English Place-name Society

Survey of English Place-Names

A county-by-county guide to the linguistic origins of England’s place-names – a project of the English Place-Name Society, founded 1923.

Wherry Pit, The Wherry

Other OS name in the Parish of Winterborne Abbas

Etymology

( 1903 6″ ) ( 1939 Kelly ) , where R . South Winterborne rises ( springs marked 6 ″ ) . According to 1774 Hutch1 1303 , ' the spring is , by the country people , called the Wherry , and is said to burst with great noise , generally about November , sooner or later , as the season is more or less rainy ' . Origin obscure , but perhaps to be associated with the onomatopoeic word whirry , wherry recorded in the 17th century in the sense ' a rapid or sudden movement ' ( NED s.v . ) .