Англиядағы Уарф өзені

River in Yorkshire, England

The River Wharfe (/hw//ɔːr//f/ WHORF) is a river in Yorkshire, England originating within the Yorkshire Dales National Park. For much of its middle course it is the county boundary between West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire. Its valley is known as Wharfedale. The watercourse first becomes known as the River Wharfe at the confluence of Greenfield Beck and Oughtershaw Beck at Beckermonds. Flowing initially through Langstrothdale, it then passes by, or in some cases through, Kettlewell, Grassington, Bolton Abbey, Addingham, Ilkley, Burley in Wharfedale, Otley, Wetherby and Tadcaster. It then flows into the River Ouse near Cawood. The section of the river from its source to around Addingham is in Upper Wharfedale and has a very different character to the river downstream. The Wharfe is long (before it joins the Ouse), making it the 21st longest river in Britain. It is a public navigation from the weir at Tadcaster to its junction with the Ouse near Cawood and is tidal from Ulleskelf to the Ouse.

The name Wharfe, at least in its present form, derives from the Old Norse hverfi meaning 'a bend, crook, turn', a name implying that the river was winding. However, this Old Norse form was probably adapted from an earlier name: a Roman altar found in Ilkley is inscribed "VERBEIAE SACRUM" ('sacred to Verbeia') and apparently refers to the River Wharfe (personified as a goddess). The proto Indo European root *wer , relating to turning or twisting, readily picked up a b extension to yield words such as Latin verbena, English warp, and their cognates, which displeases those who believe the name was created in a Celtic language. Hence Patrick Sims Williams's association of the name with Old Irish ferb ('cattle') and Andrew Breeze's case for a meaning 'powerful striker'.

The river is deemed to start at the confluence of Oughtershaw Beck and Green Field Beck in Langstrothdale near Beckermonds. It flows east and south east taking the flows from several small streams originating on Yockenthwaite Moor on the north bank and Horse Head Moor on the south bank. After Hubberholme, the river flows south past Buckden and Starbotton and then south east past Kettlewell before flowing south again. Near Conistone are the gentle waterfalls of Scar Lash. Near Grassington, the river turns south east over Linton Falls. South of Appletreewick, the river flows south west for a short distance until it reaches Gill Beck and returns southward. To the north of Bolton Bridge, the river narrows and goes over waterfalls in an area known as The Strid. The river winds south and south east towards Ilkley where it heads east through Otley and Collingham. It briefly flows north to Wetherby before turning south and then south east through Tadcaster to the confluence with the River Ouse.

The Strid (grid reference: SE 064565) is a series of waterfalls and rapids contained within a 15 feet (5 m) deep channel cut into the local sandstone. The River Wharfe narrows dramatically here from approximately 90 feet (27 m) wide, just to the north of the start of the Strid, to about 6.5 feet (2 m) wide. It is especially dangerous as both banks are undercut, and it has been the scene of a number of fatalities, including those of a honeymooning couple in 1998. The Strid walk is very popular and is accessed from the car park at Bolton Abbey. Its name comes from the Old English stryth, meaning 'turmoil'. This was later corrupted to Strid, referring to 'the possibility of striding across'. The Strid's hazardous nature is referenced in several literary works, including The Force of Prayer by William Wordsworth, and The Striding Place by Gertrude Atherton.

Linton Falls (grid reference: SE 001633) are located close to the village of Linton, just south of Grassington. There is a footbridge straddling the falls for viewing.

More than 230 species of bird have been observed along the river valley including red grouse, stonechat, whinchat, golden plover, pied flycatcher, redstart, wood warbler, common sandpiper, grey wagtail, dipper, tawny owl, sparrowhawk, greater spotted woodpecker, nuthatch, treecreeper and, in wetter places, common snipe and woodcock, chiffchaff, willow warbler, garden warbler, and twite. The Wharfe has populations of signal crayfish and the few white clawed crayfish remaining are at great risk. There are populations of rabbit, red fox, grey squirrel, otter, water voles and deer.

Ferns found here include wall rue, maidenhair spleenwort, brittle bladder fern, Hart's tongue and hard shield fern. In Upper Wharfedale the scars and screes support a range of plants including the alpine cinquefoil and hoary whitlowgrass. Also to be found are lesser meadow rue, goldenrod, scabious and bloody crane's bill with, to a lesser extent, mountain melick, limestone fern, wood crane's bill and melancholy thistle, green spleenwort, wall lettuce and hairy stonecrop.

Upper Wharfedale is an area whose rocks date from the Early Carboniferous period and lies north west of Burnsall. Its main features are the Great Scar Limestone which forms a base to the overlying Yoredale Beds, a deep strata of hard limestones, sandstones and shale. These have been slightly tilted, toward the east. To the south east of the area is the Millstone Grit laid down in the Late Carboniferous period, and covered by heather moorland, hard crags and tors. Weathering of the Yoredale Beds has produced a stepped profile to the valley sides, consisting of a shelf of limestone, sometimes grassy but often displaying such karst features as limestone pavement, gorges and sinkholes. During the last ice age, the local ice cap at the head of the Dales fed glaciers to produce the classic U shaped profiles seen today. Where the river valley changes course into Lower Wharfedale, the change of underlying rock can be seen in the darker stone in the field walls. The Millstone Grit outcrops at the Cow and Calf Rocks near Ilkley form a rolling dissected plateau. Due to the impermeable nature of the rock, blanket bogs and mires form, and drier areas have wet and dry heaths and acid grasslands. Coarse sandstones in the area are known as Addingham Edge and Bramhope Grits. The Otley Shell Beds become exposed at Otley Chevin. At Great Dib Wood the Otley Shell Bed is sandwiched between two Namurian sandstones. Glacial lakes once filled Lower Wharfedale in which were deposited sand and gravel. These deposits were extracted and now form the basis of the Otley Wetland Reserve, and Ben Rhydding and Knotford Nook gravel pits.

The name Wharfe appears to be recorded in the form Verbeiae on a Roman inscription at Ilkley, dedicated to Verbeia, thought to be the tutelary goddess of the river. The name is probably of Brythonic origin, from a root meaning "winding". Later forms of the name were probably influenced by the Old Norse hwerfi, meaning "bend". Iron Age fields and hut circles can still be seen in outline on the hills above Grassington and Kettlewell. On 5 July 2014, the Tour de France Stage 1 from Leeds to Harrogate passed through Wharfedale along roads running close to the river. The route in Wharfedale started near the official start at Harewood and ended just after Buckden when the competitors turned to climb over Kidstones Pass near Cray. The river has featured in films. In 1992, the town of Grassington was used as a filming location for Wuthering Heights. The 2003 film, Calendar Girls, was filmed at several locations in the river valley including Ilkley Moor, Buckden, Burnsall, Kettlewell and Kilnsey.