Wharram is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by national parks, including most of the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors. It is one of four cou ...

, England. It lies on the

Yorkshire Wolds The Yorkshire Wolds are low hills in the counties of the East Riding of Yorkshire and North Yorkshire in north-eastern England. The name also applies to the district in which the hills lie. On the western edge, the Wolds rise to an escarpment wh ...

, south-east of Malton. The principal settlement is the village of

Wharram-le-Street Wharram-le-Street is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Wharram, in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England. Until the 1974 local government reorganisation Wharram-le-Street was part of the East Riding of Yorkshi ...

, 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 conv ...

Wharram Percy Wharram Percy is a deserted medieval village and former civil parish near Malton, North Yorkshire, on the western edge of the chalk Wolds of North Yorkshire, England. It is about south of Wharram-le-Street and is signposted from the Beverley to ...

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 and chalk, or sandy terrains that do not regularly sustain surface water flow. Such valleys do not hold surface water because it sinks into the permeable bedrock. There ...

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 Fimber is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately north-west of Driffield town centre and south-west of the village of Sledmere. It lies on the B1248 road. The civil parish is formed b ...

in the east to Thixendale 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 opened ...

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 unt ...

. 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 Yor ...

, 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 H ...

. 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, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire t ...

. In 1974 it was transferred to the new county of North Yorkshire and Ryedale District.

References

{{Coord, 54, 4, N, 0, 41, W, type:city_region:GB, display=title Civil parishes in North Yorkshire