Wharram is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

, England. It lies on the

Yorkshire Wolds The Yorkshire Wolds are hills in the counties of the East Riding of Yorkshire and North Yorkshire in Northern England. They are the northernmost chalk hills in the UK and within lies the northernmost chalk stream in Europe, the Gypsey Race. ...

, south-east of Malton. The principal settlement is the village of Wharram-le-Street, and the parish also includes the

deserted medieval village In the United Kingdom, a deserted medieval village (DMV) is a former settlement which was abandoned during the Middle Ages, typically leaving no trace apart from earthworks or cropmarks. If there are fewer than three inhabited houses the conve ...

Wharram Percy Wharram Percy is a deserted medieval village and former civil parish near Wharram-le-Street, now in the parish of Wharram, on the western edge of the chalk Wolds of North Yorkshire, England. It is about south of Wharram-le-Street and is sign ...

and the deserted medieval villages (now hamlets) of Raisthorpe and Burdale, some south of Wharram-le-Street. The population of the parish was estimated at 120 in 2016. The parish consists of high Wolds, rising to above sea level, into which are cut a number of

dry valley A dry valley may develop on many kinds of permeable rock, such as limestone, chalk, sand stone and sandy terrains that do not regularly sustain surface water flow. Such valleys do not hold surface water because it sinks into the permeable bed ...

s. In the north-east of the parish is the head of the

Great Wold Valley The Great Wold Valley is the largest and broadest of the valleys cutting into the Yorkshire Wolds in northern England. It carries the Gypsey Race, an intermittent stream, which runs from its source near Wharram-le-Street eastwards along and throu ...

. A deep valley, known variously as Water Dale and Burdale, runs across the south of the parish from Fimber in the east to

Thixendale Thixendale is a village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is located in the Yorkshire Wolds about 20 miles east of York. The place name ''Thixendale'' is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as ''Sixtend ...

in the west, and a series of shorter valleys (Court Dale, William Dale, Fairy Dale, Middle Dale and Whay Dale) cut into the northern side of this valley. In the west of the parish, Drue Dale joins Deep Dale to form a broader valley in which Wharram Percy lies. In the 19th century the

Malton and Driffield Junction Railway The Malton and Driffield Junction Railway, later known as the ''Malton and Driffield branch'' was a railway line in Yorkshire that ran between the towns of Malton, North Yorkshire and Driffield in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The line was for ...

was built though these valleys from north to south, connected by the

Burdale Tunnel Burdale Tunnel is a former railway tunnel on the abandoned Malton and Driffield Junction Railway (MDR) in North Yorkshire, England. Construction of the tunnel began in 1847, but suffered financial difficulties and building was not complete unti ...

. The wolds and valleys of the parish are now linked by three long-distance footpaths, the

Yorkshire Wolds Way The Yorkshire Wolds Way is a National Trail in Yorkshire, England. It runs 79 miles (127 km) from Hessle to Filey, around the Yorkshire Wolds. At Filey Brigg, it connects with the Cleveland Way, another National Trail. In 2007 the Y ...

, the Chalkland Way and the

Centenary Way The Centenary Way is a route devised to celebrate the 100th anniversary of North Yorkshire County Council. It was opened by Chris Brasher in 1989 to mark the Centenary of the governance by County Councils. The route runs across the Howardian ...

. The parish was created in 1935, when the civil parishes of Wharram-le-Street (population 133), Wharram Percy (population 40) and Raisthorpe and Burdale (population 89) were abolished. At that time the parish was part of Norton Rural District in the

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, often abbreviated to the East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, S ...

. In 1974 it was transferred to the new county of North Yorkshire. From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the district of

Ryedale Ryedale was a non-metropolitan district in North Yorkshire, England. It was in the Vale of Pickering, a low-lying flat area of land drained by the River Derwent, Yorkshire, River Derwent. The Vale's landscape is rural with scattered villages ...

, it is now administered by the unitary

North Yorkshire Council North Yorkshire Council, known between 1974 and 2023 as North Yorkshire County Council, is the local authority for the non-metropolitan county of North Yorkshire, England. Since 2023 the council has been a unitary authority, being a county coun ...

References

{{Reflist Civil parishes in North Yorkshire