Upwey is a suburb of Weymouth in south

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

, England. The suburb is situated on the B3159 road in the

Wey valley The River Wey is a main tributary of the River Thames in south east England. Its two branches, one of which rises near Alton in Hampshire and the other in West Sussex to the south of Haslemere, join at Tilford in Surrey. Once combined, the ...

. The area was formerly a village until it was absorbed into the Weymouth built-up area. It is located four miles north of the town centre in the outer suburbs. In the

Census 2001 2001 census may refer to a census covered by: * Census in Australia#2001 * 2001 Bangladesh census * 2001 Bolivian census * Canada 2001 Census * 2001 census of Croatia * 2001 Census of India * Lithuanian census of 2001 * 2001 Nepal census * 2001 ...

the combined population of Upwey and neighbouring Broadwey was 4,349. The village has a 13th-century

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), 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 com ...

, dedicated to

Saint Laurence Saint Lawrence or Laurence (; 31 December 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roman emperor Valerian ordered in 258. ...

, and a

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

, Upwey Manor, a

Grade II* 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 ...

dated to 1639, which was owned by the Gould family. A

disc barrow A disc barrow is a type of tumulus or round barrow, a variety of fancy barrow identified in English Heritage's Monument Class Descriptions. A disc barrow comprises a circular or oval-shaped flat platform, defined by a continuous earthen bank an ...

is located above the village on the Ridgeway at map reference . The former

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 built in 1880–81 and closed in 1992. The

River Wey The River Wey is a main tributary of the River Thames in south east England. Its two branches, one of which rises near Alton, Hampshire, Alton in Hampshire and the other in West Sussex to the south of Haslemere, join at Tilford in Surrey. Onc ...

rises at the foot of the

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Ch ...

ridge of the South

Dorset Downs The Dorset Downs are an area of chalk downland in the centre of the county Dorset in south west England. The downs are the most western part of a larger chalk formation which also includes (from west to east) Cranborne Chase, Salisbury Plain, ...

, which rise above Upwey to the north, and flows through the village. The source is known as the Upwey

wishing well A wishing well is a term from European folklore to describe water well, wells where it was thought that any spoken wish would be granted. The idea that a wish would be granted came from the notion that water housed deity, deities or had ...

and was a tourist attraction as far back as the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...

. There is now a tea room at the site, complete with mature

water garden Water garden or aquatic garden, is a term sometimes used for gardens, or parts of gardens, where any type of water feature (particularly garden ponds) is a principal or dominant element. The primary focus is on plants, but they will sometimes ...

s. In the 18th century a

water mill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production ...

was built on the river, rebuilt in 1802, it featured in

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Literary realism, Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry ...

's '' The Trumpet Major''. The mill is now Grade II* listed. Hardy also wrote a poem "At the Railway Station, Upway", which most likely relates to Upwey station. Upwey features in

Edward Chaney Edward Chaney (born 1951) is a British cultural historian. He is Professor Emeritus at Solent University and Honorary Professor at University College London (School of European Languages, Culture and Society (SELCS) – Centre for Early Modern ...

's ''Genius Friend: G.B. Edwards and The Book of Ebenezer le Page'' as the place in which Chaney got to know Gerald Edwards and encouraged him to complete his novel. Edwards died in the since-demolished 654 Dorchester Road, Upwey, on 29 December 1976. Upwey has two public houses. The Old Ship features in Thomas Hardy's ''

Under the Greenwood Tree ''Under the Greenwood Tree: A Rural Painting of the Dutch School'' is the second published novel by English author Thomas Hardy, published anonymously in 1872. It was Hardy's second published novel, and the first of what was to become his seri ...

'', while The Royal Standard was once run by an aunt of Thomas Hardy on his father's side. Upwey lends its name to

Upwey, Victoria Upwey is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, east from Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, central business district, located within the Shire of Yarra Ranges Local government areas of Victoria, local ...

, in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, near

Belgrave, Victoria Belgrave is a town and outer suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia, located 36 km east of Melbourne's Melbourne city centre, central business district, within the Shire of Yarra Ranges Local government areas of Victori ...

Politics

Upwey is part of the South Dorset parliamentary constituency. Upwey is part of the Upwey and Broadwey ward for elections to Dorset Council. In 1931 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

had a population of 910. On 1 April 1933 the parish was abolished and merged with Weymouth,

Bincombe Bincombe is a small village, or hamlet, and civil parish in Dorset, England, north of Weymouth. The village is from Upwey railway station and from Bournemouth International Airport. The main road running through the village is Icen Lane. ...

and Poxwell.

References

Census data

External links

The Upwey website

Upwey Stanton Genealogy
{{authority control Villages in Dorset Former civil parishes in Dorset Geography of Weymouth, Dorset