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2Ô 2

UFTON.

BERK SHIRE.

E lem en tary School, b uilt in 1862, at the sole expense
of the R igh t Rev. Jam es F raser D.D. Bishop of Man­
chester 1870-86, & rector here 1860-70, for 60 c h ild ­
ren ; in part m aintained by an endowm ent of £1,000

C ornish Rev. Stephen M .A. (re c to r),’
c o m m e r c ia l .
R ectory
^
Goddard John, farm er, Ufton Green
S h arp M iss, I fton cou rt
& M iddle farm s
W anklyn C harles, The Lam bdens H annington Fredk. frm r. Island frm
(postal address, Theale, R eading) ILove W illiam Jam es, carpenter
U P T O N , in Dom esday “ Optone,” was held at the
tim e of the great su rvey by T u rstin u s, son of R o lf :
it was form erly a chapefry attach ed to B lew bury, but
was form ed into a separate parish, togeth er w ith Aston
Upthorpe, in 1862. Upton is on the road from Reading
to W antage, w ith a station on the Didcot, N ew bury
and W inchester railw ay, opened A p ril, 1883, 16 m iles
north-w est from Reading and 8 east from W antage,
in the N orthern division of the county, hundred of
M oreton, W allingford p etty sessional division, W an­
tage union and cou nty court d istrict, and in the rural
deanery of W allingford, archdeaconry of 'Berks and dio­
cese of Oxford. The church of S t. M ary, given to the
C luniac A bbey of Berm ondsey in 1092, is a sm all but
exceedingly in terestin g b u ild in g of rubble faced w ith
flint, of very E a rly N orm an or even Saxon date, con­
sistin g only of chancel and nave and an open shingled
tu rre t over the w estern gable containing one b e ll: the
chancel, alm ost unique in its dim inutiveness, is ligh ted
on the north and south sides by sm all round-headed
windows deeply splayed, and also on the south side
by a sm all window of th e E arly Decorated period, dis­
covered b u ilt into the wall d u rin g the recent restora­
tion : the chancel arch, w hich is extrem ely low, is
round-headed w ith a flat soffit, the im posts bearing a
kind of star orn a m en t: the south doorway, also roundheaded, is ornam ented on its exterior face w ith zigzag
m oulding, and one window displays sim ilar tre a tm e n t;
in the north side is a now blocked square-headed door­
way, believed to be S a x o n ; the font, a perfectly plain
cylin d rical basin of sandstone, probably of the same
date as the ch urch , has been carefu lly repaired and
reset 011 a new circu lar basin, relieved by dwarf shafts
of freeston e; its cover appears to be Jacobean : in 1885
the church was thorough ly and b eau tifu lly restored,
the chancel by the E cclesia stica l Com m issioners at a
cost of £300, under the superintendence of th eir arch i­
tect, the late Mr. Ewan C h r is tia n ; and the rest of the
b uilding by subscription, under the direction of Mr.
S lin gsb y Stallwood F .S .A . arch itect of Reading, at a
cost, including fittings and books, of about £ 8 5 0 ; the
C om m issioners, in rep airin g the chancel, inserted at
the east end a trip let of tall and deeply splayed lancets
in place of the window previously existin g, and fixed
an en tirely new roof of solid o a k : the tim ber-fram ed
nave roof, previously ceiled in, has been opened and
thoroughly renovated w ith the b est o a k : th e rubble
walls, 4 feet in thickn ess, were p artially reb uilt and
faced w ith cu t and rou gh f lin t : in recon structin g the
north wall a la rge fragm en t of rubble was found above
the north doorway, b uilt 18 inches into the fabric, and
rudely carved on one side w ith several c ro sse s: the
nave has been substan tially seated w ith oak benches,
and the chancel w ith stalls, neatly c a rv e d : there is
a plain oak chest and com m union plate datin g from
1576: th e church affords sittin g s for 100 p erso n s: the
ch u rch ya rd was consecrated by the late Bishop W ilberforce, M ay 9th, 1862, and contains m em orials to the
H um freys, a fam ily of considerable an tiquity in this
neighbourhood, to the Rev. Richard Hooper M .A. rec­
tor, 1862-95,
some others to labourers accidentally
killed d urin g the form ation of the branch railw ay from
Didcot to N ew bury. The earliest Upton re g is te r em ­
braces the period 1588-1721; from 1721 to 1861 the
registers are at B lew b u ry; th e m odern reg ister of
Upton begins w ith 1861. Th e liv in g was declared a

[ k e l l ï ’s

£ 2 15s. per cent. Consols, bestowed by the R ev. W.
Bishop, form erly rector h e r e ; M iss Evangeline W icks,
m istress
C arrie r to R eadin g.— A ldridge, tues. & sat
i Soper Jam es, horse dealer
W ard Fredk. E . farm er, The G lebe
1Wise M ary Jane (M iss), Dog & Partridge P.H
J

vicarage A p ril 3rd, 1866, w ith A ston Upthorpe annexed,
under the title of Upton and Aston Upthorpe, by Order
in Council, 7 June, 1862, Aston Upthorpe was united to
the rectory of Aston Tirrold by an Order in Council in
1914 ; net yearly value £205, w ith one acre of glebe and
residence here, erected in 1864 at a cost of £1,800, from
designs by M r. J. P. S t. A ubyn, a rc h ite c t; in the gift
of the Bishop of O xford, and held since 1895 by the
Rev. John Henrv Moore, of E x e ter College, Oxford
and Theo. A sso c.K .C .L .
D u rin g the tim e of the late
vicar, the Rev. Richard Hooper M .A. the churchyard
was form ed, the schools and rectory built, and an acre
of land purchased. The tith es of Upton anciently be­
longed to the convent of Berm ondsey, to whom they
were given in 1092 by W ynebald de Baalun. Th e E ccle­
siastical Com m issioners, by deed dated 10 Feb. 1870,
surrendered the whole of the rectorial tith es of Upton
and a portion of those of Aston Upthorpe to the vicar.
In the village is a picturesque farm house of Jacobean
date, w ith ornam ental tiled gables and a porch, the.
property of N. H um frey esq. and now the residence of
th e M isses F ry. There were anciently two m anors here,
Upton Moels and Upton R u s s e lls ; the form er, on the
death of John de Moels, 4th Baron Moels, in 1337, passed
by the m arriage of his daughter Isabel w ith W illiam
de B otreaux, Baron B otreaux, into that fam ily, subse­
quen tly to W illiam K ervers and John Asshe and
afterw ards to the K idw ellys. of L ittle W itten ham : the
m anor of Upton Russells, held by th at fam ily in 1297,
was afterw ards successively in the fam ilies of de
C h elrey or C h ild rey, B ekvngham , W indsor and W h ite ;
there was even tually only one manor, held for succes­
sive generations by the ancient fam ily of Latton ,
origin ally of L a tton , in W ilts, but claim in g descent
from th e Norm an fam ily of E stoteville or S t u t v ille ;
W illiam L atton , of Upton, fourth in descent from R oger
de L a tton , settled here in 1325 and m arried Joan,
dau gh ter and sole heir of W alter de P ercy, descended
from a you n ger branch of the g rea t house of th at
n a m e : the Latton s continued to reside here u n til the
beginning of the 16th century, when th ey rem oved to
Chilton. A nne, daughter of John L a tton , of Chilton,
but then livin g at H endred, gave by w ill, dated 6th
Nov. 1584, the sum of 20s. for rep airin g Upton church.
Th e Latton s appear to have held 26 m anors in B e rk ­
shire alone, besides property in m any other southern
counties. T h ere are now, apparently, no m anorial
righ ts. W illiam J. H um frey esq. and Mr. John Edw ard
C h urch are the principal landowners.
The soil is
chiefly lo a m ; subsoil, upper greensand.
The chief
crops are wheat, barley, oats and roots. Th e area is
1,362 acres; rateable value, £ 1,3 8 0 ; the population in
1911 was 244.
Sexton , Edward E lliott.
Post
Office.— Tom
E rn est
K eep,
sub-postm aster.
L e tters through Didcot arrive at 7.45 a.m . ; delivered
at 8 a.m . & 11.40 a.m . Blew bury is the nearest
m oney order & telegraph office
L etter Box, cleared at 8.45 a.m . & 1.30 & 6.45 p.m . ;
S u n d a y s , 10,30 a.m
E lem en tary School (m ixed), erected in 1862-3, by the
late v icar. & opened June 15th, 1863, for 49 ch ild ren ;
M iss E dith A . H all, m istress
R ailw ay Station, Jam es Croxford, station m aster

F ry M isses, M anor house
COMMERCIAL.
G ran t Chas. Seym our, Prospect ho
Bellam y Richd. blacksm th. & shopkpr
H um frey W illiam J. Upton lodge
Corderoy L eliu s, farm bailiff to W.
Moore Rev. John H enry Theo.Assoc.
J. H um frey esq
K. C L. R ectory
Keep Tom E rn est, grocer & over­
Oldham S ydney, Owlscot
seer, & nost office

Street Benjam in, farm er
Street M ark, coal m erchant
Sum m ersby E lizabeth (M rs.), G eorge
& Dragon P.H
Weedon B rothers, coal m erchants

WALLINGFORD
W A L L IN G F O R D is an ancient m unicipal borough, I north-w est from Reading, 16 n orth-east from N ew bury,
m ark et and union town and the head of a p etty ses- 20 north-w est from M aidenhead, 11 north-w est from
sional division and cou n ty cou rt district, with a ter- . Henley and 46 from London, in the N orthern division
m inal station of a branch line of the G reat W estern of the county, hundred of Moreton, rural deanery of
railw ay from C holsey and M oulsford station, T5 m iles | W allingford, archdeaconry of Berks and diocese of Ox-