Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Warton(e) 1170–80 Kendi,130 1279 Ass9d 1281 Ebor 1291 Tax 1323 Pat 1472 Pat

• Werton 13 Musg

• Werfton 1203 FF

• Querfton 1260 FF

• Querton 1238 P c.1250 Leng 1256 Ass2 1257 P 1279,1292 Ass 1363 Ipm

• Qwerton 13 Musg 1392 Cl

• Querston' 1247,1257 P

• Wherton Hy6 Rent 1429 Lowth(Sh23) 1434 FF

• Wharton 1429 FA 1530 Visit 1547 MinAcct 1657 Comm

Etymology

Possibly 'farmstead on a shore or embankment', v. hwearf , tūn .The precise meaning of OE  hwearf in this name cannot be determined, as there is no village of Wharton and therefore no precise location of the feature to which the name could refer; Wharton Hall is on the bank of the R. Eden. Since, however, the word hwearf usually denotes 'an embankment, a wharf' and the meaning 'riverbank' does not appear before 1602 (NED s.v. wharf sb 1), it would be preferable to assume a topographical meaning such as 'turn, bend' (as in the related OE  hweorf ) which would describe the loop of the Eden at Wharton Hall or another smaller one at Turn Wheel a little lower down the river, or to derive the first el. from the cognate ON  hvarf 'bend, crook', also 'a hill on the horizon, a hill over which a traveller disappears from sight' (cf. NGIndl 58, Franzen, LaxdON 60–1).