voted "Britain's worst place-name" in a survey carried out by genealogy website Find My Past, beating Scratchy Bottom, also in Dorset, and Brokenwind in Aberdeenshire. It was also awarded ninth place on the list of place-names in Rude Britain: The 100 Rudest Place Names in Britain. The native Shittertonians are, however, proud of their hamlet's name. Ian Ventham, the chairman of the parish council, said: "It is a perfect rural hamlet with thatched cottages and idyllic Dorset countryside. Those of us who live here are not the least bit embarrassed by it." Disappearing sign The hamlet's name has resulted in its sign repeatedly being stolen (a fate similar to that of Fugging, Upper Austria), requiring costly replacements to be acquired each time, to the increasing reluctance of the local council. As Ian Ventham, chairman of Bere Regis Parish Council, put it: In 2010, the inhabitants banded together to purchase a 1.5-tonne block of Purbeck Stone to place at the entrance to Shitterton, carved with the hamlet's name. More than half of the 50 households chipped in £20 each and a further £70 was contributed by Purbeck district council. A truck and crane were hired by volunteers to put the stone in place, at a total cost of £680. Ian Ventham explained: "We thought, 'Let's put in a tonne and a half of stone and see them try and take that away in the back of a Ford Fiesta'." References External links Bere Regis village Web site Shit- place-names in England by Keith Briggs Hamlets in Dorset Purbeck District