Upton, Berkshire

St. Mary (parish church)

The church of St. Mary, given to the Cluniac Abbey of Bermondsey in 1092, is a small but exceedingly interesting building of rubble faced with flint, of very Early Norman or even Saxon date, consisting only of chancel and nave and an open shingled turret over the western gable containing one bell: the chancel, almost unique in its diminutiveness, is lighted on the north and south sides by small round-headed windows deeply splayed, and also on the south side by a small window of the Early Decorated period, discovered built into the wall during the recent restoration: the chancel arch, which is extremely low, is round-headed with a flat soffit, the imposts bearing a kind of star ornament: the south doorway, also round-headed, is ornamented on its exterior face with zigzag moulding, and one window displays similar treatment; in the north side is a now blocked square-headed doorway, believed to be Saxon; the font, a perfectly plain cylindrical basin of sandstone, probably of the same date as the church, has been carefully repaired and reset on a new circular basin, relieved by dwarf shafts of freestone; its cover appears to be Jacobean: in 1885 the church was thoroughly and beautifully restored, the chancel by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners at a cost of £300, under the superintendence of their architect, the late Mr. Ewan Christian; and the rest of the building by subscription, under the direction of Mr. Slingsby Stallwood F.S.A. architect of Reading, at a cost, including fittings and books, of about £850; the Commissioners, in repairing the chancel, inserted at the east end a triplet of tall and deeply splayed lancets in place of the window previously existing, and fixed an entirely new roof of solid oak: the timber-framed nave roof, previously ceiled in, has been opened and thoroughly renovated with the best oak: the rubble walls, 4 feet in thickness, were partially rebuilt and faced with cut and rough flint: in reconstructing the north wall a large fragment of rubble was found above the north doorway, built 18 inches into the fabric, and rudely carved on one side with several crosses: the nave has been substantially seated with oak benches, and the chancel with stalls, neatly carved: there is a plain oak chest and communion plate dating from 1576: the church affords sittings for 100 persons: the churchyard was consecrated by the late Bishop Wilberforce, May 9th, 1862, and contains memorials to the Humfreys, a family of considerable antiquity in this neighbourhood, to the Rev. Richard Hooper M.A. rector, 1862-95, and some others to labourers accidentally killed during the formation of the branch railway from Didcot to Newbury.