Upton, Vale of White Horse

Not to be confused with Upton, West Oxfordshire.

Human settlement in England

Upton

St Mary's parish church

Upton

Location within Oxfordshire

Population| 421 (2011 Census)
OS grid reference| SU5186
Civil parish|

* Upton

District|

* Vale of White Horse

Shire county|

* Oxfordshire

Region|

* South East

Country| England
Sovereign state| United Kingdom
Post town| Didcot
Postcode district| OX11
Police| Thames Valley
Fire| Oxfordshire
Ambulance| South Central
UK Parliament|

* Didcot and Wantage

Website| Upton Village South Oxfordshire

List of places

England
Oxfordshire

51°34′41″N 1°15′40″W﻿ / ﻿51.578°N 1.261°W﻿ / 51.578; -1.261

Upton is a spring line village and civil parish at the foot of the Berkshire Downs, about 2 miles (3 km) south of Didcot in the Vale of the White Horse district. Historically in Berkshire, it has been administered as part of Oxfordshire, England, since the 1974 boundary changes. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 421.[1]

## Manor

[edit]

The earliest known record of a manor of Upton is from the reign of Edward the Confessor, when it was held by a Saxon freeman called Brictric.[2] 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.[2] The abbey retained this moiety until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century,[2] when it surrendered all its lands to the Crown.

## Churches

[edit]

### Church of England

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The Domesday Book of 1086 lists Optone as having a "church",[3] but at that time both Upton and Aston Upthorpe were chapelries within the ecclesiastical parish of Blewbury.[2] They remained until the parish of Upton and Aston Upthorpe was formed in 1862.[2] Upton's present Church of England parish church of Saint Mary appears to be a 12th-century Norman building.[2] It consists of only a nave and chancel, linked by a Norman arch. Three of the windows are Norman[4] but the east window of the chancel is a trio of stepped lancets.[2] In 1885, St Mary's was restored, the east wall of the chancel was rebuilt and the building was faced with split flints.[2] Subsequently, the south porch was added.[2] There is also a bell-turret with one bell.[2] It is a Grade II* listed building.[5] St. Mary's is now part of the Churn Benefice.[6] The scholar Derwas Chitty was Rector of Upton from 1931 to 1968.[citation needed] His sister, the archaeologist Lily Chitty lived with him between 1938 and 1943.[7]

### Methodist

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Upton had a Methodist church.[8] It was a member of the Wantage and Abingdon Methodist Circuit,[9] but is now closed.

## Economic history

[edit]

An open field system of farming prevailed in the parish until an inclosure award was made in 1759.[2] The Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway through the parish was completed in 1881, and a station to serve Upton and neighbouring Blewbury 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 pedestrian and cycle path.

Upton School

## Transport

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Thames Travel route 94 serves Upton from Mondays to Fridays, linking the village with Didcot town and with Didcot Parkway railway station. Buses run mostly once an hour, with a half-hourly service in the evening peak. There is no Saturday or Sunday service.[10]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Area: Upton (Parish): Key Figures for 2011 Census: Key Statistics". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Page & Ditchfield 1923, pp. 280–291.
3. ^ Domesday Book
4. ^ Pevsner 1966, p. 247.
5. ^ Historic England. "Church of St Mary (Grade II*) (1200134)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
6. ^ "St. Mary the Virgin Upton". Our Churches. Churn Benefice. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
7. ^ Carr, A. M. (2004). "Chitty, Lily Frances (1893–1979)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/57046. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
8. ^ "Upton". Oxfordshire Churches & Chapels. Brian Curtis. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
9. ^ Spring Line Methodist Church
10. ^ "route 94/94S/94C" (PDF). Thames Travel. Retrieved 22 July 2018.

## Sources

[edit]

* Page, WH; Ditchfield, PH, eds. (1923). "Blewbury". A History of the County of Berkshire. Victoria County History. Vol. III. assisted by John Hautenville Cope. London: The St Katherine Press. pp. 280–291.
* Pevsner, Nikolaus (1966). Berkshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 247.

## Links

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Upton, Vale of White Horse.

* Upton Village South Oxfordshire

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The District of the Vale of White Horse

* Oxfordshire
* County Council elections
* District Council elections
* Didcot and Wantage County Constituency
* Oxford West and Abingdon County Constituency
* Witney County Constituency

Towns|

* Abingdon-on-Thames
* Caldecott
* Faringdon
* Wantage
* Belmont

Large villages|

* Blewbury
* Cumnor
* Chilswell
* Cumnor Hill
* Dean Court
* Farmoor
* Swinford
* Drayton
* East Challow
* East Hendred
* Grove
* Harwell
* Kennington
* Kingston Bagpuize with Southmoor
* Kingston Bagpuize
* Southmoor
* Marcham
* Cothill
* Milton
* North Hinksey
* Botley
* Harcourt Hill
* Radley
* St. Helen Without
* Dry Sandford
* Shippon
* Shrivenham
* Stanford in the Vale
* Bow
* Steventon
* Sunningwell
* Bayworth
* Boars Hill
* Foxcombe Hill
* Sutton Courtenay
* Watchfield
* Wootton
* Boars Hill
* Henwood
* Lamborough Hill

Other civil parishes
(component villages
and hamlets)|

* Appleford-on-Thames
* Appleton-with-Eaton
* Appleton
* Eaton
* Ardington and Lockinge
* Ardington
* Ardington Wick
* East Lockinge
* West Lockinge
* West Ginge
* Ashbury
* Idstone
* Kingstone Winslow
* Baulking
* Besselsleigh
* Bourton
* Buckland
* Gainfield
* Buscot
* Charney Bassett
* Childrey
* Chilton
* Coleshill
* Compton Beauchamp
* Knighton
* Denchworth
* East Hanney
* Eaton Hastings
* Fernham
* Frilford
* Fyfield and Tubney
* Fyfield
* Tubney
* Netherton
* Garford
* Goosey
* Great Coxwell
* Hatford
* Little Hatford
* Hinton Waldrist
* Duxford
* Kingston Lisle
* Letcombe Bassett
* Letcombe Regis
* Little Coxwell
* Littleworth
* Longcot
* Longworth
* Lyford
* Pusey
* Shellingford
* South Hinksey
* Hinksey Hill
* Sparsholt
* Uffington
* Upton
* West Challow
* West Hanney
* West Hendred
* East Ginge
* Western Valley
* Woolstone
* Wytham
* Seacourt

Former districts
and boroughs|

* Municipal Borough of Abingdon
* Abingdon Rural District
* Faringdon Rural District
* Wantage Urban District
* Wantage Rural District

Former
constituencies|

* Oxfordshire County Constituency
* Abingdon Borough Constituency
* Berkshire North or Abingdon County Constituency
* Abingdon County Constituency
* Wantage County Constituency

* List of parliamentary constituencies in Oxfordshire
* List of places in Oxfordshire
* List of civil parishes in Oxfordshire

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF
* WorldCat

National|

* Israel
* United States

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