Cave Names - bizarre and funny ones

[mikem]

Cym Dwr?

Is that anywhere near Cwm D?r?

Could be summat to do with Dwr Cymru...

& Inferus seems to be mixin' his R'n'B!

 

[ZombieCake]

Nancy Camel's Hole.

No sniggering at the back.

It's a bit Witchy.

 

[langcliffe]

I was of the understanding this was a polite interpretation of ?Foot and Arse? the name of the field it was in / near.

I can't help you, I'm afraid. I'm not local enough to know the field names.

I do know that it's not a very recent name. William Stott Banks refers to it in his 1866 book Walks in Yorkshire, in which he conjectures that it is associated with the Alum Pot water.

 

[andys]

From the 2010 Journal of the North Craven Heritage Trust...

"Then a few months ago I came across a map of land at Selside, the properties of Messrs Ayrton and Foster in 1868. The field lying immediately to the north of Footnaws Hole is called, rather surpisingly, Foot and Arse. The name is written on the map in the field, all 5 acres and 12 perches of it, and also in the list of fields belong to J.W.Foster, so there is no mistake. If you try to say that field name in a local accent, you will see how it was possible that the refined gentlemen who made the first Ordnance Survey map arrived at the name Footnaws. Why the field should have the name shown on the 1868 map is as yet unexplained. "

 

[Inferus]

& Inferus seems to be mixin' his R'n'B!

I'm not mixing anything, I was playing an original from the late 80s by the NCC (I had to get the book out for those finer details!) on Parck Fell.. :

 

[mikem]

From the 2010 Journal of the North Craven Heritage Trust...

The same article as in the Red Rose Journal.

Sorry, Inferus - I was playing on the letter switch.

A couple more from Mendip - A Pockhole Lips Way in Pinetree Pot

& Abyssinian Beaver Cheese in Welsh's Green Swallet...

 

[langcliffe]

From the 2010 Journal of the North Craven Heritage Trust...

"Then a few months ago I came across a map of land at Selside, the properties of Messrs Ayrton and Foster in 1868. The field lying immediately to the north of Footnaws Hole is called, rather surpisingly, Foot and Arse. The name is written on the map in the field, all 5 acres and 12 perches of it, and also in the list of fields belong to J.W.Foster, so there is no mistake. If you try to say that field name in a local accent, you will see how it was possible that the refined gentlemen who made the first Ordnance Survey map arrived at the name Footnaws. Why the field should have the name shown on the 1868 map is as yet unexplained. "

That seems to have cleared up the mystery - although whether it was a mishearing on part of the OS gentleman, or a bit of gentrification  in the same way that the Victorians renamed the 'white arse' (so called because it has a white arse) the 'wheatear', is open to debate. I see that the name appears on the 1851 OS 6" map, predating the 1866 reference, and that the beck to the north is named Footnaw's Beck.

 

[dudley bug]

While exploring Cader Fawr near Penderyn Aberystwyth  University Caving Club explored a number of promising sites during the spring of 1980. One dig near a pool revealed a short section of cave passage which was filled with frogs.
The site was named Ogof Broga Camddefnydd  - Cave of the W**king Frogs

 

[Inferus]

I always thought Bum Burner Breach was a bizarrely named cave