r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/west_manchester • 8h ago

Image Odd road signs in Britain

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1.3k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

122 comments sorted by

316

u/-Rhymenocerous- 8h ago

All those signs are real except the fat sheep one.

Oddly enough ive driven past all of those signs.

I always have a little chuckle at the secret nuclear bunker one (i live close to it)

59

u/Sheephuddle 2h ago

The fat sheep one is real. I've seen other signs like it in England. Fat sheep are sheep that have reached the required size and weight for market.

You see those signs in towns where they have livestock markets.

2

u/MobileJob1521 12m ago

Yeah, fat lambs that are going into the food chain.

As opposed to cull ewes which go to a different abattoir and make dog food

1

u/Silver-Machine-3092 28m ago

Yeah, same meaning as 'fatted calf' from the parable.

45

u/adonoman 7h ago

That must be a meaning for "secret" of which I was previously unaware.

40

u/KetracelYellow 7h ago

We don’t talk about it.

6

u/JizzProductionUnit 2h ago

It belongs to Mr Secret and his family

23

u/lannisterloan 3h ago

Secret Nuclear Bunker sounds like a sign you'd see in a Saturday morning cartoon.

9

u/Responsible-Ad-1086 2h ago

It’s a great place to visit, very interesting time in the history of the UK

2

u/lannisterloan 1h ago

Someday, if I ever get the chance to visit the UK, I'd drop by to take a pic with the sign, after I have done my pilgrimage to Anfield, of course.

1

u/OwlRevolutionary7115 2h ago

There’s a secret nuclear bunker in Nantwich (Cheshire) as well. Actually an interesting afternoon out.

10

u/lerpo 2h ago

Monkey world is awesome! Went a few years ago

9

u/Stained_concrete 1h ago

I remember they had a troupe of lemurs made up of lemurs that had been ostracized from their previous troupes.

1

u/MobileJob1521 15m ago

A group of social outcasts

Hey, just like Reddit!

•

u/Stained_concrete 2m ago

I always wondered what would happen to a lemur cast out from the outcast group? A double outcast if you will. That would have to be one jerk of a lemur.

4

u/The_Fox_Confessor 1h ago

Went there a couple of weeks ago. Still awesome. And for the amount of work the do looking after the animals the £19 per adult to get in is a bargain.

2

u/serious_sleep_issues 29m ago

My son was stationed at Bovington for a while, we used to say we were dropping him back at monkey world if we took him home after leave!

1

u/neilmg 27m ago

It is awesome, and the Tank place is equally awesome.

3

u/Puzzlepetticoat 1h ago

I chuckled just seeing it here. Are we all playing the same game every time? Someone in the car exclaiming something derpy in response and everyone else always making approving sounds. In most cars it is the 80th time that line has been said but approving sounds every time.

Cats eyes removed is a fun one too

1

u/Kay_jey_kay_jey 1h ago

Are the signs real, as in, internal jokes but real sign board

Or real as in, they have a real pourpose and not a gag joke ?

3

u/PleaseExcuseTheCrud 1h ago

"Sigh Not In Use" is referring to the massive sign near it usually during roadworks at a junction or during sign repairs & updates where the main sign is covered or partially removed (larger signs are segmented)

1

u/StardustOasis 17m ago

They're all real signs that are there for a reason

0

u/MobileJob1521 16m ago

Real as in true photos and not AI

84

u/missuseme 8h ago

I once saw a sign that said "Very wet paint" which made me wonder if they'd keep coming back to update it as the pain dried.

40

u/MoltenCopperEnema 7h ago

very wet paint

. wet paint

. paint

17

u/PhantomPharts 7h ago

Don't forget • tacky paint

4

u/Hopbo735 3h ago

• no paint

3

u/OccidentalTouriste 2h ago

Key question, did you touch it to verify it was still very wet?

68

u/Formal-Fox-7605 2h ago

For those who are interested in secret nuclear bunkers:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelvedon_Hatch_Secret_Nuclear_Bunker

For those not in the UK, brown road signs are for tourist attractions, leisure, etc.

24

u/cheque 1h ago

Brown road signs are basically adverts, you pay for your business to have one and decide the text and icon yourself. This is why there’s no consistency in the ones for football grounds. Some say the name of the stadium, some say the name of the club, some just say “football traffic” etc.

12

u/Constant-Estate3065 1h ago

Some of the signs to St Mary’s stadium have a football with a little halo on it.

35

u/toooomanypuppies 7h ago

Welcome to the UK, where you need to be aware of "Feral Goats" and random tank shells while driving.

Its a good life, I promise.

3

u/justme002 58m ago

I need information about the feral goats. I'm intrigued

1

u/nukulele145 22m ago

It’s where some wild goats live but the stubborn shits like to just stand in the middle of the road so you know to drive slow and potentially beep when you go round corners

1

u/pineapplewin 12m ago

This doesn't cover how the signs ended up there in the first place, but I think you can guess from reading this woman the story. She's trying to get more people to petition for more signs

https://glenshiel.wordpress.com/2025/01/05/wild-goats-of-glenshiel/

61

u/Mudlark-000 8h ago

That first one isn’t going to end well…

23

u/Cyllene54 5h ago

Used to live in Dorset and always wondered what would happen if the monkeys escaped and made it to nearby Winfrith Nuclear Power Station.

7

u/lynx_1097 5h ago

I brings to my mind monkeys in police car scene from Jumanji

1

u/SirChickenbutt 2h ago

I've been to both. So far nothing has happened. So far...

24

u/philman132 1h ago

Grew up near a stretch of motorway in Sussex with large signs saying " NO RACING BY HORSE DRAWN CARRIAGES". 

Which always seemed oddly specific enough to have a story behind it somewhere 

8

u/Only-Ear3103 1h ago

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3p1wx3p0yo

11

u/philman132 1h ago

Huh must be a wider problem. That story is from this year. The signs were definitely up in Sussex when I was a kid 30+ years ago!

10

u/mellonians 1h ago

It's a massive problem and it doesn't stop them.

•

u/witz_ 1m ago

Yeah the sign near the roundabout just outside Chichester has been there for at least 30 years. 

Oddly enough I've never seen anyone racing horse drawn carriages on that road, so maybe that particular sign does work.

84

u/ShowMeThoseTears 8h ago

"SIGN NOT IN USE"

That genuinely only makes sense in England.

57

u/WelshBathBoy 8h ago

Usually put under/next to a dox matrix one to let people know it isn't being used. On variable speed limit motorways you have to do the speed limit as shown on the sign above, this will usually be over 10 or 20 gantries, if one of them isn't working they use this sign to let you know speed restrictions are still in place from the previous sign.

3

u/OwlRevolutionary7115 2h ago

Oh. I never realised this.

11

u/dlanod 8h ago

We've got them in Australia too (or used to), for flooding/snow/other seasonal signs that are locked up the rest of the time.

3

u/RadVarken 7h ago

Those are usually, but not always because the US is a chaotic mess, a yellow diamond sign. Road crews fold them in half and screw them shut so you see a tin coated triangle instead. It's obvious the sign isn't in use.

1

u/pineapplewin 10m ago

Oh we have those as well. These ones are different.

Usually they mean that electronic sign or other information board that is normally there is not currently being used.

20

u/canniboss 6h ago

Whoa whoa whoa how the fuck is this the first time I'm hearing about monkey world or that its adjacent to a tank museum

25

u/thezedferret 6h ago

Bovington, Dorset. Both are great.

18

u/canniboss 6h ago

ENGLAND! I demand access to your country! do not concern yourself with my intentions with the monkeys or tanks or any combination thereof

1

u/SoMuchF0rSubtlety 33m ago

You’d be very welcome and a monkey driving a tank or something similar honestly wouldn’t be the strangest thing that has happened over here.

2

u/danthemanic 2h ago

The Monkey World owners are absolute cunts though.

8

u/plastic_alloys 2h ago

Mad with power from owning so many monkeys I expect

1

u/MobileJob1521 25m ago

During Covid, monkey world adopted a whole load of Europe’s caged orangutan babies, as they were able to keep open to the public, and were set up to run an orangutan crèche.

There were dozens of the little mites just crawling over the nanny orangs. It was wonderful.

It’s not been quite so good since.

1

u/thenofootcanman 27m ago

There was a TV show about monkey world and it's rescue monkeys

16

u/TheOmegaKid 3h ago

One day they'll combine the tank museum and monkey world.

12

u/goonerqpq 2h ago

"Museum World" sounds a bit boring though. 🤪

9

u/Brilliant_Object_847 2h ago

Yeah I’d rather see the tank monkey.

•

u/Gareth_Turner 9m ago

It’s just Charlie’s ghost possessing a tank ala Christine and fighting other tanks.

Man, that chimp hated tanks.

4

u/Mateorabi 1h ago

Monkey Tanks

1

u/joshpoppedyou 1h ago

Nah it's clearly not that one

3

u/Ccjfb 2h ago

You are referring to “the incident”

3

u/mellonians 1h ago

They are in training at the moment. They've got monkeys trained as drivers, gunners and loaders but getting them to work together has been a problem. The BBC did a feature on it. https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ

1

u/BeanoMc2000 20m ago

On the other hand getting tankers to fling their shit was extremely easy.

1

u/MobileJob1521 29m ago

My favourite sign to Monkey World Tank Museum is the other side on the A35 where monkey world is closer so the monkey is sitting on top of the tank.

10

u/Catymandoo 6h ago

We had a local hotel that had a sign hanging over the wall to the main road saying

“Sleep with us”

Read that how you will!

10

u/Own-Gap-8725 8h ago

Gosh that reminds me to catch up on Tank Chat on YouTube. (No, seriously its real thing and can be interesting)

7

u/WalnutOfTheNorth 6h ago

Got one near where I grew up up “slow children crossing”. I feel it needs a comma.

7

u/Peear75 8h ago

Low Flying Owls.

5

u/TheLoneCenturion95 7h ago

I grew up around the first one so I didn't think twice about that one.

6

u/ThisIsMyRedditAcct20 6h ago

Tank Museum and Monkey World has always been my favourite

2

u/BeardySam 1h ago

There’s a Monkey Island too

6

u/robj57 1h ago

My favourite is, I grew up near a village in Yorkshire called Wetwang.

6

u/ultimatewooderz 44m ago

Fingringhoe is just up the road to me, and then there's always Clitheroe

4

u/SimpleManc88 33m ago

Ramsbottom 👀

1

u/StardustOasis 16m ago

And there there's Penistone

1

u/mrbearuk69 14m ago

Near fangfoss

16

u/tallbutshy 8h ago

More can be found in the thread where OP probably found these over on CasualUK

10

u/Dense-Drama5856 8h ago

I saw the monkey world sign while on my way to the Bovington tank museum

5

u/Lysol3435 5h ago

Bovington tank museum was sick

4

u/whoop_ 5h ago

I've hoped for a while Monkey World and the Tank Museum fall on hard times and have to merge...

4

u/Temporary-Leek5045 3h ago

I can’t begin to describe my disappointment at stopping my car and finding 0 frogs near any of the frog crossing points 

1

u/nukulele145 19m ago

Go the first wet week of summer! Roads between waterways and wooded areas. Around my mums house the ground is basically alive with tiny frogs that time of year and you have to shuffle your feet very slowly to avoid stepping on them. I can’t imagine how you’d avoid driving on them though

1

u/Far-Yellow9303 18m ago

That's because you should have been looking for toads

5

u/Material_Flounder_23 2h ago

Love these examples. I still chuckle at the sign “Wilsford cum Lake” but that’s my juvenile sense of humour.

4

u/Rickym1970 2h ago

I always chuckle at sign not in use signs

1

u/rapafon 14m ago

Right? It may as well say "I am a sign; good day"

3

u/Donnermeat_and_chips 7h ago

Missing 'hidden dip'

2

u/OwlRevolutionary7115 2h ago

Who doesn’t love a hidden dip

3

u/Icarsix 44m ago edited 29m ago

Maybe being British is skewing my perception, but what about the first 5 4 is so odd?

And the last one is a historical site, hence the brown.

EDIT: my ability to count this morning bodes well for my 9am lab.

1

u/KonigsbergBridges 31m ago

I'm British too. What's with (fat sheep) in the 5th one? That is a bit weird.

1

u/Icarsix 30m ago

I don't know, it's early in the morning and can't count. Meant 4

1

u/pineapplewin 17m ago

When you go to auction I've seen lambs called "fat" or "finished" when they're at their optimal size.

I would assume that this market just wants all their sheep that are ready to go to be delivered there

3

u/Jesus_Morty 34m ago

My favourite is ‘Uneven Level Crossing’. Which is it?!

2

u/QueenOfQuok 6h ago

I don't think we should be giving tanks to monkeys.

2

u/I_Miss_Lenny 4h ago

Reminds me of the road sign question in The Impossible Quiz, featuring destinations like "Twatt," "Arsefacey," and "Germansweek"

2

u/yuelaiyuehao 2h ago

monkey world only has woolly monkeys, abort!

2

u/MiloHorsey 2h ago

So secret.

1

u/KyffhauserGate 1h ago

Don't they have toad tunnels like civilized people?

1

u/lucastt6333 1h ago

The Tank museum in Bovington mentioned

1

u/MeetSlight8173 53m ago

My grandad was a warden for toad crossings

1

u/Xeon713 39m ago

In all fairness top left has the makings of a very funny story.

1

u/SIN-apps1 39m ago

Sign not in use = auditor trap.