Past SWAG Visits

Upton-upon-Severn

Visited in May 2007.

Grid reference SO 4430     map

Upton-upon-Severn lies on the River Severn, approximately ten miles south of Worcester. The name comes from Upton being up river from the formerly more important settlement of Ripple. It often hits the news headlines at times when the river is in flood.

Simon Wilkinson from the Upton-upon-Severn Civic Society was our guide for the day, and the focus of the walk was on the history of the town since the English Civil War. The walk began in the car park opposite St Peter's Church where our guide drew our attention to some of the historic houses, extant or long gone, before crossing the road to show us round the church and describe something of its history. Built in 1879 as a replacement for the 'pepperpot', the remains of which are still visible by road bridge over by the river, it contains several of the old church's artefacts such as bells and monuments, including the figure of a mediaeval knight. From the church, our tour took us along Davis Walk and Oak Row past former and present chapels, and along to Court Street where we saw the old courthouse, before coming onto the High Street. In Dunn's Lane we came across the blue plaque which commemorates the 1832 cholera outbreak which started in Upstone Alley, and at the riverside we admired some of the present houses which were once commercial buildings (right).	Waterside House in Dunn's Lane
The 'Pepperpot' - the red arrow indicates the roofline of the collapsed nave	Out on the Ham, Mr Wilkinson reminded us that as the River Severn had a towpath, the banks would have had to have been kept clear of the mature willows which are now a feature. Until the early 19th century, teams of men would pull the trows but from then on the men were replaced by horses. Across the Ham we could see grade II-listed rifle targets and we were told that shooting practice was carried out here from Napoleonic times onwards. The River Severn, historically the main highway through Upton, was spanned first by a wooden bridge and then a stone one, the latter suffering collapse of an arch during the 1852 flood, having first been damaged by a barge. It was two years before an iron one replaced it, this having a drawbridge to allow tall vessels through. However, the opening and closing of the drawbridge was a lengthy process, so it in turn was replaced by a swing bridge, the turntable of which still survives (below), outside the King's Head pub. Site of the base of the old swing bridge In the 1930s, the current bridge and viaduct were constructed a little further upstream. The bridge was one of the last riveted bridges to be built in England. Moving back away from the river, we came to the Pepperpot (left), the remaining tower of a 14th century Gothic church. The original nave was demolished and the spire pulled down in the mid-18th century when the nave was rebuilt and the spire replaced by the Italianate cupola which we see today. Unfortunately the nave was not rebuilt to a particularly high standard and rather than spend further money and effort on it, it was allowed to fall down when St Peter's Church was completed in the 1800s.
While walking along Hanley Road, we were told that the house with the distinctive urns along the roof was the old manor house (right) until 1770, and that it hides a timber hall behind its 17th century frontage. Close inspection reveals that many of the 'windows' are merely painted on for the sake of symmetry. Further along, the existing Regal garage was built on the site of a warehouse which in turn had been built on the site of the town pound. Past the garage, we turned left through the car park (where many musket balls have been found and where it is believed that a castle once stood (see http://www.upton.uk.net/history/castle/castle.html), past the site of the town ducking stool and into New Street. Here stands Shipps Garage which occupies the chapel of the third methodist group to set up in Upton, the chapel opening in 1891 and closing only twenty years later. It has since been the Old Comrades Club and a fire station. Shipp's Garage, New Street	The old manor house