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Upton is a village in the northern part of the
Wirral Peninsula The Wirral Peninsula (), known locally as the Wirral, is a peninsula in North West England. The roughly rectangular peninsula is about long and wide, and is bounded by the Dee Estuary to the west, the Mersey Estuary to the east, and Liverpo ...
, England, and is situated within of
Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...
, of the
Dee Estuary The Dee Estuary () is a large estuary by means of which the River Dee flows into Liverpool Bay. The estuary starts near Shotton after a five-mile (8 km) 'canalised' section and the river soon swells to be several miles wide forming t ...
, a similar distance from the
River Mersey The River Mersey () is a major river in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it h ...
, and from
Liverpool Bay Liverpool Bay is a bay of the Irish Sea between northeast Wales, Cheshire, Lancashire and Merseyside to the east of the Irish Sea. The bay is a classic example of a region of freshwater influence. Liverpool Bay has historically suffered from redu ...
. The village is a
ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...
of the
Metropolitan Borough of Wirral The Metropolitan Borough of Wirral is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside, in North West England. It has a population of (), and encompasses of the northern part of the Wirral Peninsula. Major settlements include Birkenhead, Wallasey, Bebingt ...
in the
metropolitan county Metropolitan counties are a Subdivisions of England, subdivision of England which were originally used for Local government in England, local government. There are six metropolitan counties: Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, Tyn ...
of
Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...
. Upton was in the traditional county of
Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...
. At the 2011 census, the population was 16,130. Upton was originally settled as an Anglo-Saxon farming community, and remained as a farming community until the village's rapid urbanisation and expansion from the mid-19th century. This was brought about by the development of
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
as a major port, with rail and road links across the Mersey estuary. The village now has a strong
service economy Service economy can refer to one or both of two recent economic developments: * The increased importance of the service sector in industrialized economies. The current list of Fortune 500 companies contains more service companies and fewer m ...
which is based primarily around healthcare and retail, with a variety of places nearby, and within the village, to pursue sport and leisure activities.


History


Etymology

The name Upton is from the
Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
''upp'', meaning up, high or a hill, and ''tūn'', meaning a farmstead or settlement. Upton therefore could be explained as meaning Hill Farm. This is still recognisable today, as Upton is on a low hill. As the name Upton is relatively common, it was sometimes known historically as Upton in Wyrhale (in 1307) or Upton by Birkenhead. The name Overchurch may translate as "shore church", from the Old English ''ofer'' meaning a shore and ''cirice'', a church. This implies that, during the
Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...
era, the shoreline of the
Irish Sea The Irish Sea is a body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Ch ...
was much closer to the centre of the village.


Ownership of the manor

Upton was originally settled as a farming community, during the Anglo-Saxon period. In Norman times, Upton was listed in the
Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
of 1086 as ''Optone'' and was written as being in the possession of William Malbank. The manor passed to the Orrebies under the family of Praers, and then through the Arderne family, and by marriage to Baldwin of Bold in 1310. His descendants owned the manor for six generations, before it was sold in 1614. Subsequent owners have included the
Earls of Derby Earl of Derby ( ) is a title in the Peerage of England. The title was first adopted by Robert de Ferrers, 1st Earl of Derby, under a creation of 1139. It continued with the Ferrers family until the 6th Earl forfeited his property toward the en ...
. Notably, as a likely consequence of the 8th Earl of Derby who lived at nearby Bidston Hall. From Elizabethan times, the manor was associated with Upton Hall, which passed hands along with the manor. Upton Hall was sold by the Webster family to the Society of the Faithful Companions of Jesus (FCJ) who turned it into a school (currently
Upton Hall School FCJ Upton Hall School FCJ is a Catholic girls' grammar school with academy status located in Merseyside, England. It was founded in 1849 by the Faithful Companions of Jesus (FCJ). Admissions It is one of four Catholic schools in the Metropolit ...
).


Early modern

Upton was the primary economic centre of northern Wirral until the industrial development of Birkenhead during the mid-19th century. Five important local roads converged on the village, and its main thoroughfare was the place of a weekly
market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market *Marketing, the act of sat ...
, recorded as being held from 1662.
Fair A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Fairs showcase a wide range of go ...
s were also held in the village at
Michaelmas Michaelmas ( ; also known as the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, the Feast of the Archangels, or the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels) is a Christian festival observed in many Western Christian liturgical calendars on 29 Se ...
and
Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...
. When the original parish church at Overchurch was pulled down in 1813, a
runestone A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic alphabet, runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition of erecting runestones as a memorial to dead men began in the 4th centur ...
, attributed to the 7th or 8th centuries, was discovered in the ruins. It has been interpreted as a memorial to Æthelmund, perhaps a local leader or missionary. The stone is now kept at the
Grosvenor Museum Grosvenor Museum is a museum in Chester, Cheshire, in the United Kingdom. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building. Its full title is The Grosvenor Museum of Natural History and Archa ...
in
Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...
.
"..though now only a small village, Upton was formerly considered the metropolis of the lower mediety of Wirral, and had two annual fairs of considerable importance, and also a weekly market that was discontinued in 1620, the village having been recently almost entirely rebuilt, contains several good houses, among which may be particularly mentioned Upton Hall ..."

—said of Upton in the ''History of the Hundred of Wirral'' by William Williams Mortimer, 1847.

A major contributor to the village was
William Inman William Inman (6 April 1825 in Leicester – 3 July 1881 in Upton, Merseyside, Upton, Wirral Peninsula, Wirral) was the owner of the Liverpool, New York and Philadelphia Steamship Company. Also known as the Inman Line, it ran services from Liverp ...
, owner of the
Inman Line The Inman Line was one of the three largest 19th-century British passenger shipping companies on the North Atlantic, along with the White Star Line and Cunard Line. Founded in 1850, it was absorbed in 1893 into American Line. The firm's formal ...
, who donated money for the construction of St. Mary's Church. Inman resided at Upton Manor, within the grounds of Upton Park. Both Upton Manor and St. Mary's Church were designed by John Cunningham. Few buildings remain in Upton from before the mid-19th Century. Two notable examples are the Stone House at the top of the village, on Ford Road, and the Old Smithy on Rake Lane. These buildings are both built of local red sandstone, hewn into large blocks. They are both of similar material and style to many old buildings which are found throughout
Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...
and
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
farming communities. Neither of these buildings is designated as a
listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
.


World War II

Just prior to
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the War Department requisitioned a large amount of land to the northern side of Arrowe Farm, next to the Police station. This was used for military weapons storage. The camp was known as 64 Anti-Aircraft Ordnance Depot. The site had three reinforced bunkers for storage of ordnance, in the area which is now occupied by the Sainsbury's building. The site eventually came into the use of the Territorial Army and part of the area is currently in use by
army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...
and
air force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...
cadets. During this period,
RAF West Kirby Royal Air Force West Kirby or more simply RAF West Kirby is a former Royal Air Force basic training camp near West Kirby, Cheshire, later Merseyside, England. History RAF West Kirby was established at the beginning of the Second World War as ...
was also situated just under west the centre of the village, along Saughall Massie Road, and backed on to
Larton Larton is a hamlet near the town of West Kirby, on the Wirral Peninsula, in Merseyside, England. Administratively it is part of the local government ward of Greasby, Frankby and Irby in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and is within the parl ...
.


Civic history

Upton was a
township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...
in the ancient parish of Overchurch in the
Wirral Hundred The Hundred of Wirral is the ancient administrative area for the Wirral Peninsula. Its name is believed to have originated from the ''Hundred of Wilaveston'', the historic name for Willaston, Cheshire West, Willaston, which was an important asse ...
, which became a
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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
in 1866 named Upton by Birkenhead. Between 1894 and 1933 Upton was administered as part of
Wirral Rural District Wirral Rural District was a rural district on the Wirral Peninsula in Cheshire, England from 1894 to 1933. It was created under the Local Government Act 1894 from the Wirral Rural Sanitary District. From the beginning of the twentieth centu ...
. The civil parish was disbanded on 1 April 1933 and merged with Birkenhead St Mary and Wallasey and became part of the county boroughs of Birkenhead and Wallasey. In 1931 the parish had a population of 2564. On 1 April 1974, local government reorganisation in England and Wales resulted in most of the Wirral Peninsula, including Upton, transferring from the county of Cheshire to the newly created county of Merseyside.


Geography, geology and environment

Upton lies at the geographic centre of the northern part of the Wirral Peninsula, from the
Irish Sea The Irish Sea is a body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Ch ...
at Leasowe Lighthouse, north-east of the
Dee Estuary The Dee Estuary () is a large estuary by means of which the River Dee flows into Liverpool Bay. The estuary starts near Shotton after a five-mile (8 km) 'canalised' section and the river soon swells to be several miles wide forming t ...
and a similar distance south-west of the River Mersey. Upton sits on a low-lying hill, in a wide and shallow glacial
U-shaped valley U-shaped valleys, also called trough valleys or glacial troughs, are formed by the process of Glacial period, glaciation. They are characteristic of mountain glaciation in particular. They have a characteristic U shape in cross-section, with s ...
, formed during the
Quaternary Ice Age The Quaternary glaciation, also known as the Pleistocene glaciation, is an alternating series of glacial and interglacial periods during the Quaternary period that began 2.58 Ma (million years ago) and is ongoing. Although geologists describe ...
, between
Bidston Hill Bidston Hill is of heathland and woodland containing historic buildings and ancient rock carvings, on the Wirral Peninsula, near the Birkenhead suburb of Bidston, in Merseyside, England. With a peak of , Bidston Hill is one of the highest poin ...
and Thurstaston Hill. The underlying bedrock is
Triassic The Triassic ( ; sometimes symbolized 🝈) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.5 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.4 Mya. The Triassic is t ...
bunter
sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
of the Helsby Sandstone Formation and the Sidmouth Mudstone Formation. This is overlain with
boulder clay Boulder clay is an unsorted agglomeration of clastic sediment that is unstratified and structureless and contains gravel of various sizes, shapes, and compositions distributed at random in a fine-grained matrix. The fine-grained matrix consists o ...
from the Quaternary Ice Age, similar to the nearby Dee Cliffs, and clay soil. The bedrock is not usually visible, as it is on the nearby Bidston Hill. The highest point in Upton is above sea level, just off the junction with the A551 and the B5139, at Moreton Road, in the centre of the village. A further prominence of above sea level is at Upton Manor, from the centre of the village. Most of the populated area is more than above sea level, and most of the ground is on a gentle hillside. Consequently, Upton has avoided the significant flooding which can happen in the nearby low-lying Fender valley. Due to its inland location and elevation Upton is not prone to
coastal flooding Coastal flooding occurs when dry and low-lying land is submerged (flooded) by seawater. The range of a coastal Flood, flooding is a result of the elevation of floodwater that penetrates the inland which is controlled by the topography of the coas ...
, which can happen at West Kirby, Hoylake, Meols and New Brighton. Upton is bounded by
Arrowe Brook The Birket is a tributary of the River Mersey, on the Wirral, Merseyside. The watercourse starts as lowland field drainage south of Hoylake and flows along to the south of Meols. Arrowe Brook joins at Moreton, and the Fender joins at Leasow ...
, at Upton Meadow, and the River Fender which is alongside the M53 motorway. Both are tributaries of
the Birket The Birket is a tributary of the River Mersey, on the Wirral Peninsula, Wirral, Merseyside. The watercourse starts as lowland field drainage south of Hoylake and flows along to the south of Meols. Arrowe Brook joins at Moreton, Merseyside, More ...
, which discharges into West Float and then into the River Mersey.


Upton Meadow Millennium Wood

Upton Meadow Millennium Wood is an ancient, semi-natural woodland, a community forest and a county wildlife site which has informal public access. The area has of footpaths and a bridleway along the western boundary. The area is one of the last remaining unbuilt, natural areas in Upton. Parts of the site were planted in 1997 and the site was leased to the
Woodland Trust The Woodland Trust is the largest woodland conservation charity in the United Kingdom and is concerned with the creation, protection, and restoration of native woodland heritage. It has planted over 68 million trees since 1972. The Woodland Tru ...
on a 99-year lease, from Wirral Borough Council, in the same year. The woodland contains a mixture of species such as
oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...
, ash,
hazel Hazels are plants of the genus ''Corylus'' of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family, Betulaceae,Germplasmgobills Information Network''Corylus''Rushforth, K ...
,
birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 3 ...
,
blackthorn ''Prunus spinosa'', called blackthorn or sloe, is an Old World species of flowering plant in the rose family, Rosaceae. It is locally naturalized in parts of the New World. The fruits are used to make sloe gin in Britain and patxaran in Basq ...
and hawthorn. Additional plantations by the local council, in 1980, have also included
maple ''Acer'' is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the soapberry family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated si ...
,
grey alder ''Alnus incana'', the grey alder, tag alder or speckled alder, is a species of multi-stemmed, shrubby tree in the birch family, with a wide range across the cooler parts of the Northern Hemisphere. Tolerant of wetter soils, it can slowly spread w ...
,
grey willow Grey willow or gray willow may refer to: *''Salix atrocinerea'', a species of willow native to Europe commonly called grey willow *''Salix cinerea'', a species of willow native to Europe and western Asia, also occasionally called grey sallow *''Sal ...
and guelder rose. Other plants include
holly ''Ilex'' () or holly is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen o ...
,
English elm The field elm (''Ulmus minor'') cultivar 'Atinia' , commonly known as the English elm, formerly common elm and horse may, Republished 1978 by EP Publishing, Wakefield. and more lately the Atinian elm, was, before the spread of Dutch elm dis ...
and
sycamore Sycamore is a name which has been applied to several types of trees, but with somewhat similar leaf forms. The name derives from the Ancient Greek () meaning . Species of otherwise unrelated trees known as sycamore: * ''Acer pseudoplatanus'', a ...
. The area has a pond which contains a good population of invertebrates and some amphibians, with a significant colony of
common toad The common toad, European toad, or in Anglophone parts of Europe, simply the toad (''Bufo bufo'', from Latin ''bufo'' "toad"), is a toad found throughout most of Europe (with the exception of Ireland, Iceland, parts of Scandinavia, and some List ...
. The meadow is and the habitat is rare, within the local area.


Climate

Upton has a temperate
maritime climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...
: Cfb), similar to much of the rest of the United Kingdom. Being close to the sea and sheltered from the prevailing south-westerly wind by
Snowdonia Snowdonia, or Eryri (), is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in North Wales. It contains all 15 mountains in Wales Welsh 3000s, over 3000 feet high, including the country's highest, Snowdon (), which i ...
, the area has relatively warm summers. The winters are generally mild and wet, mornings with light frost are common, and there are few days of snow. The nearest official
weather station A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for measuring atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasting, weather forecasts and to study the weather and clima ...
,
as the crow flies The expression ''as the crow flies'' is an idiom for the most direct path between two points. Etymology The meaning of the expression is attested from the early 19th century, and appeared in the Charles Dickens novel ''Oliver Twist'' (1838): ...
, is at Hall Road in Crosby, which is about away. * The earliest sunrise is on 18 June, at 4.43am. Meanwhile, the latest sunrise is on 1 January, at 8.28am. * The earliest sunset is on 14 December, at 3.53pm. Whilst the latest sunset is on 24 June, at 9.45pm. * The
Winter Solstice The winter solstice, or hibernal solstice, occurs when either of Earth's geographical pole, poles reaches its maximum axial tilt, tilt away from the Sun. This happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere (Northern Hemisphere, Northern and So ...
has 7h 29m 05s of daylight, and the
Summer Solstice The summer solstice or estival solstice occurs when one of Earth's poles has its maximum tilt toward the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere ( Northern and Southern). The summer solstice is the day with the longest peri ...
has 17h 01m 10s of daylight. Complete darkness occurs for about three hours a night, during midsummer, with about two hours of twilight either side.


Demography

The population was 141 in 1801, 227 in 1851, 622 in 1889 and 788 in 1901. At the 2001 census, the population was recorded as 15,731 (7,268 males, 8,463 females). At the 2011 census, the population had increased to 16,130 (7,529 males, 8,601 females).


Key Statistics

''(Source: 2011 census)'' In 2011 there were 31.7 persons per
hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...
and 7,127 occupied households in Upton. 17.2% of people aged 16 or older have five or more grade A-C
GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...
s or equivalent. This figure is higher than England as a whole. Whilst 29.2% have no formal qualifications, which is a figure that is also higher than England as a whole. Of the adult population, aged between 16 and 74 years of age, 34.7% of people are economically inactive, whilst 5.4% are economically active, but unemployed. This gives a combined non-employment rate of 40.1% of the adult population. 59.9% of adults are, therefore, occupied with work, training or education, in one form or another. 95.3% of the population is
White British White British is an ethnicity classification used for the White population identifying as English, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish, Northern Irish, or British in the United Kingdom Census. In the 2011 census, the White British population was 49 ...
, with the remainder being of other ethnicities. With regards to religion, are that 73.4% of people are
Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
, 18.7% of people have no religion and 6.7% of people did not state their religion, with the remaining 1.2% of people have other religions.


Governance

The village is part of the
Metropolitan Borough of Wirral The Metropolitan Borough of Wirral is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside, in North West England. It has a population of (), and encompasses of the northern part of the Wirral Peninsula. Major settlements include Birkenhead, Wallasey, Bebingt ...
, in the
metropolitan county Metropolitan counties are a Subdivisions of England, subdivision of England which were originally used for Local government in England, local government. There are six metropolitan counties: Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, Tyn ...
of Merseyside. It is also within the parliamentary constituency of
Wirral West Wirral West is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Matthew Patrick of the Labour Party since 2024. Constituency profile The constituency is one of four covering the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. It in ...
. The current member of parliament is Margaret Greenwood, a Labour MP who is the fourth representative for the constituency. The previous incumbent of the post, the third representative for the constituency, was
Esther McVey Esther Louise, Lady Davies (born 24 October 1967), styled as Esther McVey, is a British Conservative Party politician and television presenter who has been serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tatton since 2017, and served as the M ...
, a
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
politician who was MP from 2010 until 2015. The second representative, Stephen Hesford, who was a Labour MP and had a constituency office in the village. He was MP from 1997 until 2010. In 1983, the first representative of the newly formed constituency was David Hunt, a Conservative MP, who was elected at a by-election for the former Wirral constituency, from 1976. Earlier MPs have included
Selwyn Lloyd John Selwyn Brooke Selwyn-Lloyd, Baron Selwyn-Lloyd (28 July 1904 – 17 May 1978), was a British politician who served as Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom), Speaker of the House of Commons from 1971 to 1976, having previously hel ...
, a former Foreign Secretary,
Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and the head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, t ...
and
Speaker of the House of Commons Speaker of the House of Commons is a political leadership position found in countries that have a House of Commons, where the membership of the body elects a speaker to lead its proceedings. Systems that have such a position include: * Speaker of ...
, as well as
William Lever William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (; 19 September 1851 – 7 May 1925) was an English industrialist, philanthropist, and politician. Educated at a small private school until the age of nine, then at church schools, he joined his f ...
, the founder of
Lever Brothers Lever Brothers was a British manufacturing company founded in 1885 by two brothers: William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme, William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), and James Darcy Lever (1854–1916). They invested in and su ...
. The area is also a
local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...
ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. Upton is represented on
Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council Wirral Council, or Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council, is the local authority of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is a metropolitan district council with borough status, thus providing the majority of local governm ...
by three councillors. These are Jean Robinson, Tony Smith and Stuart Whittingham, who are all Labour councillors. The most recent
local elections Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...
took place on 2 May 2019.


Economy

The major employment sectors, in Upton, are healthcare and retail. The major employer is the Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust at Arrowe Park Hospital. Other significant employers include
J Sainsbury PLC J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is a British supermarket and the second-largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company was the largest UK ...
, Argos,
McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...
and the
Royal Mail Royal Mail Group Limited, trading as Royal Mail, is a British postal service and courier company. It is owned by International Distribution Services. It operates the brands Royal Mail (letters and parcels) and Parcelforce Worldwide (parcels) ...
. The village had a branch of one of the United Kingdom's major banks,
Barclays Bank Barclays PLC (, occasionally ) is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services ...
, in a building formerly occupied by
Martins Bank Martins Bank was a London private bank, trading for much of its time under the symbol of "The Grasshopper", that could trace its origins back to Thomas Gresham and the London goldsmiths, from which it developed into a bank known as Martin's Bank ...
. The
Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...
also operates banking services.


Wirral Business Park

A former major employer was the Champion spark plug factory on Arrowe Brook Road. The factory was opened in 1968. At its peak, the business employed over 1,000 people in Upton. The factory was closed in 2006 with production transferred to
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
. After the business withdrew from the area, the buildings were allowed to remain and the site is now operated as the Wirral Business Park and, informally, as the Champion's Business Park.


Upton Retail Park

Upton Retail Park is a small
retail park A retail park is a type of shopping centre found on the fringes of most large towns and cities in the United Kingdom and other European countries. Retail parks form a key aspect of European retail geographies, alongside indoor shopping centres, ...
which was developed in the early 1990s. The development was built on of Upton Meadow, adjacent to Arrowe Park Road and Upton Bypass. There was local protest to the new development on a green space.


Services

Arrowe Park Hospital is barely a mile from the centre of the village, and includes an
Accident and Emergency department An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the acute care of pat ...
. Upton is served by Upton Group Practice, a
dentist A dentist, also known as a dental doctor, dental physician, dental surgeon, is a health care professional who specializes in dentistry, the branch of medicine focused on the teeth, gums, and mouth. The dentist's supporting team aids in provi ...
and two
optician An optician is an individual who fits glasses or contact lenses by filling a refractive prescription from an optometrist or ophthalmologist. They are able to translate and adapt ophthalmic prescriptions, dispense products, and work with acces ...
s.
Pharmacies Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medication, medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it ...
in the village include Boots Pharmacy, as well as further pharmacies at Upton Group Practice and Arrowe Park Hospital. Upton is also served by several residential, care and nursing homes, one of which is situated at Upton Manor and another on Ford Road, as well as a care home on Salacre Lane. Upton has its own
Police station A police station is a facility operated by police or a similar law enforcement agency that serves to accommodate police officers and other law enforcement personnel. The role served by a police station varies by agency, type, and jurisdiction, ...
, which is a branch of
Merseyside Police Merseyside Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing Merseyside in North West England. The service area is 647 square kilometres with a population of around 1.5 million. As of September 2017 the service has 3,484 police o ...
, and an ambulance station, operated by the
North West Ambulance Service The North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust (NWAS) is the ambulance service for North West England. It is one of ten ambulance trusts providing England with Emergency medical services, and is part of the National Health Service, receiving direct ...
, at the nearby Arrowe Park Hospital. It formerly had a
fire station __NOTOC__ A fire station (also called a fire house, fire hall, firemen's hall, or engine house) is a structure or other area for storing firefighting apparatuses such as fire apparatus, fire engines and related vehicles, personal protective equ ...
, which was a branch of
Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service is the statute, statutory Fire service in the UK, fire and rescue service covering the county of Merseyside in north-west England and is the statutory Fire and Rescue Authority responsible for all 999 fire br ...
, until its closure in 2019. The village has a
Jobcentre Plus Jobcentre Plus (; ) is a brand used by the Department for Work and Pensions in the United Kingdom. From 2002 to 2011, Jobcentre Plus was an executive agency which reported directly to the Minister of State for Employment. It was formed by th ...
, as well as a postal
sorting office A sorting office or processing and distribution center (P&DC; name used by the United States Postal Service (USPS)) is any location where postal operators bring mail after collection for sorting into batches for delivery to the addressee, whic ...
. There is also a
driving test A driving test (also known as a driving exam or driver's test in some places) is a procedure designed to test a person's ability to driving, drive a motor vehicle. It exists in various forms worldwide, and is often a requirement to obtain a dr ...
centre on Arrowe Park Road and two
MOT test Mot or MOT may refer to: * Montserrat, UNDP country code Media * Ministry of Truth, the propaganda ministry in George Orwell 1949 novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' * ''mot'' (magazine), former German car magazine * Mot (Star Trek), a minor charac ...
centres, one of which is on Manor Drive and the other being on Arrowe Park Road, next to the fire station. Meanwhile, the Arrowebrook
telephone exchange A telephone exchange, telephone switch, or central office is a central component of a telecommunications system in the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or in large enterprises. It facilitates the establishment of communication circuits ...
is situated on Church Road and serves approximately 25,000 residential premises and 686 non-residential premises. The exchange is operated by BT. This provides
ADSL Asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) is a type of digital subscriber line (DSL) technology, a data communications technology that enables faster data transmission over Copper wire, copper telephone lines than a conventional voiceband modem ...
and SDSL services, among others. The village once had several toll houses, only one of which now remains. The toll houses were used by passing travellers, during the 19th century, to pay for use of the turnpike. These were situated at the junction of Saughall Massie Lane and Old Greasby Road, at the top of Moreton Road, and the Arrowe Park Road junction with Arrowe Brook Road. This final toll house is the only surviving example.


Community


Schools

Upton has a number of schools. These include Overchurch Primary School and St. Joseph's Primary School, which are both on Moreton Road, and Hayfield School on Manor Drive. These all cater for children between the ages of four and eleven. Overchurch Primary School is separated into two parts. These are Overchurch Infants' School, which is for children between the ages of 4 and 8 years, and Overchurch Junior School, which is for children from 9 to 11 years old.
Upton Hall School FCJ Upton Hall School FCJ is a Catholic girls' grammar school with academy status located in Merseyside, England. It was founded in 1849 by the Faithful Companions of Jesus (FCJ). Admissions It is one of four Catholic schools in the Metropolit ...
, a grammar school for girls, is situated near to the centre of the village, with entrances on Moreton Road and Saughall Massie Lane. The original school in Upton was situated on Rake Lane, before moving to the building which is now part of St. Mary's church hall, and then onto Overchurch Primary School. The original school building still stands in Rake Lane and was used as a church hall for teenagers, prior to the opening of "The Bank". Other former schools include St. Benedict's High School which has now been closed and demolished, as well as Kingsley Nursery School, which suffered a similar fate. Upton is also home to Wirral's only bilingual day nursery, Habla which caters for children aged 6 months to 5 years.


Churches

St. Mary's Church is Upton's
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
parish church. This is a large church, which was consecrated on 28 April 1868. The church had its own office and meeting room, situated in Holmleigh, which was next door to the church hall, on Church Road. Holmleigh was originally built by William Inman, for his estate bailiff, in 1869. The building was given to the church, in 1884, by another owner and became the vicarage in 1911. A new vicarage was built in 1928, further down Church Road, and the building was sold. However, the church repurchased Holmleigh in 1985, when the building acquired its present use. St. Mary's Church replaced Holmleigh and the church hall, with modern housing. This led to some opposition to the proposal. St. Joseph's Church, the local
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
parish church, was opened on 31 August 1954. Upton's
United Reformed Church The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2024 it had approximately 44,000 members in around 1,250 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers. The URC is a Trinitarian church whose theolog ...
was opened on 11 May 1900, with the final service held on 26 July 2015.


Former Churches and Religious Buildings

The original Norman church was a steepled church, of decorative design, and was situated opposite Upton Manor on Moreton Road. The earliest reference to the church is in 1347. The steeple was damaged by a storm in 1709 and, by 1813, the church was in such poor condition that it was petitioned to be demolished. The church is understood to have been built on the site of at least one previous Saxon church. The 1837 tithe map of the area indicates a half-circle of standing stones, around a wooded hollow which was situated next to the church, at a diameter of . Although much detail is lost to history, this has raised the possibility that the site was once a
stone circle A stone circle is a ring of megalithic standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially Stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being ...
and, therefore, a pre-Christian,
Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...
religious site. Greenbank Church was built in 1813 and was situated closer to the centre of the village, next to Greasby Road. This church reused material from the former Norman church, though was of much simpler design. This church was used until the construction of St. Mary's and was later demolished. During which time, the Overchurch runic stone was discovered. The priory was originally known as The Parsonage. This building was situated on Ford Road, was constructed before 1850, and was used as the vicarage until 1911. The building was quite large, with seven bedrooms. The building no longer stands, having been demolished in the 1950s. However, the wall and the walled-in gateway still remain, on Ford Road.


Leisure

Victory Hall, a community hall rebuilt in 1963, was originally sited in a large
Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...
villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house that provided an escape from urban life. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the f ...
, which had been purchased by public subscription. Upton Library was opened in 1936 and built in the
Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...
style of architecture. The village's
war memorial A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war. Symbolism Historical usage It has ...
is located within its grounds. The Village Youth Project, known as ''The Bank'', is a youth club set up in 1999. This provides a range of activities for the youth of Upton. The club runs various events for the community, including a popular annual fair, situated at Overchurch Primary School each summer. The club also organises many residential visits to various parts of the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. Overchurch Upton Scout Group was formed in 1924, and is situated on Salacre Lane. The site of the scout hut was acquired after the
3rd World Scout Jamboree The 3rd World Scout Jamboree was held in 1929 at Arrowe Park in Upton, near Birkenhead, Wirral, United Kingdom. As it was commemorating the 21st birthday of ''Scouting for Boys'' and the Scouting movement, it is also known as the Coming of Ag ...
, held less than a mile away, in Arrowe Park, in 1929.


Historic public houses

The village has two historic
public houses A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...
which are close to the centre. These are ''Eagle and Crown'', built around 1840, and the ''Horse and Jockey''. Built around 1850, the ''Horse and Jockey'' used to be situated opposite the ''Eagle and Crown'' and was owned by William Inman until 1875. The old ''Horse and Jockey'' building was demolished in the 1960s, before moving to new premises nearby. Meanwhile, the ''Overchurch Hotel'' and the ''Stirrup'' are situated away from the centre of the village. Upton also used to have a beer house known as ''The Traveller's Rest''. This beer house closed in 1903, although the building remains.


Parks and Commons

Upton has a number of parks and commons, the largest of which is Arrowe Park, which is less than a mile from the centre of the village. This park is also home to Arrowe Park Hospital and was the location of the 3rd World Scout Jamboree, in 1929. The park is used, weekly, by amateur football teams playing against the Arrowe Park Blades FC and for the Wirral Radio Control Flying Society. Upton Park is the second largest park in the area. This park is situated near to Upton Manor and next to the M53 motorway, on the border with Moreton. The park used to have a racecourse and was part of the property of Upton Manor. This park has an annual
firework Fireworks are Explosive, low explosive Pyrotechnics, pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large numbe ...
display, which is free, on
Guy Fawkes Night Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Guy Fawkes Day, Bonfire Night and Fireworks Night, is an annual commemoration list of minor secular observances#November, observed on 5 November, primarily in Great Britain, involving bonfires and firewor ...
. Warwick Park is a small suburban park with an area of and which is situated in Overchurch. This park has its own group of friends. The park was originally known as Warwick Hay. Overchurch Park is situated nearby to Warwick Park, and includes the site of the old Norman Church and graveyard, which have been scheduled as monuments by
English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...
. Upton Meadow is a public common with a semi-natural woodland and of footpaths. This area is bordered by Arrowe Brook and separates Upton from Greasby. Meanwhile, Salacre Common is also a public common, but somewhat smaller. Salacre common was originally the front garden of a large house and is the closest green space to the centre of the village.


Sport

The village is represented in sport by Upton
Cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
Club, which was established in 1901 by William Hannay, following a lease of land from Lord Leverhulme. The cricket club originally had its own tennis and football clubs. However, the tennis club had folded, on this site, by 1968. Upton Victory Hall Lawn
Tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
&
Badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...
Club was established in 1919, and was situated behind a large house on the corner of Salacre Lane, known as "The Elms". The Elms building was sold in 1963, and Victory Hall was built behind the house, before the house was demolished. The tennis club has four grass courts and four
AstroTurf AstroTurf is an American subsidiary of SportGroup that produces artificial turf for pitch (sports field), playing surfaces in sports. The original AstroTurf product was a pile (textile), short-pile synthetic turf invented in 1965 by Monsanto. Si ...
courts. The clubhouse is a separate building from Victory Hall, and has its own bar, function room and an entrance on Rake Lane. The sports club also provides facilities for
croquet Croquet ( or ) is a sport which involves hitting wooden, plastic, or composite balls with a mallet through hoops (often called Wicket, "wickets" in the United States) embedded in a grass playing court. Variations In all forms of croquet, in ...
and
bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which players try to roll their ball (called a bowl) closest to a smaller ball (known as a "jack" or sometimes a "kitty"). The bowls are shaped (biased), so that they follow a curve ...
. In
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
, Upton FC was founded in 1994, and has teams for both boys and girls of all abilities and ages from six onwards. Upton Park is an area of recreational open space and woodland. The park was part of William Inman's Upton Manor estate and had included a
racecourse A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also us ...
between 1922 and 1924. Part of the Upton Park site is now the Moreton Spur road, connected to the M53 motorway.


Transport


Roads

Upton today is most notable for its central location between
Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...
and
West Kirby West Kirby () is a coastal town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. In the north west of the Wirral Peninsula and at the mouth of the River Dee, the town is contiguous with Hoylake. It lies within the historic county bo ...
. The consequence of this is that road transport through Upton is uncharacteristically efficient for the rural suburban area of Wirral. Upton is situated at the junction of roads from Birkenhead, Moreton (the A551),
Greasby Greasby () is a large village on the Wirral Peninsula, Merseyside, England. A predominantly residential area, it is contiguous with Upton to the east and Saughall Massie to the north. The small village of Frankby is to the immediate west. Hi ...
(the B5139),
Saughall Massie Saughall Massie () is a village on the Wirral Peninsula, Merseyside, England. It is part of the Moreton West & Saughall Massie Ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and the parliamentary constituency of Wallasey. A small village primarily ...
and Arrowe Park (the A551). The road network was further enhanced with the building of a bypass (the A5027) in the early 1980s. The
M53 motorway The M53 is an motorway in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside and the Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough of Cheshire West and Chester, Cheshire on the Wirral Peninsula in England. It is also referred to as the Mid Wirral ...
, at Junction 2, is situated less than a mile from the centre of the village and connects directly to the bypass.


Buses

The first bus to run from Upton village was a horse-drawn bus, in 1891. This bus operated to Claughton Village. Whilst the first motorised Birkenhead Corporation bus worked on 14 July 1920. Until deregulation of the bus services, in 1986, Upton was served by both the forerunner to Merseytravel, the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive (MPTE) and the separate operator, Crosville. Present-day services are run primarily by
Arriva Arriva Ltd. is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England. The company was originally established on 24 October 1938 as T Cowie Ltd. Initially focused on the sale of motorcycles, it relaunched shortl ...
, and are coordinated by
Merseytravel Merseytravel is a public transport body and the passenger transport executive of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority responsible for delivering Public transport and other transport functions in the Liverpool City Region. It was origin ...
. The village has
bus stop A bus stop is a place where Public transport bus service, buses stop for passengers to get on and off the bus. The construction of bus stops tends to reflect the level of usage, where stops at busy locations may have shelter (building), shelters ...
s along all four of the main roads entering the village. Merseytravel's daily "Saveaway" ''Area B'' and ''All Zones'' tickets are valid to use from any bus stop in Upton, on the basis of being for the passenger of relevant age, in-date and for use after 9:30am.


Railways

Upton is not part of the major electrified
Merseyrail Merseyrail is a commuter rail network which serves Merseyside and adjacent areas of Cheshire and Lancashire in the North West England, North West of England. Merseyrail serves 69 Railway station, stations, 67 of which it manages, across two lin ...
Wirral line from
Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...
to
West Kirby West Kirby () is a coastal town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. In the north west of the Wirral Peninsula and at the mouth of the River Dee, the town is contiguous with Hoylake. It lies within the historic county bo ...
, which instead passes around the more densely populated coast
Upton railway station Upton railway station serves the village of Upton, Merseyside, Upton and the Noctorum area of Birkenhead, on the Wirral Peninsula, England. The station is situated on the Borderlands line. Transport for Wales Rail, Transport for Wales operates ...
exists as part of the Borderlands line between
Bidston Bidston is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. Administratively, it is a ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. Before local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974, it was part of th ...
and
Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...
and is operated by
Transport for Wales Transport for Wales (TfW; ; ) is a not-for-profit company owned by the Welsh Government and managed at arms length by its appointed board. TfW oversees the Transport for Wales Group (TfW Group) consisting of itself and its subsidiaries: Trans ...
, with a diesel service. However, the station is within the Merseytravel area. Journeys can be made from the station with a daily "Saveaway" ticket. This is a reasonably priced ticket, and allows unlimited travel within the Merseytravel area, for one day, as far afield as
Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...
,
Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...
,
Ormskirk Ormskirk is a market town in the West Lancashire district of Lancashire, England. It is located north of Liverpool, northwest of St Helens, Merseyside, St Helens, southeast of Southport and southwest of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. Ormski ...
and
Newton-le-Willows Newton-le-Willows, often shortened informally to Newton, is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, Merseyside, England. The population at the United Kingdom Census 2021, 2021 census was 24,642. Newton-le-Willows is on the ea ...
, as well as Birkenhead and Liverpool. Though, due to its location, the station is more of service to the
Noctorum Noctorum is a suburb of Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. Administratively it is within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral as part of Claughton Ward. Noctorum is in the north east of the Wirral Peninsula, bounded by the Beechwood estate to the ...
community, rather than Upton. This is not considered a problem however, as the locality is well served by regular bus services.


Cycling

National Cycle Route 56 National Cycle Network (NCN) Route 56 is a Sustrans National Route that runs from Chester to Liverpool. The route utilises country lanes, a former railway trackbed, a coastal path and a seaside promenade. Route Chester to Hooton The route begi ...
passes along the eastern side of the village. This route goes from Chester to Liverpool via Leasowe and Seacombe and includes part of the Wirral Way, along its course.


Notable people

The most notable person that lived in Upton was
William Inman William Inman (6 April 1825 in Leicester – 3 July 1881 in Upton, Merseyside, Upton, Wirral Peninsula, Wirral) was the owner of the Liverpool, New York and Philadelphia Steamship Company. Also known as the Inman Line, it ran services from Liverp ...
, who was the owner of the Inman Line of ships which operated from Liverpool to
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
. Whilst the most notable person to have an association with Upton is
Dixie Dean William Ralph "Dixie" Dean (22 January 1907 – 1 March 1980) was an English footballer who played as a centre forward. Dean holds the record for the most goals scored in a single season in top-flight English football, with 60. He is regarded as ...
, the professional footballer who holds the league record for the most goals scored in one season. Dixie Dean worked in Upton as a delivery boy. Athlete
Andrew Baddeley Andrew James Baddeley (born 20 June 1982) is an English middle-distance runner. Career He finished sixth in the 1500 metres final at the 2006 European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg. He also competed at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, an ...
, who is an English middle distance runner who competed in the
2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...
and the
2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
, was born in Upton. Danny Harrison, an English footballer who previously played for both
Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...
and
Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...
, has also lived in Upton. BBC journalist
Sally Nugent Sally Nugent (born 5 August 1971) is an English journalist, newsreader and television presenter. Since October 2021, she has presented ''BBC Breakfast'' along with Nina Warhurst, Naga Munchetty, Charlie Stayt and Jon Kay. Early life and educ ...
was educated at Upton Hall School and is a sports presenter on ''
BBC Breakfast ''BBC Breakfast'' is a British television breakfast news programme, produced by BBC News and broadcast on BBC One every morning from 6:00am. It is also broadcast on the UK feed of BBC News channel on weekends. The simulcast is presented live, ...
''. Berlie Doherty is an English writer who was also educated at Upton Hall School. A former teacher from the same school, Angela Topping, is also an English writer. Opera singer Joan Carlyle was born in Upton. Chris Shaw is an English
synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s ...
musician from Upton. In religion, notable
Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...
s, who have both been
incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position. In an election, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the position that is up for election, regardless of whether they are seeking re-election. There may or may not be ...
at St. Mary's Church, are Cecil Druitt and George Aickin.


See also

* Listed buildings in Upton, Merseyside


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * *


External links


Upton In the Hundred of Wirral
Local history website. {{Populated Places in Wirral Borough Towns and villages in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral Former civil parishes in Merseyside