Residents of a village with the rudest names in the UK have told how a group of lads “put chains” around a sign and tried to steal it as they deal daily with being the butt of people’s jokes, it is reported.
For people living in the village of Cocks, in Cornwall, the jokes have been running thin as they have to put up with innuendo and graffiti.
And it even led to the local council looking at extreme methods to tackle the problem like changing the name to Cox and that plan led to a backlash from residents.
But they have decided to stop replacing one of the village signs due to it being stolen so often.
There have allegedly been a number of near misses on the A3075 when drivers chortle at a sign for Cocks that still stands.
"A few years ago we were woken up by a loud banging at 3am and it was some lads trying to pull the sign out with a car. They put chains around it and yanked it out and it’s not been replaced since. I doubt they’ll put the sign back any time soon,” resident Dave Milton, told The Sun, who said that new signs used to be put up but were then stolen again within days.
He continued: “Most of the signs are probably on somebody’s bedroom wall. People seem to want to lie in bed and stare at Cocks. But people in Cocks - I think we’re called Cockers - can see the funny side of it. We have a track that gets muddy when it rains which locals call Slippery Dicks."
Another local Julie Ward said that people in the village want their signs back and thinks the solution to the stealing is to position them better.
She said: “There are funny, strange things about living here - if you have to give your address over the phone it always gives people a chuckle but I don’t know any different, I’m just happy living here. The people are lovely and when the weather’s beautiful there’s nowhere better.”
People visiting the village have also had a laugh about a rise called Cocks Hill but apart from the rude jokes, resident Steve Luck said that it is a tranquil place and people who move in tend to stay.
There is debate over how Cocks got its name with some saying that it comes from the Cooke family in the 17th century and was called Cooke’s Holding.
Others say it used to be called Country and was a sophisticated inland holiday destination for people living in Perranporth.
But the tales of the name’s origins include everything from it being called Cox after a local orchard, to the village being a hotbed for wife swapping.
And if people think villagers in Cocks have a hard time then they should also spare a thought for people living in another English village called Brown Willy or Three Cocks in Wales and Twatt in Scotland.
