Reading British place names

I used to think I was pretty good at decoding and pronouncing words. Not in England. England has a whole other set of rules when it comes to pronouncing place names. Here are a few I had trouble with to start...

First, some general guidelines that I have noticed (anecdotal, it may not work on every single word).

"ces" in the middle of a word, surrounded by vowels, tends to be pronounced just as one "s" sound. 

Examples: 

Leicester - sounds like - "lester"

Bicester - "bister"

Gloucester - "gloster"

Shire sounds more like the word "sure" when describing an area.

Examples:

Oxfordshire

Buckinghamshire

Berkshire

If you use the two rules above, you can pronounce Worcestershire nearly correctly (just don't forget not to pronounce the second "r" and you're good).

If the word ends with "wick" or "wark" the "w" doesn't seem to be pronounced.

Examples: 

Warwick - "worrick"

Southwark - "sutherk"

"Mouth" at the end of a place name kind of sounds like "myth." 

Examples: 

Plymouth

Dartmouth

Borough or burgh is shortened to something like "bro" or "brah"

Examples:

Edinburgh

Scarborough

If the place name ends with "ham" the "h" isn't pronounced.

Examples:

Tottenham - "tottenem"

Lavenham - "lavenem"

Now, here are a few other words that don't seem to follow any rules as far as I can tell...

Marylebone* - "marleybone"

Slough (this is where I've been living!) - rhymes with "cow"

Greenwich - "grenich" (I guess this follows the rule of not pronouncing the w)

Reading - "redding" 

Ruislip - "rye-slip"

Beakonsfield - "beckonsfield"

Click here for a video demonstrating some of the words I mentioned and some I didn't. She talks about a couple that came from Welsh, which I haven't come across yet. I'll come back and add any more that I notice in the future!

*Marylebone is mentioned in the video and she pronounces it slightly differently. The pronunciation I have put is what I hear announced at the tube station.