Wareham

Wareham, a small but very ancient market-town of Dorsetshire, stands between the rivers Piddle and Frome, 15 miles E. of Dorchester. It was a British town, and afterwards a Roman station, and is surrounded by a grassy vallum, still 30 feet high and perfect on three sides. A fire destroyed two-thirds of Wareham in 1762, and a Norman castle and a priory have disappeared; but St Mary's church retains an interesting chapel, that marks the resting-place for two years of Edward the Martyr. Superseded by Poole as a port, Wareham now depends chiefly on extensive clay-works. It is a municipal borough (incorporated 1886), and till 1832 returned two members, then till 1885 one (with Corfe Castle, Arne, etc.). Horace Walpole is claimed falsely as a native. Pop. 2000.

Wark Castle

Wark Castle, a Northumberland ruin, on the Tweed, 2 1/2 miles W. by S. of Cornhill.

Warkworth

Warkworth (Waurk'worth), a small seaport (pop. 700) in Northumberland, near the mouth of the Coquet, 7 miles SE. of Alnwick by rail. The Percies' castle, mostly ruinous, dates from the 12th c. The Norman church has been restored. The Benedictine priory was founded in 1256, and the hermitage, 'deep hewn within a craggy cliff,' of Bishop Percy's ballad, is 1 mile above the castle. The trade, exporting coal, is carried on at Amble, 1 mile SE. on the coast.

Warminster

Warminster (a as o), an ancient Wiltshire market-town, 19 1/2 miles NW. of Salisbury. It has a free school (1707) and a theological college (1860). Pop. 5600.

Warnsdorf

Warnsdorf, a town in the north of Bohemia, 60 miles N. of Prague, with great textile and other manufactures. Pop. 23,000.

Warren

Warren, (1) capital of Trumbull county, Ohio, 52 miles SE. of Cleveland, with rolling and flour mills, and manufactories of linseed-oil, cottons, etc. Pop. 8973. - (2) Capital of Warren county, Pennsylvania, on the Alleghany River, 66 miles SE. of Erie. It manufactures engines, boilers, wooden wares, and leather. Pop. 8050.

Warrenpoint

Warrenpoint, a Down port, at the head of Car-lingford Lough, 83 miles N. of Dublin. Pop. 1817.

Warrnambool

Warrnambool, a seaport of Victoria. 166 miles SW. of Melbourne. Pop. 6482.

Warsop

Warsop, a town of Notts, 5 miles NNE. of Mansfield. Pop. 2132.

Wartburg

Wartburg (Vahrt'boorg). See Eisenach.

Warthe

Warthe (Var'teh), the Oder's chief affluent, rises on the SW. frontier of Poland, flows N. and W. into Prussia, then N. (past Posen) and W. again, and enters the Oder at Kustrin. Length, 445 miles (230 in Prussia, and 265 navigable).

Wash

Wash, a wide estuary on the east coast of England, between the counties of Lincoln and Norfolk, is 22 miles in length and 15 in average breadth. With low and marshy shores, it is largely occupied by sandbanks, dry at low water, and receives the rivers Witham, Welland, Ouse, Nen, and Nar. On both sides of the Ouse's channel much land has been reclaimed; and a proposal of Rennie's to drain the Wash, and so reclaim 150,000 acres, was revived in 1893.