Upton-cum-Chalvey
| Upton-cum-Chalvey | |
| Buckinghamshire | |
|---|---|
 St Laurence in Upton | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SU979792 |
| Location: | 51°30’14"N, 0°35’20"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Slough |
| Postcode: | SL1 |
| Dialling code: | 01753 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Slough |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Slough |
Upton-cum-Chalvey is an ancient parish in the Stoke Hundred of Buckinghamshire that now forms the centre of Slough. As its name suggests, the parish originally comprised the separate villages of Upton and Chalvey.
History
The Domesday Survey of 1086 refers to Upton, and a wood for 200 pigs, worth £15. Upton took its name from its situation at the top of the slope from the river terrace — the various levels in the area having been formed in the Ice Age.
In 1894 a new civil parish of Slough was formed from part of the civil parish of Upton-cum-Chalvey, which was reduced in size as Slough expanded until it was entirely annexed by 1901. The ecclesiastical parish is still known as Upton cum Chalvey.[1]
Church
Upton's Norman Church, St Laurence's, was the marriage place (7 May 1788) and burial place (1822) of Sir William Herschel (in whose memory there stands a newly erected stained-glass window depicting Uranus, which he discovered, and other planets), and the burial place of Charles Hatchett who discovered niobium.
Other buildings
Upton Court is the name of the original manorial buildings for the parish of Upton. 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. The nearby Slough Grammar School changed its name in 2013 to Upton Court Grammar School.
The Mere is a 19th-century half-timbered building, 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.[2]
In 2011, the nine-acre Grade-II-listed park and nature reserve underwent a restoration project to re-establish the area to its former Victorian glory with a lottery grant of £2.7m from the Heritage Lottery Fund.[3] Friends of Herschel Park, a local conservation group, was created to manage the restoration, as well as to oversee the design and maintenance of the area.[4] The park regularly holds events for adults and children throughout the year. [5]
References
- ↑ St Mary's Church Slough website
- ↑ p 144, The History of Slough, Maxwell Fraser, Slough Corporation, Slough, 1973
- ↑ Herschel Park - Slough Borough Council
- ↑ The Friends of Herschel Park
- ↑ Whats On - Friends of Herschel Park
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.
- Friends of Herschel Park Official Website
