Scunthorpe

Scunthorpe is an industrial town in Lincolnshire; its population was 81,286 in 2021.

Understand
The name Scunthorpe, which means 'Skuma's outlying farm/settlement', caused problems when in 1996 residents were creating accounts with AOL, as it contains a four-letter "indecency" which the software blocked. There are many similar problems; short of full Artificial Intelligence, it is exceedingly difficult for software to recognise obscenity, threats, disinformation or other problematic text.

The generic name computer scientists use for this whole class of problems is the "Scunthorpe problem". Some travellers might want to visit the town just for that reason.

Get in

 * Scunthorpe railway station has trains from Manchester, Sheffield, Doncaster and Cleethorpes.

Do

 * Football: Scunthorpe United were relegated in 2023 and now play soccer in National League North, the sixth tier. Their home ground Glanford Park (capacity 9000) is a mile west of the centre at the junction of M181 and A18.

Connect
Scunthorpe and its approach roads have 4G from all UK carriers. As of Nov 2022, there is only patchy 5G coverage from Three.