Looking for something else, I found this address:
Deep Arse Quarry, Oxenhope, Keighley Borough.
Did we really call something that? It’s in the London Gazette, so I think we actually did……
Deep Arse Quarry, Oxenhope, Keighley Borough.
May 31st, 2011 · 8 Comments
Tags: The English
8 responses so far ↓
1 Simon Cooke // May 31, 2011 at 9:21 am
Here’s a little more:
Sometimes their errors were laughable to modern ears. The disused quarries south of Sawood on the high moor west of Hambleton Lane are Deep House Delph on the 6-inches to 1 mile O.S. map, and long puzzled this author who could not think what a deephouse at 1400 feet could mean. Little Clough and Great Clough are shown just to the west of the Delph, which itself substitutes a silly ‘Classical’ Greek ‘ph’ for a normal English ‘f and makes a commonplace delf or digging (= quarry: compare the verb to delve) sound something to do with the Greek oracle at Delphi. In fact the quarry is Deep ArseDelf in the official Tithe Award survey of 1851, the Great Clough was GreatArse, and the Little one likewise. From Leeming and anywhere else down below they look like the cleft in the buttocks. Hence their names. The quarry was carved out above them, actually nearer to the Little Clough, so was named after them. Presumably the surveyors were worried lest Queen Victoria should find them printing rude words on the maps published in her name, so they bowdlerized them out.
http://www.thesunflowertrust.org.uk/OxenhopeVillage/history/oxenhope.htm
2 Jim // May 31, 2011 at 9:40 am
More to the point, what exactly were you looking for when you found them?
3 Jim // May 31, 2011 at 9:40 am
You weren’t googling Hugh Bonneville were you?
Tim adds: Tee hee…..no. “Worstall Crags”.
4 formertory // May 31, 2011 at 9:57 am
Deep Arse Moss, a few lines down from the Quarry, is a bit of a worry too, I’d have thought. Another thing you just don’t need.
5 dearieme // May 31, 2011 at 10:12 am
“Deep Arse Moss” is a very nice girl; you shouldn’t be rude about her.
6 Philip Scott Thomas // May 31, 2011 at 11:11 am
That ain’t the half of it. This is a pretty well-known bit of London history.
And if your French is up to it, take a guess on how the Grand Tetons got their name.
7 Ian B // May 31, 2011 at 3:08 pm
Here in Northampton, there is a housing estate called Buttocks Booth; the name is derived from a mediaeval mens’ entertainment which gave rise to the local saying, “…because on Fridays, it’s your turn in the booth”.
8 Remittance Man // Jun 1, 2011 at 11:35 am
Deep Arse Quarry? Well at least it’s a bit more colourful than Kimberley’s “Big Hole”
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