Upwell
View of Upwell showing the Well Creek and Town Street
Upwell is located in Norfolk
Upwell
Upwell
Location within Norfolk
Area27.65 km2 (10.68 sq mi)
Population4,734 
• Density171/km2 (440/sq mi)
OS grid referenceTF500020
Civil parish
  • Upwell
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townWISBECH
Postcode districtPE14
PoliceNorfolk
FireNorfolk
AmbulanceEast of England

Upwell is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. Upwell village is on the A1101 road, as is Outwell, its conjoined village at the north. The nearest towns are Wisbech to the north-west and Downham Market to the east.

The parish covers an area of 27.65 km2 (10.68 sq mi) and had a population of 2,456 in 1,033 households at the 2001 census,[1] increasing to 2,750 at the 2011 Census.[2] And most recently, In the 2021 census the town population has nearly doubled to 4,734.[3]

History

The villages name means 'higher well (= spring/stream)'. Originally, part of a single place called Well; 'upp' was appended to distinguish from Outwell.[4]

Upwell in 1202 had a market-place and a weekly market. Marmont Priory was endowed by Richard I with 300 acres in Upwell and Outwell. The priory of Gilbertines was founded in the reign of King John. Cultivation of flax and hemp is referred to in an order of Sessions of Sewers in 1340. Upwell was connected with Wisbech by a steam tramway in 1884[5]

William Wolsey a constable of Upwell, Outwell & Welney (and Robert Piggot of Wisbech) Protestants were tried at Ely for heresy and burnt at the stake in 1555.[6]

In 1810 a building was being used as a temporary theatre by Joseph Smedley at a cost of five Guineas. [7]

In 1869 Upwell St. Peter, was the richest benefice of the English church, being returned in the clergy list as worth £3,058 a year, though worth considerably more, and had just become vacant by the death of the Rev. Wm. Gale Townley, who had held it only seven years. The living was in the gift of Mr. B. G. Townley. In the same parish is the rectory of Christ Church, returned as being worth £1,594 year, also belonging to the Townley family.[8]

Governance

Upwell has a parish council. The councillors elect a chair. Upwell falls within the electoral ward of Upwell and Delph. The population of this ward at the 2011 Census was 4,827.[9]

For the purposes of local government, it falls within the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk. Until 1974 it formed part of the now-defunct Marshland Rural District in Norfolk.

Further reading

  • Smith, William P (2021). The Ancient Town of Wella. Carillson Publications.

References

  1. ↑ Census population and household counts for unparished urban areas and all parishes Archived 2017-02-11 at the Wayback Machine. Office for National Statistics & Norfolk County Council (2001). Retrieved 20 June 2009.
  2. ↑ "Civil Parish population 2011". Retrieved 30 August 2015.
  3. ↑ "Upwell (Norfolk, East of England, United Kingdom) - Population Statistics, Charts, Map, Location, Weather and Web Information". www.citypopulation.de. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
  4. ↑ "Key to English Place-names".
  5. ↑ F.J.Gardiner (1898). History of Wisbech and Neighbourhood. Gardiner & Co.
  6. ↑ G.M.G. Woodgate (1931). Wisbech in the Ely Episcopal Registers. The Isle of Ely and Wisbech Advertiser. p. 28.
  7. ↑ Neil R Wright (2016). Treading the Boards : Actors and theatres in Georgian Lincolnshire. SLHA. p. 69.
  8. ↑ "Upwell St Peter". Essex Herald. 14 September 1869. p. 7.
  9. ↑ "Upwell and Delph ward population 2011". Retrieved 30 August 2015.


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