Have you always wanted a weekend away in Fryup or fancied a walk around Blubberhouses?
Perhaps you have never heard of such places but believe it or not they exist in North Yorkshire and there are many more strange place names in the region.
Some have a historical meaning behind their name and others we know nothing about.
In 2019, David Simpson the owner of Tangled Worm, a Durham-based publisher of poster prints, designed a map showcasing all the places with odd names in North Yorkshire, the North East and Northumberland.
Here are some of the strangest place names in North Yorkshire and what we know about them.
Some of the strangest place names in North Yorkshire
Jingling Pot
Jingling Pot is a limestone cave in West Kingsdale. Located adjacent to Jingling Beck, it is a lenticular-shaped 45-metre-deep passage that descends straight from the surface.
Crackpot
Crackpot is a small village situated in the west of Richmond that lies on the River Swale.
Its name descends from the Old English ‘kraka’ and the Viking word ‘pot’.
Have you ever been to Crackpot? (Image: Google Maps)
Fryup
Fryup is a hamlet in the North York Moors National Park.
It is within the civil parish of Danby and is located alongside Great Fryup Beck in Great Fryup Dale.
Fryup is separated into two small valleys or dales such as Great Fryup Dale and Little Fryup Dale.
It’s thought the name comes from a Yorkshire dialect construction of the earlier name ‘Frehope’ from around the 14th century.
The element ‘Fre’ may be a reference to the Norse goddess ‘Frigg’, while ‘hope’ is from the Old English word ‘hop’ or Middle English ‘hope’ meaning ‘valley’.
Blubberhouses
Blubberhouses is a small village and civil parish located in the Washburn Valley in the borough of Harrogate.
In 2011 the Census recorded a population of less than 100 people.
The name of the village derives from the Anglo-Saxon “bluberhūs’ which means ‘the house(s) which is/are at the bubbling stream.”
In 2011, the Census recorded less than 100 people living in Blubberhouses (Image: Google Maps)
Sexhow
Sexhow is a hamlet and civil parish in the Hambleton district. The name of the originates from Old Norse of either ‘sexhou’ or ‘sekkshaughr’, which means the “hill of Sekk.”
Giggleswick
Giggleswick is a village and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire.
Known as ‘Ghigeleswic’ in 1086 (DB), the name means “dwelling or (dairy) farm of a man called Gikel or Gichel.”
Booze
Booze is a hamlet in Arkengarthdale, in the Richmondshire district with only 11 households.
The earliest record of the name is from 1473, in the form Bowehous. The name is derived from the Old English word boga 'bow' and hus 'house', meaning a “house by the bow or curve.”
Booze only has 11 households in the area (Image: Google Maps)
Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate
Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate is a street in York, famously known for its short length and unusual name.
The name of the street was first recorded in 1505 as ‘Whitnourwhatnourgate’, and later appears as ‘Whitney Whatneygate’. It appears to mean "neither-one-thing-nor-the-other street.”
Thornton-le-Beans
Thornton-le-Beans is a village and civil parish in the Hambleton district.
The unusual name is derived from the common place name 'Thornton', meaning “a farm with thorn bushes.”
This farm had reportedly beans grown upon it and in 1534 it was called ‘Thornton-in-Fabis’, the Latin for Thornton-le-Beans.
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