North Warnborough

North Warnborough, Odiham
settlement
parish:
county:
coords:
Odiham
Hampshire
SU7351
refce: HANTSLOC.t

old map: 25inch County Series map -- Hants XIX.12

North Warnborough
Warnborough, North
otherwise: weargeburnan?, 973-974; weargeburninga?, 1046-16; Northwargheburne, 1276

refce: Coates 1989
WARNBOROUGH (NORTH), WARNBOROUGH GREEN, village/hamlet in Odiham
WARNBOROUGH (SOUTH), parish
Hypothetical Old English 'Weargaburna'='felons' stream', where malefactors were drowned. (Cf Kristensson (1981) Arngart (1983), Sandred (1984) for discussion of a similar, though not historically identical, name in Norfolk, once thought to have a common origin with 'Warnborough'.) Puzzlingly, there is not a trace of a stream now at South Warnborough (below 'Wells Hill') to which the earliest forms appear to refer. North Warnborough is on the river Whitewater. Grundy (1927: 286-7) confidently identifies the Old English forms with South Warnborough; however there is no boundary clause to the relevant charter and considerable uncertainty about the course of the bounds written in 1046. We must reckon with the original Warnborough being N., or that N. and S. once formed some kind of unit.
In the 13th century both place names are rationalized as containing Middle English 'burgh' and the 'n' migrates to the first syllable to compensate. Occasional forms are found with 'gh' or 'n' in both elements (1291 'Suthwargheborgh' 1235 'Warnburn').
A reason to pause before accepting this rather spectacular etymology wholesale is that no origin is known for the common dialect word 'werg'='willow', which makes good sense with 'burna'.

old map
Nth. Warnborough
Shown on an old map by Harrison 1788
- settlement, hamlet - Odiham Hundred - Hampshire
Period - 1780s
refce: Harrison 1788
(HAR1SU74.jpg)

old map
N. Warnboro
Shown on an old map by Blaeu 1645
- settlement, village - Barmanspit Hundred - Hantshire
refce: Blaeu 1645
(BLA1SU74.jpg)

old map
N. Warnboro
Shown on an old map by Speed 1611
- settlement, hamlet - Barmanspit Hundred - Hantshire
refce: Speed 1611
(SPD1SU74.jpg)

   Old Hampshire Gazetteer - JandMN: 2001