Upton (Northamptonshire)
Upton is a municipality in the English county of Northamptonshire , a few kilometers west of Northampton .
history
The area of Upton seems to have been settled as early as the Stone Age, but many finds have also been preserved from the Roman period that indicate settlement. The village of Upton is mentioned for the first time in the Domesday Book from 1086, it seems to have been a quite wealthy place at that time. In 1189 a Robert Fitzewin became the new owner of the estate and village, the property passed to the Chauncey family via female descendants, and then finally to the Knightley family at the beginning of the 15th century. In 1477 the village still comprised 24 houses, but soon the tenants were driven out and the village was largely razed to the ground, instead the land was used for sheep breeding. At the beginning of the 16th century, Richard Knightley, who was married to Jane Spencer von Althorp , rebuilt the manor house that still exists today. As the Knightley family got into financial difficulties, the property was finally sold in 1600 to William Samwell, whose daughter Jane was the mother of James Harrington , who was born on Upton in 1611. Upton remained in the possession of the Samwell family until 1831, during which time the manor house was expanded and remodeled several times before it finally got its current appearance. As a result, the owners changed several times until a school was finally housed in the house in 1947, the "Upton Hall School", today the " Quinton House School ".
In addition to the manor house and some outbuildings, there is also a church dedicated to Saint Michael from ancient times. It probably dates back to the 12th century and was originally a branch church of St. Peter in Northampton. In the church is the tomb of Richard Knightley and his wife Jane, b. Spencer, as well as various plaques for members of the Samwell family and James Harrington.
Since the mid-1990s, a large new development area has been set up in the Upton area, so that the population has increased dramatically (2004: 590 inhabitants). Upton has therefore now received the status of a civil parish .
literature
- Kathleen A. Healey: A brief history of Upton, Northampton . Quinton House School, Northampton 1991.
Individual evidence
Web links
Coordinates: 52 ° 14 ′ N , 0 ° 57 ′ W