mmmmm.....I wonder Grove road in Wrexham? Interesting video John🤣🤣🤣😛👍👍👍
A few years ago I lived near Oxford, and it soon became clear the town was populated by snobs or slobs, must have been quite a battle between those two factions to change the name to Magpie Lane.
Clitsome View and Clitsome Wood, Watchet, Somerset ! Great video's Jon.
Grove st in GTA has a whole new meaning now.
CJ groped plenty of c*nts in the hot coffee mod!!!
Upton upon Severn in Worcestershire has a Minge Lane. It’s where the Fire Station is.
I complained to the council that prostitution was conspicuous in my village. They sent an inspector who reported that he couldn't find any prostitutes. I replied that I meant conspicuous by its absence
We’ve only the internet to blame for this disheartening lack 😢
So sarcastically? Because you mean inconspicuous if not
@@rymic72ah yes, it’s much better when local people desperate for money to survive by renting their bodies forsaking any dignity and respect were outside where you had to go to, not a tap away… damn the internet making using other equals a sex objects so much easier… where’s the effort…
@@Cassxowary I’ve been told by incredibly reliable sources that sex work is real work and that we must celebrate women who choose this career path. Far be it from me to be a misogynist who attempts to mansplain that they are being exploited and used. I must at all costs attempt to eradicate the toxic masculinity from my thoughts and forego my natural tendencies towards desiring to protect women lest I be labeled a dinosaur or a relic of a past that is best left to die off.
@@rymic72Tbh you are a relic mate. So am I. Only recently have I discovered that this business is done via the internet now, and not down an infamous street. And I'm not new to the Internet... It just hadn't occurred to me. But at least I know that it's not a world where men are expected to protect women. I'm not that daft. No offence
Great video. I also couldn’t help but laugh. I must explore my old hometown of Southampton to find where it was.
I live in Soton too, would love to find out where it was. Guessing it wasn't Derby Road lol
Until recently we had the less offensive but likely funnier "Butthole Road" in Conisborough, just off the A630.
It has since been renamed to "Archer's Way", which is far more boring as the road was the number one tourist attraction in the town, a title which has now been handed over to a pile of rubble on a nearby hill.
Good thing it wasn't Archer's Way first, then changed to Butthole Road...
OWTCH!!!!😆😅😂🤣
There’s a Butthole lane in Shepshed
I bet the council get fed up having to keep buying new signs.
the council gave the name the old "spanish archer"
El Bow
Butts was the name given to places where they practiced archery, so at least the renaming was on the same theme