Sunday, July 23, 2017
How 50 London places got their names
Aldwych: lair of the ancient sorceress
Arnos Grove: small wood, formerly belonging to Arno
Barbican: where barbecues were permitted
Barking: Henry VIII's favourite hostelry
Barkingside: close to Henry VIII's favourite hostelry
Barnes: place for agricultural storage
Battersea: site of heavy wave action
Blackfriars: known for its overcooked fish
Bloomsbury: a subterranean garden
Brixton: huge pile of building materials
Camberwell: a nicely-sloping road
Catford: where kittens crossed the river
Crossness: known for its angry residents
Dulwich: lair of the boring sorceress
Ealing: site of Cockney 'ospital
Feltham: home of the infamous Pigstrokers Gang
Finsbury: shark cemetery
Fulham: a lot of pigs lived here
Fulwell: hole which overflowed with water
Goodmayes: most excellent labyrinth
Greenwich: lair of the inexperienced sorceress
Hackney: place where half a leg was lost
Hatch End: closed-down chicken farm
Hatton: place to find millinery
Hayes: susceptible to fog
Highbury: hilltop cemetery
Hurlingham: home of the infamous Pigchuckers Gang
Kew: where the line to enter London began
Kidbrooke: riverside grazing for young goats
Kilburn: place of murder and arson
Kingsbury: royal cemetery
Ladywell: women's hospital
Limehouse: bright green cottage
Maida Vale: wedding dress headgear created here
Nunhead: place of habit
Paddington: huge pile of stuffing
Pinner: where ladies were tied down
Ponders End: place for contemplating death
Poplar: a lot of people used to live here
Purley: seat of Cockney royalty
Riddlesdown: a very wet place
Shacklewell: a particularly good torture chamber
Slade Green: parkland for duelling
Spitalfields: saliva-strewn pasture
Sudbury: cemetery for washerwomen
Tooting Broadway: avenue lined by owls
Wandsworth: marketplace for wizards
Wapping: huge place
Whetstone: rock in a river
Woolwich: lair of the knitting sorceress
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