Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Weneton' 1200 Cur

• Wenetun 1246 AD

• Wenton(e) 1229 RHug 1235,1238 AD 1301 Cl 1443 1507 AD 1535 VE 1610 Speed

• Wenton alias Wainton 1683 Recov

• Wempton 1327 SR

• grangia de Weneton 1336 Ass

Etymology

The first element is difficult. It could possibly be an OE  pers.n. Wenna (as in Wennington Hu) or OE  wenn 'a wen, a tumour' used topographically, perhaps of a mound resembling such an excresence; but if so, one would expect the occasional spelling in -nn -. If the form Wainton of 1683 is phonologically significant, then likelier is OE  wǣn 'a waggon, a cart', with the regular local dialectal development of OE ǣ to ME ē , hence 'the farmstead where the waggons are kept'. The place is referred to as the grangia de Weneton 1336Ass . By 1507 it is described as 'land called Wenton in the parish of Cottesmore'. Wenton may have been the victim of early enclosure. It lay at about SK 891 143, v. tūn , grange and BrownArchSites 7.