Famed for some of the most idyllic and tranquil countryside in the whole country, County Durham sits rightly as a jewel in the crown of northern England. What it lacks in aspects of excitement and intensity it more than makes up with beautiful scenery and a wonderful variety including its characterful city, rural hotspots, charming coastal towns, and reformed mining villages. And of course that's not to mention the friendliness and welcoming nature of the people who call it home. Within the area there are also those places which tend to stand out for no other reason that their name just seems a little out of place. Everywhere has them of course, the obscurely or vaguely rude-sounding names that make you seriously wonder how they came to be called that. So, to get to the bottom of some of these explanations - and for a bit of a laugh - here are 13 Strangest Place Names In County Durham...
13. Toronto/Quebec
These two are grouped together as they both represent an odd Canadian influence, which seems to preside within the North East. It was not unusual for small farms and smallholdings to be bought up together and merged or 'enclosed'. It was standard practice for the home farm to then name those far away enclosed spaces after foreign lands. This explains away how the small village of Quebec emerged in the rather rural surroundings a stones throw away from Deerness Valley. The same etymology is also argued by some for the origin of Toronto. A conflicting explanation is that a coal baron while on his visit to the Canadian city of Toronto, was informed of a new mine that had been discovered under his land. Needing to think of a name he decided on using that of the place he was in at the time.