Upton, Berkshire
| Upton | |
| Berkshire | |
|---|---|
 St Mary's parish church | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SU5186 |
| Location: | 51°34’41"N, 1°15’40"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 414 (2001) |
| Post town: | Didcot |
| Postcode: | OX11 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Vale of White Horse |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Wantage |
| Website: | Upton Village website |
Upton is a village in Berkshire at the spring line at the foot of the Berkshire Downs, two miles south of Didcot in the Vale of White Horse.
Manor
The earliest know record of a manor of Upton is from the reign of Edward the Confessor, when it was held by a freeman called Brictric.[1] Shortly after the Domesday Book was completed in 1086 Upton became the property of Wynebald de Ballon who in 1092 granted a moiety of the manor to the Cluniac Bermondsey Abbey.[1] The abbey retained this moiety until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century,[1] when it surrendered all its lands to the Crown.
Churches
- Church of England: St Mary
- Methodist: Spring Line Methodist Church
The Domesday Book of 1086 lists Optone as having a church,[2] but at that time both Upton and Aston Upthorpe were chapelries within the ecclesiastical parish of Blewbury.[1] They remained so until the parish of Upton and Aston Upthorpe was formed in 1862.[1]
Upton's present parish church, St Mary's, appears to be a 12th-century Norman building.[1] It consists of only a nave and chancel, linked by a Norman arch. Three of the windows are Norman[3] but the east window of the chancel is a trio of stepped lancets.[1]
In 1885 St Mary's was restored; the east wall of the chancel was rebuilt and the building was faced with split flints.[1] Subsequently the south porch was added.[1] There is also a bell-turret with one bell.[1]
Economic history
An open field system of farming prevailed in the parish until an inclosure award was made in 1759.[1]
The Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway through the parish was completed in 1881 and Upton and Blewbury station was opened in 1883. British Railways closed the line to passengers in 1962 and freight in 1967. The former Upton and Blewbury station building survives as a private house, and part of the line is now used as a foot/cycle path.
References
Books
- Page, W.H.; Ditchfield, P.H., eds (1924). A History of the County of Berkshire, Volume 4. Victoria County History. pp. 280–291.
- Pevsner, Nikolaus (1966). Berkshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 247.
