Upton, Slough

Upton
Buckinghamshire
St. Laurence, Upton
Location
Grid reference:	SU979792
Location:	51°30’13"N, -0°35’27"W
Data
Post town:	Slough
Postcode:	SL1
Dialling code:	01753
Local Government
Council:	Slough
Parliamentary constituency:	Slough

Upton is a suburb of Slough in Buckinghamshire. Upton was one of the villages that developed into the town, and indeed Slough itself was once a mere hamlet of the parish of Upton cum Chalvey. It stands in the south of Slough, contiguous with the town an centred around its parish church. The village has been developed along with Slough and is barely to be distinguished from it.

Upton takes its name from its position at the top of the slope from the river terrace.

History

The Domesday Book of 1086 refers to Upton, and a wood for 200 pigs, worth £15.

The ancient parish of Upton cum Chalvey consisted of the two neighbouring villages of Upton and Chalvey, both south of the Bath Road. To the north, on the junction of the Bath Road and Farnham Road was a hamlet of the parish with the unpromising name of "Slough". The latter however had the advantage of its position on the main coaching route from London to Bath and eventually a railway station. As Slough developed from the end of the nineteenth century, Upton and Chalvey were caught up in it.

The parish still endures, if somewhat curtailed from its original extent with the growth of the town. As a civil parish Upton cum Chalvey was replaced in 1894 with a new civil parish of "Slough". Slough

Church

Upton's Norman Church, St Laurence's Church, is around 900 years old.

This was the church at which Sir William Herschel was married (on 7 May 1788) where he lies buried (1822). In his memory the church has a stained-glass window depicting Uranus, which he discovered, and other planets). Charles Hatchett who discovered niobium lied here too.

Secular buildings

Parts of Upton Court were built in 1325. In the 19th century, it was a seat of the Burton family and was, up until March 2010, home to the Slough Observer newspaper.

A 19th century half-timbered building called "The Mere", built in 1887 by the grandson of Richard Bentley, is now the head office of the National Foundation for Educational Research. Long Close School was established in the area in 1940.

Upton Park

Upton Park forms one of Slough's earliest planned estates. Laid out in 1842, the grounds (a public park as Herschel Park since 1949) are believed to have been designed by Joseph Paxton.

Outside links

• Page, William (ed) (1925). Victoria County History of Buckinghamshire. Vol. 3. pp. 314–318. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42565.