Upton Lovell

The parish of Upton Lovell lies on the River Wylye, 5.5 miles south-east of Warminster. Its shape is a long, thin oblong, with most of the parish on the east side of the river. The village is in a small area close to the river and the railway line. The remainder of the parish is open fields. The soil is chalky; the subsoil is chalk and flint. Before the 15^th century the village was called ‘Ubeton’ (various spellings) meaning ‘Ubba’s Farm’. William Lovell held the manor in 1428 and the new name was in use by the early 1500s.

There are numerous archaeological sites within the parish. The long, western parish boundary is clearly marked by 19 boundary stones. Probably the most interesting site is the Golden Barrow, situated south of the railway line on the southern parish boundary. This early Bronze Age round barrow was excavated in 1803 by William Cunnington and again in 1807. The rich grave-goods in the barrow are characteristic of a female burial and include 13 gold beads, a gold plaque, a gold-plated shale conical button and gold studs. There were also 1000 amber beads. These finds are now in the Wiltshire Museum in Devizes.

Moving north, the next site is Upton Barrow in the middle of the parish. It is a bell barrow, surrounded by a deep ditch and fortifications.

This internment contained a beautiful necklace of 48 beads comprising jet, green and blue glass and red amber.

Close to the northern parish boundary and just south of Quebec Barn is Knook Castle. This Iron Age hillfort was supposed to have originally been a British village and afterwards a Roman summer camp. Further north are two more settlement sites, Knook Down East and Knook Down West which cover approximately 10 acres and 11 acres respectively. Finds at the sites and in the surrounding areas date mainly from the 2^nd- 4^th centuries AD and include bracelets, door furniture, Roman coins and stone flooring.

On the western end of the northern boundary is Castle Barrow. This Bronze Age bowl barrow was opened by the Rev F. G. Walker, rector of Upton Lovell, who was in post between 1920 and 1934. He found the remains of a child burial. Lastly, the northern boundary forms part of the Old Ditch, which stretches over 11 miles and across 11 parishes.

The manor of Upton Lovell changed hands many times during its early history. It was in the hands of the Lovell family in the 15^th century; following the death of the last Lord Lovell, the manor was given by Henry VII to the Duke of Norfolk. Again it changed hands several times before being bought by William Clare of Heytesbury in 1698. It stayed in the family until 1817 when it was sold to John Gale Everett of Heytesbury.

The manor was broken up in the late 1880s by the trustees of Lt Col John F Everett. In 1889 it was in the hands of three principal land owners and this continued until 1920 (with the exception of 1898 when there were four names). From 1920 there were just two names. The one constant name was the Dyke family, who lived at Fairholme. James Dyke was a farmer from Dorset who came to Upton Lovell in the 1880s. His daughters farmed there after his death, the last being Ada who died in 1945.

The parish church, known as St Peter, St Augustine, or St Peter and St Augustine, dates back to the 13^th century. Built of limestone ashlar with a Welsh slate roof, it consists of a west tower, nave with north porch, south vestry and chancel. It was rebuilt in 1633, again in 1834, and more sympathetically by C. E. Ponting in 1891. There is no chapel in the village. Any Non-conformists in the parish would have worshipped at Corton.

There are 15 listed buildings in the village; 11 cottages, two farmhouses, a house and a rectory. The house now known as The Old Rectory dates from the late 17^th century and is constructed of Flemish bond brick with a tiled roof. In 1786 the glebe terrier described it as having a hall, parlour, back kitchen, pantry, cellar and study. On the first floor were four bedrooms and two garrets.

The house also had an orchard, a walled pleasure garden and a kitchen garden.

Lovell House was built c.1800 for a member of the Everett family. It is built of Flemish bond brick with a Welsh slate roof. A sale particular from 1902 describes it as a ‘well-arranged and substantial detached freehold residence, with old-fashioned walled gardens, orchard, paddock and stabling’. It had five bedrooms and the downstairs accommodation included a dining room, drawing room and breakfast room.

The Manor House was built in the late 19th century, probably for John F Everett who was living there in 1881. It is constructed of stone with a slate roof. In 1927 the sale catalogue described this six bedroom house as a ‘small but charming family residence’. The house also had a large tennis or croquet lawn, a smaller lawn, a garden with fruit trees, stables and a garage.

Middle Farmhouse and South Farmhouse date from the 17^th and 18^th centuries respectively. Both are substantial brick houses. Most of the listed cottages date from the 19^th century but two were built a century earlier.

The two main industries in Upton Lovell were farming and a cloth factory. The 1838 tithe award shows three farms in the village. They were not given names at the time, but the modern names are South Farm, Middle Farm and Manor Farm. Thomas Raxworthy was at South Farm where he farmed 480 acres.

By 1851 this had increased to 540 acres. He employed 23 farm labourers and had two servants in his house. John Ingram was at Middle Farm. In 1838 he farmed 306 acres, increasing to 555 acres by 1851. He employed 19 labourers and also had two house servants. The third farm was run by William Brown for Joseph Everett. This farm was 506 acres in 1838 and Brown was living at Lovell House.

The cloth factory was in operation by 1816 when John Everett was able to buy the factory from his landlord William Clare. In 1833 Everett employed 400 hands in and out of his factory. Both water and steam power were used, the latter supplied by a 20hp steam engine that Everett had bought. He ceased trading in 1846 and the factory changed hands several times until 1886 when it was bought by William Walker who was already running four factories in Trowbridge. He ran it under the title of the Upton Lovell Manufacturing Company until 1898, when it was damaged by fire. This was the end of the cloth trade in the upper Wylye valley. Nothing remains of the factory.

The 1851 census shows that both industries were equally important in terms of employment. Agriculture was usually the main source of employment in small villages, but the census enumerator counted 37 people employed in the factory and the same number on the three farms.

In 1901, after the factory had gone, there were 68 fewer people in the village than in 1891.

At the time of the Domesday survey the population of Upton Lovell was approximately 100. The first official figure is 242 people in 1801. It reached its peak of 249 in 1831, the lowest being 129 exactly a hundred years later. In 2011 there were 165 people living in the village.

There were three charities in the parish. In 1794 the Rev John Crouch, rector of Upton Lovell, invested £500, the interest from which was to be used to pay a schoolmaster. The village school was built in 1870, after which the interest was paid into the school funds. In 1893 Herbert Swayne Ingram left £100. The interest was used to maintain the Ingram family vault in the churchyard; any remaining money was used to buy coal for the poor. A report made to the Charity Commissioners in 1833 mentions Poor’s Money. This consisted of £10 in the hands of the churchwardens and overseers. It was not known how, when, or by whom, it was given. The money was transferred from one set of churchwardens and overseers to another, and 10s interest was distributed on Lady Day to the poor who did not receive parish relief. Between one and two shillings were given to the most deserving needy labouring men. In 1903 this charity was officially recorded as lost.

No interest had been received for many years and there was no documentary evidence in either the churchwardens’ or overseers’ accounts.

At the turn of the 20th century Upton Lovell was essentially a farming community. The Kelly’s trade directory for 1903 shows the expected trades of blacksmith, carpenter and dairyman. There was a Post Office, although surprisingly this was not in the centre of the village, but on the main road in the north-east of the parish, where it had been since c1860. At the same time there was a combined business of grocer and beer retailer that by 1881 was known as the Prince Leopold Inn, having a full licence by then. The shop was still open in 1939 when William Polden was the publican, shopkeeper and the coal and coke merchant.

The village was too small to support its own social groups; the residents would have looked to neighbouring Heytesbury for their entertainment. The men could join the football or cricket clubs while the ladies could join the W.I.

Since 1950 the population of Upton Lovell has been fairly stable, averaging 160. Two well-known and very popular residents at the turn of the 21^st century were Anthony Barrington Brown, a designer, photographer and explorer, and his wife Althea Wynne, a sculptor of large works in bronze and ceramic for gardens and public spaces.

Tragically they were killed in a car crash near their home in 2012.

Upton Lovell is a very attractive place to live and visit, with the River Wylye flowing alongside both the Prince Leopold Inn and some of the cottage gardens.