Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Wetberga, Wetberge 1086 DB

• Weteberue l.13 CRCart

• Wateberga c.1130 LeicSurv 1167 P 1182 Hy2 AllS

• Wateberege 1155 RBE

• Wateberg(e) 1225 GildR 1230 MemR 1267 LCDeeds 1273 Wyg 1298,1367 AllS

• Watebergh' 1327 SR 1351,1397 AllS

• Wateberew Hy2 1238 Cl 1313,1347 AllS

• Wateberu 1312 ib

• Wateberwe 1315 ib

• What(e)berge Hy2 AllS 1220 Cur Hy3 Nichols 1298 AllS

• Whatebergh 1314 Coram 1331 Cl 1380 AllS 1428 FA

• Whateberuw Hy2 AllS

• What(e)berew Hy3 Nichols 1379 AllS

• Whatbarough 1440,1469,1478 ib

• Whatbarowe 1483 1507 Pat

• Whatborow(e) 1525 AllS 1535 VE

• Whatborough 1478 Pat

• Whadbergh(e) 1386,1396 AllS

• (le) Whadborowe 1451 1539 Nichols

• Whadbarow 1528 Visit

• Whadboro(u)gh 1535 VE 1539 Nichols 1604 Fine

• Whadborowgh alias Wateborowgh 1541 Nichols

• Whadborrough 1674 Terrier

• Weteburg(h) Hy2 AllS

• Wetteburg' e.13 Wyg

• W(h)ateburgh 1328 Banco 1384 AllS

• Wadburgh 1451 ib

• Whaddeburgh 1465 ib

• Burgthueit 1162 × 66 AllS

• Burgness Hy 3 Nichols

Etymology

'The hill where wheat is grown', v. hwǣte , berg . In the Domesday Survey, Whatborough is described as having three villagers, one freeman and eleven smallholders, while the Matriculus of Hugh de Welles of 1220 refers to a chapel here. No township survives on Whatborough Hill.It belonged to All Souls College, Oxford, after 1437 but was leased to Launde Priory, which by 1495 had wholly enclosed it for sheep pastures.

From the reign of Henry II, occasional spellings of the generic have been attracted to OE  burh 'a fortified site'. It is interesting to note that immediately following the entry for Whatborough on folio 230, DB records that 1½ carucates of land in Burgo (i.e. 'in The Burgh') belong to Whatborough. W. G. Hoskins (Essays in Leicestershire History , 95–6) treats 'The Burgh' as a lost township between Whatborough and Launde.Minor names relating to it such as Burgthueit 1162 × 66AllS and Burgness Hy 3 Nichols occur from the 12th cent, onwards. Whether this was the original settlement to which 'the wheat hill' belonged is uncertain, but movement of the principal habitation site from 'The Burgh' to Whatborough in more secure times may have taken place.