Norfolk placename Slippery Bottom added to OS database

There is Cat's Bottom, a parish near King's Lynn, Hag's Pits close to Honigham, and the marshy area in the vicinity of Acle known as Nowhere.

But what about Slippery Bottom?  

According to a new database, released by national mapping service the Ordnance Survey (OS), the name refers to Womack Water, near Ludham.

Boats moored at Ludham Staithe on Womack Water. (Image: James Bass)

The database, called the Vernacular Names Tool, assigns local nicknames to coastal areas to help the emergency services find the right location in an emergency. 

After working with HM Coastguard, the OS is rolling out the collection of names to police, ambulance, mountain rescue and fire services across the country. 

Not far from Womack Water, and located on the banks of the River Thurne, was a boatyard known as Slippery Bottoms - perhaps the source of the nickname now contained on the database.

Other names included in the database, for places across the UK, include the Eye of the Butt, the Dalek, Jabba the Hut, Stinky Cove and Harry Potter Bridge.

The project to collect the names was started as many people give vernacular nicknames for local landmarks that are known by different names on official maps when calling the emergency services.

READ MORE: Odd names, but Nowhere is really Somewhere in Norfolk

This can lead to confusion and potentially life-threatening delays as the blue light services try to find the right place. 

The database already contains 9,500 place names with input from a dozen emergency services in Scotland, Wales and England but OS is keen for more and is calling on other organisations to input local and colloquial nicknames into the database. 

Another place in the region better known by its nickname includes the Chicken roundabout located on the A143 road, on the Bungay and Ditchingham bypass.