The stream is a delightful, clear chalk stream which, unusually for the “spring-line” villages, originates in the hills high up in the parish.

Nowadays it seems to rise in the deep cutting of the old railway line at the top of the hill near Chilton, from which it was piped under the railway track to emerge in a field above the George & Dragon, and from there it flows under the main Reading road (A417), between houses and gardens, to appear again in Frog Alley. Here it joins other streams and eventually finds its way down to the Thames.

In very wet years, the springs further up in Chilton village feed the stream – in very dry years it does not run at all. Normally it starts some time in January and continues to perhaps the second week in July. But with a series of dry autumns and winters, the springs have slowed and dried so that it now takes exceptional rainfall to achieve a flow at all. In wet weather, the bed also acts as a run-off for the surface water from Aldens Lane and the Lynchway (on the O.S. map it is marked rather dismissively as “drain”). Over the years we have found bits and pieces in it – a child’s Dinky car, a marble, shards of thick glass bottles, pieces of willow pattern china and a cache of sea shells, including razor shells and several oyster shells. Perhaps these shells indicate previous occupation, mediaeval or even Roman. Bank voles have taken up residence on the edge.

The year 1846 was a hard one in the countryside. There had been a series of failed harvests which had led to near starvation for the farm workers, and so wretched were their living conditions that inevitably disease broke out.

Upton was one of many Berkshire villages which succumbed to typhus fever and it seems that twenty-four people died here. The Methodist minister, who lived in a neighbouring village, visited the sick and dying in their home, but tragically he carried the infection back with him and four of his children died.

The following report is taken from The Bucks Gazette of 19 December 1846: “the labourers’ wages are not half sufficient for the support of their families; the potatoes they had partly subsisted on for the last three months were poisonous and infectious; their food was bread alone – and of that not sufficient; meat or other substantial food they never tasted; they could not procure firing, hence their huts were always damp and unhealthy, nor the soap necessary for common cleanliness”

Looking at this neat village now with its few thatched cottages in pristine order, it is hard to imagine it as it was at that time. There were six large farms, several smallholdings, the pub, the forge, the bakery and shop but otherwise only labourers’ tenements and cottages, almost certainly tied to their occupations and frequently in a terrible state. It is well known that Ireland at this time was suffering from severe deprivation, disease and starvation – perhaps we are not so aware that these conditions were also to be found at home.

Work started on the Didcot/ Newbury stretch of the new railway in 1878, with the arrival of the navvies being recorded by the rector, the Rev Richard Hooper, in his parish diary.

The navvies moved from building one railway to the next, some singly, some in family groups. The census for the year 1881 shows that originally they came from all over the British Isles, including several from Wales, though oddly enough none were from Ireland. In all, about 171 people, of whom 110 worked on the railway, moved into this small agricultural community of 241 people. But by this date, quite late in the railway building age, the organisation was in place. Twelve temporary Railway Huts were built down the valley, starting up at the top of the Lynchway, near the present Prospect Farm, and finishing down in the village on Pound Lane at Butler’s Farm, which was also a Coffee Tavern for the navvies. The Railway Huts mostly housed a married couple with their family, and several single labourers. Some of the skilled men stayed in cottages in the village, the chief engineer lodged at Prospect House.

What was the impact of this invasion on the villagers? Nowhere in Richard Hooper’s diary or anywhere else is there any indication of bad or drunken behaviour. The general impression is of a highly experienced workforce getting down to the masssive and dangerous task of creating the railway, including digging the cutting and building the embankment with fairly primitive machinery and sheer physical labour. In all it took them only three years to complete the Upton stretch of the track – by December 1881 the camp had been abandoned and the last of the navvies had moved on.

This stood at the bottom of the garden of what is now known as Corderoys in Pound Lane.

It was a fine, timber-framed house, probably built  at the end of the 16th century, with its farmyard surrounded ancient barns and outhouses. From here the manor lands would have been farmed over the years tenant or bailiff farmers for the Lord of the Manor of Upton. The Phillips family of Culham owned manor for over a hundred years, but in 1872 John Shawe Phillips had to sell up his landholdings and the estate (over 500 acres) passed to Nathaniel Humfrey, a very successful farmer in Upton who already owned a considerable amount of land in parish. From this time the farm was known Humfrey’s Middle Farm, and was run by bailiffs for the new landlord. The late Gwen Greenough remembered George Simpson and his wife who lived there when she was young. A later bailiff was Lelius Corderoy, who lived and farmed in Blewbury. The house was therefore uninhabited when it burned down in the disastrous fire which destroyed the great central farms in the village in 1933. The present Manor House was associated with the Manor of Upton but was almost certainly part of another manor in the parish.

Gwen Greenough came from an old Upton family. The first mention I can find in the parish register is in 1724 with “Henry ye son of Henry and Elizabeth Greeniph baptiz.”, followed in 1733 by: “Will son of Henry and Eliz Grinif baptised April 8.” Gwen’s mother was a Winter, and this family goes back even further to an entry in 1596. It reads, “Thomas the sonne of Robert Winter baptiz 9 Sept”. This is followed in 1598 by a daughter, ffrancis, and in 1602 “Lewes Winter widow was buried 23 April.” Since parish registers only became a legal requirement in 1588 it is quite possible that Robert Winter was living in the village well before this date. From then on Greenoughs and Winters continued to live in Upton. It is always sad when the old names die out, and Gwen was the last Greenough to live here.

Gwen Greenough’s grandparents, Elijah and Mary Winter, lived in the cottage that used to stand at the bottom of the Holloway (Alden’s Lane). It burned down one night of November 5 and there is no trace of it now. Her father, Daniel, married Charlotte Winter (“all the Winter girls were good looking”) and worked on Humfrey’s farm, the old Manor Farm.

Nathaniel Humfrey, of Upton Lodge, by the turn of the twentieth century owned nearly the whole village including the three large farms. Manor Farm was his “middle farm”, and the farmhouse stood at the bottom of what is now the garden of Corderoys. The bailiff who lived there when Gwen was young was George Simpson, and Gwen remembered him and his wife with affection. A later bailiff was Lelius Corderoy, who lived and farmed in Blewbury. He was bailiff when the farmhouse was burnt down in the fire of 1933. The farmland included the east side of Stream Road, where Cedarwood and Willows now stand. There was a granary at the present Willows and a great barn in the Cedarwood garden where the Harvest Supper was held, with Nathaniel Humfrey presiding.

The Upton Inclosure Award (PDF) for the village of Upton, Berkshire is amongst the earliest in the country; having been made in the thirty second year of the reign of George II (1759). Most Awards were made in the reign of George III (1760 – 1820). It was authorised by Act of Parliament and is still a legal document.

Only two fair copies were made. At the time of writing both copies are held by the County Archivist, Reading, Berkshire¹. One copy was originally held by the Villagers and the other by the Clerk of the Peace for the County.

It is written in English, on both sides of-twenty five skins of Parchment which are sewn together to form a roll approximately 14 inches (305 mm) wide by 18 ft. (5½m) long. No punctuation was used; not even a full stop. Use was made of capital letters and letters of enlarged size to indicate the start of a new topic or to lay emphasis to a point. Spelling differed from time to time.

The Editors have kept as near to the original layout as possible; but some punctuation has been used in the transcript to make certain sections more readable.

The Surveyor and Clerk was William Burgess (Senior) of Great Hasely, Oxfordshire. He died whilst holding office. He was assisted by Edward Cadwell of Harwell, Richard Neal and Johnathan Martin. They took almost a whole year to do the work (between 19th December 1758 and 8th December 1759) and were paid £56.14.6d, as a group for their labours.

Meetings were held at The Sign of the Crown in Upton – the house of Mary Watkins, widow. The cost of refreshments consumed during their meetings amounted to £108.10.8d. (Beer was 1d. to 2d. a pint)²

The Church building is not mentioned in the survey, but Tythes of Corn and Grain are specifically mentioned for use by the Governors of Charity for the relief of the poor, or widows and children of clergymen. Three lives were currently being supported by this means at the time of the Award.

There is no map with the Award. From the acreage and description given however, it has been possible to reconstruct the layout of the new fields. Comparison of such a map with the modern Ordnance Survey shows that 80% of the hedges planted to mark the boundaries of the new fields are still intact.

The enclosure by hedges and ditches of the open commons and downs by the tenant farmers was an attempt to improve the methods of agriculture. It was an abandonment of the feudal method of strip farming in open fields for the more efficient method of having fields exclusively for their own use in which winter crops such as winter wheat or beans could be sown, or in which sheep could be folded, without the risk of spoiling their neighbours’ lands.

Some private enclosures had taken place before the Award. Mr. Smallbone had an orchard close by the side of a lane called Stream. Then there was Saffron Close, off what is now called Frogalley. Was Saffron grown? If so what did the villagers do with it?

A number of new roads were surveyed and created by the Award. They were not given names in the Award, but can be recognised from their descriptions. Common Way and Meadow Way in the lower meadows and Downs Way on the Downs came in this category. They are all forty links, or 26 ft. 8 ins., in breadth; as the Award states the Surveyor used a measuring chain with 8 ins. links.

Roads which were in existence before the Award were retained and used as boundaries. Examples are Reading Way, Lynchway, Hagbourne Way and Abingdon Way. Some roads have changed names:- Beechway is now known as Chilton Road and Newbury Way as the Old Compton Road.

Other place names which have passed out of use are:-

Pokeshill – Eastside Berkshire Downs by Gore Hill.
The Banks – The rising land south of the Lynchway.
The Common – Land east of Frogalley Farm.
The Village Pub, ‘The Sign of the Crown’ – The Cottage at the junction of High Street and Church Lane.

Size and Location of Allotments

Tabular transcript of the size and location of allotments (PDF)

Units of measure

1 Yardland = approx 30 acres
100 acre = 1 hide
40 hides = barony
16½ ft. (5½ yds) = 1 rod, pole or perch
272¼ sq. ft. (30¼ sq. yds) = 1 sq. perch
40 sq. perch = 1 rood
160 sq. perch (4 roods) = 1 acre
2.471 acres = 1 hectare

1. Berkshire County Council Archives Ref Q/RDc3.
2. London Life in the 18th Century by M. Dorothy George

In November 2003 the parish records were sorted and sifted, as they could not all be accommodated in the Village Hall storage area.

1. The following folders have been deposited in the Oxfordshire Records Office, Oxford (tel. 01865 398200)
   Bags 1 and 2
   Correspondence from 1973-1996
   Bags 3 and 4
   Finances from 1963-2000
   Bag 5
   Footpaths/Rights of Way 1970, 1975, 1985, 1989
   Bag 6
   Upton News 1989-95
   A417 1969
   Transport 1950-60s
   Refuse Tip 1960s
   Lox Protest 1995
2. The following items are stored in the Parish Records Box in the Village Hall:
   Minute Books from 1945-95, when they were discontinued.
   Folders
   Village Hall
   Village Plans (2)
   Insurance
   Street Lighting
   Trees
   Best Kept Village/Central Britain in Bloom competitions
   Disused railway line
   Footpath Stream Road
   Blewbury Environment Group – pollution
   Planning applications 1994-2001
   Accounts 2000-2001

24 November, 2003
Carol Hall (Parish Councillor)

(A resumé of the first section of Juliet Gardiner’s A Random History of Upton, Part 3)

A manor was an estate, held by the Lord of the Manor, originally in the gift of the king. Many Norman lords held several, scattered about the country. There was not necessarily a manor house, but usually there would be a manor farm, as was the case in Upton.

The first landowner that we know of in Upton was Britric, in the reign of Edward the Confessor. He was followed, after the Conquest, by Turstin, the son of Rolf.

In 1086 the manor passed from Turstin to Winebald of Balllun, who, in 1096 granted a moity, probably about half, to the priory of Bermondsey. The manor remained in the hands of the priory until the Dissolution of the Monasteries, after which it passed to the Crown.

In 1600, Queen Elizabeth granted the manor to Michael and Edward Stanhope, and in the time of James 1 it passed to Robert and Frances Boswell. Then, from 1636-7 it was held by Sir Thomas Vachell of Coley, followed by his cousin Thomas Vachell. Next, in 1693, Tanfield Vachell and his mother sold it to Charles Ambrose, and his son, Charles of Wantage.

It is clear that, up to this point, not one of these landlords actually lived in Upton, and it is quite likely that some of them never even visited it. In 1719 Charles Ambrose sold the estate to James Miles of London, and some time later, by at least 1755, the land was in the hands of Henry Tompkins. The Inclosure Award document for Upton, which was dated 1759, shows Henry Tompkins as a large landowner in the parish… (to be continued)

8th August 1925

This was the year of big change in the village. The Humphrey’s estate was put up for auction on Saturday 8th August by the auctioneers Simmons and Sons. The auction was held at the Great Western Hotel in Reading.

The catalogue gives much information about the village at that time. The first lot consisted of the Manor House, described as Jacobean and let to the Misses Fry, 9 cottages, farm buildings on three sites (Frogalley, Skeleton Farm and Alden Farm) and 648 acres of land. The cottages were rented out from 1/- per week for the one roomed brick and slated bungalow cottage at Frogalley Farm, to the most expensive at 5/- per week. The present day Alden Farm House is built on the site of Skeleton Farm which was adjacent to Alden Farm. Three of the cottages, situated at the corner of Stream Road and Church Street were a “modern” block of brick and tiled cottages containing three bedrooms, sitting room, kitchen and scullery. These have now been pulled down and three modern houses erected. Opposite them was an older block of three brick, stone and tiled cottages each containing three rooms. They are now a single house known as “The Crossings”. Next door was a brick, stone and thatched cottage containing three rooms, “Well Cottage”. This is at present being renovated. The whole Lot was sold for £9,000.

Lot 2, Middle Farm, consisted of “a picturesque brick and half-timbered house”, which was destroyed in the fire, two three bedroomed cottages, Fieldside Cottage and Pentrose and 147 acres of land. This Lot was sold for £2,700.

Lot 3, Butler’s Farm of 150 acres and 5 cottages. Two of the cottages are now known as “Church Corner Cottages”. The other three were older cottages in Pound Lane opposite Middle Farm, and were probably destroyed in the fire. This went for £2,000.

There were then five relatively small lots of land. Lot 9, was described as a “Valuable Corner Site” on the corner of Chilton Road and the A417. It was let as allotments at rent that totalled £7 per annum. It was sold for £140 to Mr. Summersby who kept the George & Dragon. Only the frontage to Chilton Road has been developed for building.

Lot 10, described as “an attractive Small Holding” with 2 brick and tiled cottages, now called “Springside Cottage” and “Old Stream Cottage”. One was let to Mr. Thornhill at 3/- per week and the other to Mr. Rowland at 2/6 per week. It was sold for £345.

Lot 11 was bounded by Stream Road, Post Office path, High Street and Church Street. It was described as a “well watered Meadowland with a good stream running through the centre, forming a desirable site for the erection of one or more houses. It also contained “a temporary timber-built Parish Room occupying about 20 poles of ground”. In fact only one house was built soon after, other development did not occur until the 1950’s. It sold for £150.

Lot 12 was “Stocks” in Stream Road. Mr. H. Slade bought it for £150. Lot 13 consisted of two brick half timbered and thatch cottages in Church Street, opposite the Church, which were sold for £150. They have now disappeared.

The map which accompanied the sale catalogue also showed that Prospect Farm was then known as Angers Farm.

In 1801 the population of Upton was 217. By 1841 it had increased to 284, by 1851 to 337. However it decreased to 285 in 1871, but increased again to 415 in 1881 “due to Railway Labourers”. By 1891 it was down to 245 and at the end of the century it was 213, almost back to the same as at the start.

The 1841 census gives the first detailed documentation of life in the village, but unfortunately not much idea of where they lived.. Mr. Joseph Humfrey, Francis Caudwell, Richard Whitehorn and William Butler were farmers. There were two blacksmiths, Richard James and Thomas Pitt. John Butcher was the grocer, and Daniel Buttler was the publican.

Upton was in the news in 1846. The Bucks Gazette reported on 12 December 1846, although it might not be our Upton:

Hair-Cutting Gratis

From a Correspondent to the Times

“I must tell you a ridiculous thing that occurred in a small village in Oxfordshire last week, and which caused a diminution in my congregation of yesterday. A man, wearing a certain badge of authority and calling at each house, informed the inhabitants that he was a Government Barber, sent from London, to cut all the poor people’s hair gratis, it having been ascertained as the most effectual way of keeping off the cholera, which had already made its appearance. The fellow succeeded in carrying away with him sufficient hair to make several wigs, and the deluded people were obliged to set to and make warm caps to defend their bare heads from the cold which set in next day”

On 19th December the Bucks Gazette reported the following:

Mortality among Agricultural Labourers in Berkshire

“So destructive have been the ravages of fever in some parts of Berkshire that in the parish of Upton, a hamlet adjoining Bluebery, in that county, the population of which was 142 seven weeks ago, is now reduced to 73, sixty-nine having died within that short period – many through want. Among the number are four children of the minister, who, on attending the dying beds of the victims, caught the infection and conveyed it to his dwelling, whereby he lost four of his offspring. “

There must have been a bit of exaggeration as the parish registers only indicate that only 21 persons died at that time from fever, and no mention of the Minister’s (Rev. MacDonald) children. However, the population had recovered by 1851!

The 1851 census gives a better picture of the village. Mr. John Humphrey was farming 574 acres from “Humphrey’s Farm, later Manor Farm. William Butler lived at and farmed “Butler’s Farm”. So far we have been unable to identify the farmhouse. Martha Humphrey lived at Humfrey’s Lower Farm, probably Middle Farm, with fer two sons, Nathaniel and Philip who were farmers, together farming 620 acres and employing 25 labourers. Henry Webb farmed 30 acres at Frogalley, employing 3 labourers. He was also a Dealer. Richard Whitehorn was also a farmer, farming 170 acres and employing 8 labourers.

John James kept the Grocer’s shop and was also the blacksmith, employing Thomas Pitt as a journeyman. Daniel Butler was still the publican at the George & Dragon. There must have been some building going on at that time as three bricklayers were lodging there, and several others in the village. They could have been enlarging the Methodist Church.

1861 saw George Butler giving up farming and becoming the grocer. The farmers were then Thomas Izzard (who came from Bucknell in Oxfordshire), Nathaniel Humfrey, Nathaniel Butler (who had 28 acres down Frog Alley), William Butler, and Philip Humfrey. Daniel Butler was still publican, the pub being identified on the census as the “George and Dragon”.

1871 saw the first resident ministers. Thomas Welch was a groom and gardener, but also the Methodist local preacher. Richard Hooper was the first vicar of Upton and Aston Upthorpe. Daniel Butler was still publican.

It was noted above that the population was swelled in 1881 by railway labourers. Most were accommodated in eleven huts, probably situated between the Vicarage and Station House. Others were lodging in the village. They appeared to have come from all over the country, together with their wives and children. Thomas Scott, a Civil Engineer (presumably for the railway) was the sole occupant of Prospect House. Daniel Butler, by now aged 68, was still living at the “George and Dragon”, but his son Joseph was publican. This was the year the Station House was built, the date being built into the chimney in black bricks.

The Methodist Church

The first Methodist church in the Village was built in High Street and was opened on 1st July 1842 by Rev. P.C. Turner. The ground had been purchased for £1. and the church was built for £99-15-6. The main donors were the Humphrey family and Daniel Lousley. £10-17-6 was raised during an “afternoon collection”. It was an amazing sum in those days.