Upton Scudamore 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 ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, England. The village lies about north of the town of

Warminster Warminster () is an ancient market town with a nearby garrison, and civil parish in south west Wiltshire, England, on the western edge of Salisbury Plain. The parish had a population of about 17,000 in 2011. The 11th-century Minster Church of S ...

and about the same distance south of Westbury. The parish includes the hamlet of Halfway. The village occupies a ridge which is the

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

between tributaries of the

Bristol Avon The River Avon is a river in the south west of England. To distinguish it from a number of other rivers of the same name, it is often called the Bristol Avon. The name 'Avon' is a cognate of the Welsh word , meaning 'river'. The Avon r ...

and those of the

Hampshire Avon The River Avon () is in the south of England, rising in Wiltshire, flowing through that county's city of Salisbury and then west Hampshire, before reaching the English Channel through Christchurch Harbour in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and P ...

Upton Cow Down Upton Cow Down () is a 16.4 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Wiltshire. The down is an area of chalk grassland on the western edge of Salisbury Plain. It lies one mile south of the town of Westbury, above the village o ...

rises above the village to the north-east, on the western edge of

Salisbury Plain Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in the south western part of central southern England covering . It is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and largely lies wi ...

. Springs in the north of the parish are the source of the

River Biss The River Biss is a small river in Wiltshire, England and is a tributary of the Bristol Avon. The name is of uncertain origin; it is claimed that the word is from the Old Norse ''bisa'', meaning "to strive". Progress The river rises near Upton ...

, known here as the Biss Brook.

History

Several

bowl barrow A bowl barrow is a type of burial mound or tumulus. A barrow is a mound of earth used to cover a tomb. The bowl barrow gets its name from its resemblance to an upturned bowl. Related terms include ''cairn circle'', ''cairn ring'', ''howe'', ''ke ...

s are evidence of

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

activity in the area. Parks Court is Grade II* listed. A 15th-century house, it was altered and extended in the 17th, then restored in the 1980s. In earlier centuries, the name of the village was often spelt ''Upton Skidmore''. It appears on

John Sexton John Edward Sexton (born September 29, 1942) is an American lawyer, academic, and author. He is the Benjamin F. Butler Professor of Law at New York University where he teaches at the law school and NYU's undergraduate colleges. Sexton served as t ...

's map of Wiltshire (1610) as simply ''Upton''. A church school was built in 1839, enlarged in 1871, and closed in 1925 owing to falling pupil numbers. The village has a

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

, the ''Angel Inn''. An inn with the same name was operating in 1807, close to the site of the present establishment.

Religious sites

The

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

of St Mary the Virgin has 12th-century origins and stands on the site of a smaller

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

church. A tower was added in 1750 and the church was largely rebuilt in 1855 by

G.E. Street George Edmund Street (20 June 1824 – 18 December 1881), also known as G. E. Street, was an English architect, born at Woodford, London, Woodford in Essex. Stylistically, Street was a leading practitioner of the Gothic Revival architecture, Vi ...

. In 1968 it was designated as Grade II* listed. A group ministry was established in 1974 to cover parishes centred on St Denys', Warminster; this continues today as the River Were benefice. Notable rectors include Thomas Owen, translator of works on agriculture, from 1779 until his death in 1812. There was a chapel at Norridge, in the southwest of the parish, in the late 13th century but its site is not known. A

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

chapel was built in the village by the Warminster congregation in 1850. It fell out of use in 1907 and became a private house.

Governance

Upton Scudamore elects a parish council every four years. Most local government services are provided by

Wiltshire Council Wiltshire Council is a council for the unitary authority of Wiltshire (excluding the separate unitary authority of Swindon) in South West England, created in 2009. It is the successor authority to Wiltshire County Council (1889–2009) and the ...

, which has its offices in

Trowbridge Trowbridge ( ) is the county town of Wiltshire, England, on the River Biss in the west of the county. It is near the border with Somerset and lies southeast of Bath, 31 miles (49 km) southwest of Swindon and 20 miles (32 km) southe ...

. The village is represented in

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

by the MP for South West Wiltshire,

Andrew Murrison Andrew William Murrison (born 24 April 1961) is a British doctor, naval officer and politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for South West Wiltshire, previously Westbury, since the 2001 ...

, and in

by Fleur de Rhé-Philipe. Until 1934, when the civil parish of

Chapmanslade Chapmanslade is a village and civil parish in the county of Wiltshire, in the southwest of England. The parish is on the county border with Somerset and includes the hamlets of Huntenhull Green, Short Street and Thoulstone. The village lies abo ...

was created, Upton Scudamore parish extended west to include Thoulstone and the east side of Chapmanslade village.

References

External links

Village website

Upton Scudamore
at Wiltshire Community History *
The Church of St Mary the Virgin, Upton Scudamore: A Guide and Brief History
', Ken Welch, Kindle edition, 2016 {{authority control Civil parishes in Wiltshire Villages in Wiltshire