Upton, Slough

infobox UK place

country = England
official_name= Upton
unitary_england= Slough
lieutenancy_england=Berkshire
region= South East England

constituency_westminster= Slough
post_town= SLOUGH
postcode_district=SL1
postcode_area=SL
dial_code= 01753
population=
os_grid_reference= SU945805
latitude= 51.5159
longitude= -0.6387Once a small village, Upton is now a suburb of Slough in Berkshire, having been one of the villages that developed into the town. The Domesday Survey of 1086 refers to Upton, and a wood for 200 pigs, worth £15. Upton, with its Norman Church, was situated at the top of the slope from the river terrace — the various levels in the area having been formed in the Ice-Age.

St Laurence's Church is around 900 years old. It was the marriage place (May 7 1788) and burial place (1822) of Sir William Herschel (in whose memory there stands a newly erected stained-glass window depicting Uranus, which he discovered, and other planets), and the burial place of Charles Hatchett who discovered niobium.

Parts of Upton Court were built in 1325. In the 19th century, it was a seat of the Burton family and is today home to the Slough Observer newspaper. A 19th century half-timbered building called "The Mere" is now the head office of the National Foundation for Educational Research. Long Close School was established in the area in 1940.

Upton Park forms one of Slough's earliest planned estates. Laid out in 1842, the grounds (a public park as Herschel Park since 1949) are believed to have been designed by Joseph Paxton. [p 144, "The History of Slough", Maxwell Fraser, Slough Corporation, Slough, 1973]

Notes and References