Upton is a town in south-east

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Upton is to the east of

Holton Heath Holton Heath is an area of the parish of Wareham St. Martin, Dorset, England. The area includes a trading estate, on the site of the former Royal Navy Cordite Factory, Holton Heath, (RNCF). East of the trading estate is the Holton Heath Natio ...

and Upton Heath, and to the north of the Poole suburb of

Hamworthy Hamworthy is a village, parish, peninsula and suburb of Poole in Dorset, England. It is sited on a peninsula of approximately that is bordered by the town of Upton to the north, Poole Harbour to the south, Lytchett Bay to the west and Holes B ...

. It is the second largest town in the

Purbeck Hills The Purbeck Hills, also called the Purbeck Ridge or simply the Purbecks, are a ridge of chalk downs in Dorset, England. It is formed by the structure known as the Purbeck Monocline. The ridge extends from Lulworth Cove in the west to Old H ...

Geography

The town is built around a road junction where the

Blandford Blandford Forum ( ), commonly Blandford, is a market town in Dorset, England, sited by the River Stour about northwest of Poole. It was the administrative headquarters of North Dorset District until April 2019, when this was abolished and ...

road crosses the main Poole to Dorchester road. The Poole suburbs of Hamworthy and

Turlin Moor Turlin Moor is a suburb of Poole in Dorset, England, located between Hamworthy and Upton. Turlin Moor is classed as part of the Hamworthy Community and is host to Hamworthy railway station. The two railway bridges at the end of the estate on ...

adjoin to the south, and

Lytchett Minster Lytchett Minster is a village in Dorset, England. It lies around north-west of Poole town centre. The village forms part of the civil parish of Lytchett Minster and Upton, Upton now being a suburb of Poole. Geography Location Lytchett Mi ...

village lies a short distance to the west. The town is bounded by several areas of open space. To the north, Upton Heath is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), while, eastwards, Upton Wood and the former estate

Upton Country Park Upton House is a country house in the grounds of Upton Country Park on the northwestern shoreline of Holes Bay in the county of Dorset on the south coast of England. It is owned by BCP Council. History The land on which Upton House stands was ...

separate the town from

Holes Bay A hole is an opening in or through a particular medium, usually a solid body. Holes occur through natural and artificial processes, and may be useful for various purposes, or may represent a problem needing to be addressed in many fields of en ...

. To the south,

Lytchett Bay Map of Dorset with Lytchett Bay southeast of the centre. Lytchett Bay is located close to the town of Upton, Dorset, United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Bri ...

is part of Poole Harbour SSSI. Although mostly residential, Upton features a small

industrial estate An industrial park (also known as industrial estate, trading estate) is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more "heavyweight" version of a business park or office park ...

with businesses including Southernprint. In 2000, The Upton Clock Tower was built at the Upton Crossroads to celebrate the new millennium and represent the town pride. A dementia care home was opened at the Crossroads in 2015 on the prominent former site of The Greenridge pub opposite Upton Library and Upton Health Centre. It features a pharmacy and a coffee shop. There are more shops in Moorland Parade, at the top of Moorland Way, where the Lytchett Minster & Upton Town Council offices are located. Upton has two churches. Upton Methodist Church's Wesleyan Chapel was built in 1865, while planning permission for the present St Dunstan's church and the adjoining Community Centre was granted in 1991, replacing an older church on the same site.

Governance

Upton forms part of the

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 authorit ...

of Lytchett Minster and Upton, which in turn forms part of the Purbeck

local government district The districts of England (also known as local authority districts or local government districts to distinguish from unofficial city districts) are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government. As the st ...

. It is within the

Mid Dorset and North Poole Mid Dorset and North Poole is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Michael Tomlinson, a Conservative. Boundaries 1997–2010: The District of Purbeck wards of Bere Regis, Lytchett Matravers, ...

constituency of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

European Parliament

Between 1979 and 2020, Upton was represented in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

. From 1979 to 1984, Upton was part of the

single member district A single-member district is an electoral district represented by a single officeholder. It contrasts with a multi-member district, which is represented by multiple officeholders. Single-member districts are also sometimes called single-winner vo ...

Wessex la, Regnum Occidentalium Saxonum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the West Saxons , common_name = Wessex , image_map = Southern British Isles 9th century.svg , map_caption = S ...

, and represented by

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

James Spicer. From 1984 to 1994, Upton was part of the Dorset East and Hampshire West constituency and from 1994 to 1999, Upton was part of the Dorset and East Devon constituency represented by Conservative Bryan Cassidy. Upton was included in the South West England constituency for elections to the

from 1999 to 2020.

Education

Upton has two state schools, Upton Infant School and Upton Junior School, which are

feeder school A college-preparatory school (usually shortened to preparatory school or prep school) is a type of secondary school. The term refers to public, private independent or parochial schools primarily designed to prepare students for higher education ...

s for Lytchett Minster School. The Yarrells Preparatory School and Ladybirds Playschool (previously L.U.C.A. Ladybirds) are also based in the town. Upton Methodists Pre-School is based at the Methodist church

Transport

Upton lies at the intersection of the A35 and the A350. The town is served by

Wilts & Dorset Wilts & DorsetCompanies House extract company no 1671355
Wi ...

bus routes numbers 8, 9, 10 and 40 and FirstGroup's X54 service. Together, these provide links to

, Creekmoor, Poole, Wareham,

Lytchett Matravers Lytchett Matravers is a village and civil parish in Dorset, England. The 2011 census recorded the parish as having 1,439 households and a population of 3,424. History The name comes from the Brittonic ''litchet'' meaning "grey wood" and the ...

, Swanage and Weymouth.

is the nearest railway station, with twice-hourly trains in each direction on the

South West Main Line The South West Main Line (SWML) is a 143-mile (230 km) major railway line between Waterloo station in central London and Weymouth on the south coast of England. A predominantly passenger line, it serves many commuter areas including south we ...

between

London Waterloo Waterloo station (), also known as London Waterloo, is a central London terminus on the National Rail network in the United Kingdom, in the Waterloo area of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is connected to a London Underground station of ...

and Weymouth. Poole station, while more distant, provides more frequent services.

References

External links

Dorset County Council: Lytchett Minster/Upton
{{authority control Towns in Dorset Poole Harbour