Five of the rudest place and street names in Sussex - some deemed too rude for WI members

Wetwang, Cockermouth and Bell End were just some of the risqué place names deemed too rude to be shown at the WI event in Harrogate.

Their counterparts in Sussex have expressed sympathy over sensitive reaction.

Vicky Booth is secretary of the East Sussex Federation of Women’s Institutes, an umbrella organisation for the 101 WIs in the area, said: “Like any organisation, a lot of people would be amused, but there will always be one or two people who are offended.”

Jill O’Grady, 65, is the secretary of the Midhurst Women’s Institute, just up the road from the town of Cocking.

“I wouldn’t have a problem with it,” she said, “but our ladies are in their eighties and nineties so some might see the funny side but I suspect lots wouldn’t like it and some might be a bit embarrassed.”

She explained that signposts to Cocking don’t stir a titter in the locality.

“We just accept it, they’re not going to change it after all,” she added.

BALLS CROSS

Ruby Gibbs of Langhurst Hill Farm can see the road sign for Balls Cross, near Petworth, from her kitchen window.

She said: “Living here you get used to it but I’m 80 years old and I do still think it’s funny.

"Especially when you see people stopping their cars to take pictures by the sign.”

COCKING 

Fewer than 500 people live in the village of Cocking, just south of Midhurst along the A286.

The landlord of the Bluebell Inn explained: “It’s obviously not a normal name, you do an occasional snigger.”

He said that passers-by can sometimes be seen stopping to take photos of themselves by the sign posts, but that locals tend to be less amused by the name of the town than by its village monument.

The History Column is a bronze totem pole cast by a local sculptor.

It was erected in 2000 and features plaques bearing historical facts.

“People round here call it the Cocking Knob,” said landlord Simon Tideswell.

COCKSHUT ROAD

Rachel Powell, above, lives in Cockshut Road – pronounced “cock-chute” – in Lewes.

A council spokesperson said that apart from the giggles in their office caused by our question, she had not heard any reports of difficulties with the name.

It derives from a 13th century Sussex word for a place where flights of woodcocks or geese could be ensnared.

JUGGS ROAD

Perhaps surprisingly, Lewes Rugby Club was unaware of any members taking selfies by the street signs for Juggs Road and Juggs Close.

The name comes from an old nickname for Brighton fisherman, and the roads mark the route that fishwives would take to market, carrying their husband’s catch in jars or jugs tied to donkeys.

THE DICKLANDS

Peter and Christina Hall own the Breaky Bottom Vineyard in Rodwell, a mile away from The Dicklands road.

Their own business name sometimes give them trouble, with emails getting caught in recipient’s junk filter.

“There are plenty of Bottoms in Sussex,” Peter said.

Madeleine Harvey, whose husband is a Rodwell parish councillor, said of The Dicklands: “You just live with these things.

“It’s a bit like Cockshut in Lewes which causes some merriment.”