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Wharfedale ( ) is one of the Yorkshire Dales. It is situated at source in North Yorkshire and then flows into West Yorkshire and forms the upper valley of the River Wharfe. Towns and villages in Wharfedale (downstream, from west to east) include Buckden, Kettlewell, Conistone, Grassington, Hebden, Bolton Abbey, Addingham, Ilkley, Burley-in-Wharfedale, Otley, Pool-in-Wharfedale, Arthington, Collingham and Wetherby. Beyond Wetherby, the valley opens out and becomes part of the Vale of York.
The section from the river's source to around Addingham is known as Upper Wharfedale. It lies in North Yorkshire and the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The first or so is known as Langstrothdale, including the settlements of Beckermonds, Yockenthwaite and Hubberholme, famous for its church, the resting place of the writer J. B. Priestley. As it turns southwards, the Wharfe then runs through a green and lush valley, with limestone , such as Kilnsey, and woodland, generally quite unusual in the Dales.
Below Addingham, the dale broadens and turns to the east. This section is shared between North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire and includes the towns of Ilkley, Otley and Wetherby. The northern side of Lower Wharfedale, opposite Ilkley, Burley-in-Wharfedale and Otley, is in the Nidderdale AONB.
The Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust has a remit to conserve the ecological condition of Wharfedale, Wensleydale, Swaledale and Nidderdale catchments from their headwaters to the Humber Estuary.
Evidence of human settlement has been found dating back to Neolithic times and the valley has plenty of artefacts relating to the Celtic Britons, Roman period and Anglo-Saxon periods. The Romans built a road over Stake Moss into what is now the village of Bainbridge in Wensleydale.
The Anglo-Saxon influence remains in modern times, with most settlements in Upper Wharfedale having Anglo-Saxon derived names.
The name of the valley is derived from the principal river that flows through it: the Wharfe, which comes from the Old English Weorf or Old Norse Hverfr, with both taken as meaning winding river. The River Wharfe starts at the confluence (at the hamlet of Beckermonds) of the Oughtershaw Beck and the Green Field Beck,Ordnance Survey maps each of which originates at the Pennine watershed, some north-east of Ribblehead. The valley roughly follows a south-easterly direction, providing a border between West Yorkshire (on the south side) and North Yorkshire.
Between Oughtershaw Moss and Wetherby, the valley runs for . The uppermost part of the valley is known as Langstrothdale. (2025). 9781850584391, Sigma Leisure. ISBN 9781850584391 Below Beckermonds the river is known as the River Wharfe. Wetherby is traditionally seen as the foot of Wharfedale, even though the river continues on through the Vale of York.
The valley has been used largely for agriculture, and is now criss-crossed with stone walls and stone barns that evidence its use down the centuries.
The valley was featured in episode three of the BBC Two series, The Yorkshire Dales.
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