Scary Monsters (and Super Streets)

With agreed sales of 2,386 properties in May alone last year, online estate agent, Purplebricks, has  revealed some pretty scary results from its research on property names and addresses of the UK.

Nearly 2,000 place names in the UK were found to reference the ‘ghoulish’, although that didn’t deter the 180,000 people who live in Coffin Close, Spook Hill or Goblin Green in Swindon, Dorking and Welwyn Garden City respectively.

“Some of the addresses we found might have a creepy ring to them,” said Michael Bruce, CEO, Purplebricks, “but far from deterring potential buyers, we have found it can arouse interest and often encourages a viewing.”

The company found the most common spooky references to be ‘Cemetery’ (used in addresses in 850 towns), ‘Grave’ (180 references), ‘Coven’ (143 places).  There were 40 streets associated with ‘Gallows’, 30 mentioning ‘Hallows’ and 23 ‘Hanging’.  Hell was found in 67 areas, while 20 went to ‘Devil’, 39 containing ‘Witches’ and ‘Spiders’ in 19 locations.  There were 18 ‘Hatchets’, five ‘Warlocks’, two ‘Wizards’ and four ‘Bloods’.

“Most of these names are linked with the colourful past of that particular neighbourhood,” Michael Bruce explained. “They certainly don’t affect prices and in some cases actually boost curiosity. Many buyers consider the unusual addresses to have added cache. It’s nice that such road names survive, they reflect the UK’s rich history and many date back hundreds of years. They can say as much about the people who used to live there as the events that took place in that area.”

Ordnance Survey has published its own ‘Top Seven’ Britain’s spookiest places:

  1. Devil’s Pulpit, Wye Valley
  2. Hell Hole, Norfolk
  3. The Slaughters, Cotswolds
  4. Coffinswell, Devon
  5. Witch Crags, Northumberland
  6. Fangs Brow, Cumbria
  7. Hell Gill, Cumbria

Perhaps missing from this list is the mountain peak of Pen Llithrig y Wrach, Snowdonia, which translates to ‘slippery peak of the witch’.

For advice from Independent Chartered Surveyors on buying old and new properties, contact www.propertysurveying.co.uk