Dorset Place Names
Shitterton
English place names were largely coined during the early Anglo-Saxon era.
These settlers spoke a Germanic tongue, one which we know as Old English and the ancestor of our modern language.
Perhaps one of Dorset’s most famous (or infamous?) place names is Shitterton.
For years maps would give this correctly although directories would omit the ‘h’.
Much was invested in replacing the road sign, this having become an unusual collector’s item.
Eventually this was replaced by the current version, one quite literally cut in stone.
The name refers to the early name for the local river with the suffix tun or ‘farmstead on the Shitter’.
The river name itself describes a minor water course used as a sewer.
ANTHONY POULTON-SMITH
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