Upton Magna is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

, England. (''Magna'' is

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, meaning "great". Therefore, the translation of Upton Magna is "Great Upton".) Nearby are the villages of

Uffington Uffington is the name of several places: ; England *Uffington, Lincolnshire :* Uffington and Barnack railway station :* Uffington Rural District *Uffington, Oxfordshire :* Uffington railway station (Uffington Junction) *Uffington, Shropshire ;Un ...

Rodington Rodington is a village in Shropshire, England. Situated between the towns of Wellington and Shrewsbury it lies on the relatively level Shropshire plain and just within the borough of Telford & Wrekin. The Church of England parish church, St Ge ...

and

Withington Withington is a suburb of Manchester, England. Historically part of Lancashire, it lies from Manchester city centre, about south of Fallowfield, north-east of Didsbury and east of Chorlton-cum-Hardy. Withington has a population of just ...

, as well as the wooded

Haughmond Hill Haughmond Hill is a small, shallow hill in the English county of Shropshire. It is covered by woodland for the most part, although there is an open cast quarry (for stone aggregates) in use. Its proximity to the town of Shrewsbury has meant that ...

. The nearest town to Upton Magna is

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

, just to the west. Upton Magna is situated on the National Cycle Route 81 between

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

and Shrewsbury.

Buildings

Upton Magna is notable for containing the oldest still-standing cottage in Europe – Cruck Cottage, a thatch-roofed,

timber-framed Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

cottage located near the church. The entry for this

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

on the

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked wit ...

website suggests that it dates from the 15th or 16th century. However, although the building appears to have been remodelled in the 15th century, dendrochronological tests on the

cruck A cruck or crook frame is a curved timber, one of a pair, which support the roof of a building, historically used in England and Wales. This type of timber framing consists of long, generally naturally curved, timber members that lean inwards and ...

s in the cottage have dated the timber to 1269. Upton Magna Church

Key features of the village include a primary school, a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

parish church (dedicated to St Lucia), a village hall, a pub ("The Haughmond", formerly "The Corbet Arms"), and a small business park.

Upton Forge

Near the village is the site of Upton Forge. (The location is ; .) The

forge A forge is a type of hearth used for heating metals, or the workplace (smithy) where such a hearth is located. The forge is used by the smith to heat a piece of metal to a temperature at which it becomes easier to shape by forging, or to th ...

was in operation by 1675, and during the 18th century it was one of the largest forges in the country, with an output of 200 tons per year. It was leased by

William Hazledine William Hazledine (1763 – 26 October 1840) was an English ironmaster. Establishing large foundries, he was a pioneer in casting structural ironwork, most notably for canal aqueducts and early suspension bridges. Many of these projects were c ...

from 1800, and further developed; the works extended over about of the valley. The chains of the

Menai Suspension Bridge The Menai Suspension Bridge ( cy, Pont y Borth, Pont Grog y Borth) is a suspension bridge spanning the Menai Strait between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales. Designed by Thomas Telford and completed in 1826, it was the world's f ...

and the

Conwy Suspension Bridge The Conwy Suspension Bridge is a Grade I-listed structure and is one of the first road suspension bridges in the world. Located in the medieval town of Conwy in Conwy county borough, North Wales, it is now only passable on foot. The bridge is ...

were made here. The works closed after Hazledine's death in 1840.Shropshire Ironmaking Sites
Shropshire History. Retrieved 9 April 2018.

Notable people

* Samuel Fisher (died 1681), puritan clergyman and writer, was Rector of Upton Magna 1635-42 * Upton Magna is identifiably the "Upton-under-Amon" where

John Plimmer John Plimmer (28 June 1812 – 5 January 1905) was an English settler and entrepreneur in New Zealand who has been called the "Father of Wellington". Early life in England Plimmer was born at a village called in contemporary accounts "Upton-unde ...

(1812–1905) was reportedly born, "Amon" being Haughmond Hill. He later emigrated to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, where he became known as "the father of

". He was registered as having been baptised, with the parental names given as Isaac and Mary, on 19 July 1812 at the parish church. * Civil engineer Sir

Henry Maybury Brigadier-General Sir Henry Percy Maybury (17 November 1864 – 7 January 1943) was a British civil engineer. He began his career as a railway engineer, working on many railways in England and Wales before becoming the county surveyor for ...

(1864-1943) was educated at Upton Magna village school. * Russian-born novelist, biographer and children's writer, E. M. Almedingen (1898-1971) lived at house ''Frogmore'' on the road to Atcham lifelong after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. * Sir Derrick Capper (1912–1977), ultimately Chief Constable

West Midlands Police West Midlands Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. The force covers an area of with 2.93million inhabitants, which includes the cities of Birmingham, Coventry, W ...

, was son of a farmer at Downton, Upton Magna.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Shropshire Civil parishes in Shropshire

Buildings

Upton Forge

Notable people

See also

References

External links