British English: How Do You Pronounce some of Britain’s Strange Place Names?

British English: How Do You Pronounce some of Britain’s Strange Place Names? Check out This Massive List of British Place Pronunciations

April 28, 2014 By Jonathan 94 Comments

One of the most perplexing things travelers in Britain can come across is how to properly pronounce the place names in Britain. Places that have the same name in somewhere like the USA or Australia, will be pronounced completely different in the UK. We posted a handy chart for London pronunciations a few weeks ago and it was very popular, so we thought we’d create one for the rest of the UK. See the London Chart here.

• Alciston, East Sussex – Aston
• Alfriston, East Sussex – All-Friston
• Allerton, Bradford, West Yorkshire – Ollerton
• Alnmouth – Allenmouth
• Alnwick (Northumberland) – Anic
• Althorp (where Princess Diana is buried) The village is pronounced Olthorpe but the House is pronounced Orltrop (notice the reversal of the O and the R!)
• Ansty, West Sussex An-Sty
• Ardingly (Sussex) – Ardingl-eye
• Bamburgh (Northumberland) – Bambruff or Bambro?
• Beaconsfield – Bekonsfield
• Beaulieu – Bewley
• Bedworth – Bedduth
• Belvoir – Beever
• Berwick on Tweed – Berik on Tweed
• Bicester – Bister
• Boughton, Lincolnshire – Bootun
• Brough, East Yorkshire – Bruff
• Burpham, Surrey or West Sussex  Ber-Fam
• Chippenham (see comments at top of page) – Chipnam    (locally)   Sent by Ann Cook Chipenum – James Bruton
• Chiswick, London – Chizzik
• Cholmondeston, Cheshire – Chumston
• Cholmondley – Chumly
• Edinburgh – Edinboro or Edinburah (just NOT Edinburg)
• Eltham, SE London – El-tum
• Etchilhampton  (near Devizes Wilts) – Eyeshalton
• Fowey (Cornwall) Foy
• Frome – Froom
• Gillingham, Kent – Jillingham
• Gillingham, Norfolk & Dorset – Gillingham (hard sounding “g” as in girl)
• Gotham, Nottinghamshire – Goat’am
• Glasgow – Glazga
• Gloucester – Gloster
• Greenwich – Grenich
• Grosmont, North Yorkshire – Grow-mont
• Grosvenor – Grovenor
• Harrogate – Harrowget
• Hastings, Sussex – Haystings
• Holborn, Central London – Hoe-burn
• Hunstanton (Norfolk) – Hunston
• Keswick, Cumbria, England – Kezik
• Kettering (Northamptonshire)Ke’-rin – Apostrophe indicated glottal stop
• Launceston (UK) – Lawnston
• Leadenham, Lincolnshire – Led’nam
• Leicester – Lester
• Leominster – Lemster
• Lewes, East Sussex – Loowis
• Mildenhall (Wilthsire) – Minal  (to rhyme with spinal)
• Milton Keynes – Milton Keens
• Mousehole, Cornwall – Mowzel
• Norwich – NORRich
• Penistone – Penny -stun
• Plymouth – Plimuth
• Ruislip – Ryeslip
• Salisbury, England – Sawlsbry
• Scone, Perth, Scotland – Skoon
• Shrewsbury – Shrowsberry
• Slough – Slow (to rhyme with how/now)
• Southwark – Suthuk
• Truro, Cornwall – Tru-row
• Warwick – Warrick
• Welwyn – Wellin
• Weymouth, Dorset – Waymuth
• Worcester – Wooster (as in Bertie Wooster)