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Upton
Upton maps
Historic maps of Upton and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Upton maps
Upton photos
We have no photos of Upton, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Abbots Ripton| Ellington| Spaldwick| Old Weston| Brampton| Huntingdon| Hartford| Godmanchester
Upton area books
Displaying 1 of 10 books about Upton and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Upton
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Upton.
Add your memory of Upton
or of a photo of Upton.
Small Village
I was born at Alconbury but my grandmother, Mary Anne Draper rented a cottage on the Haggar Farm. I went to school at the tiny little school house and when I was 11 went to school at Sawtry. I have some really nice memories of Upton and growing up in a small village. I now live in Tucson Az, USA. I haven't been back to Upton in over 35 years. I know the village has changed and alot of the people have moved on but it would be nice to hear from someone who remembers the old days. I can remember waiting for the school bus to Sawtry when it was freezing cold, life was so simple then. I am pleased to say life is not so hard now but I do look forward to going back to Upton and to see my family. I would love to hear from anyone who lives there now.
Cambridgeshire memories
War Years
My name is Pamela Alston, nee Earley. I lived in Alconbury village from the age of 5 in 1943 till the age of 15 in 1953. I went to the village school and had an exellent education, much better than my college educated children. We lived at the Globe House and my father Walter Earley transported prisoners of war to work, I remember the Italian prisoners made lovely jewellery from plexi glass and all hand painted. I remember the convoys on the Great North Road, Mr Thompson's bakery, Last's shop, the post office and Constable Everett. I have loads of good memories, and would love to share them with other Alconburians.
Pam Alston.
Bell Lane
My memories are of living at Bell Lane, Alconbury with my parents and granny. My parents, Ivy and Charlie Gillings, went to school there, and I so want some photos of Bell Lane as it was in those days.
From 1940, But Historically Long Before.
Along with my mother Ruby, I was evacuated to Alconbury on my birthday, 23 September 1940. Unknown to me, my paternal grandparents had already moved there and were in residence in Chapel Street. My Mum and I rented Granny Baxter’s cottage off Bell Lane, where we lived until moving to Corner Farm, Buckworth, in 1942. Philip Birch ran the Post Office in his shop at the bottom of Bell Lane.
Returning to Chapel Street, Alconbury in 1946, my Dad opened a small business doing plumbing and general repairs for a while, before concentrating on motor cars and bodywork. We lived behind what was Ganderton’s Butcher Shop, and I was their Saturday delivery boy for some time. One of Dad’s good friends was Walter Earley, father to Pam who has written here. Dad’s Saturday boy was Kelvin Cooper, who has gone on to own his own workshop in Sawtry, and to become a well-known and successful stock car racing driver.
Bell Lane Cottages, as they were known, are long since... Read more
Referring to my Frith 1887 Map of Alconbury
On the 1887 map of Alconbury and its surroundings, there is a reference to the area between Alconbury and Alconbury Weston on Alconbury Brook as being 'Liable to Flooding'. This would have also applied to the areas of the village green and the High Street. On the 'wireless' news you could hear of the Great North Road being flooded at Alconbury. This would have been close to the Bride's Pool, where the brook flowed close to the main road. Today, village residents still complain about the flooding, since houses built long after 1887 have experienced the ingress of water following a heavy rainstorm upstream, or melting snows, causing the brook to overflow its banks. I have photographs that I took during some flooding in the late 1940's or early 1950's showing the extent of floods, and they were pretty extensive, extending up as far as the bottom of Bell Lane, and towards Alconbury Weston from the Maltings. From that downward slope there was simply a sea of water as far as... Read more
Sawtry 1901 And 1968
Somehow fate seems to draw me to places where some of my ancestors have been living, yet I was born in London. In 1968 I bought a house in Sawtry, off St. Judith's Lane, and where I lived until returning to Sweden in 1974. Now, thanks to the Internet I have discovered that my grandmother Jane's older sister Charlotte Braybrook, née Fairey, had a daughter Gertrude Annie, who, in 1894, married one, Joe Chamberlain. And yes, he was born in 1870 - in Sawtry St. Judith, and in 1901 Joe and Gertrude were living there. Unfortunately there is no further information available as yet regarding them, although I gather there is still someone of the name Chamberlain resident in Sawtry.
Despite having lived many years in Sweden, there have been links to various places in England, and places I have either visited or lived where others of my family have resided, and at the time I have known absolutely nothing of their existence or connections.
Fate moves in mysterious ways.... Read more
Tracing Bull family
My family moved from Kent to Little Stukeley at the beginning of the Second World War. I believe my uncle had a bakery there for my father was a baker. My uncle's name was Sidney P Bull and his wife was Etta. I am told that we moved back to Kent but moved back again to Little Stukeley - as I was born in 1939 just before the war started I have no memory of living there as I can only remember living in Kent when we moved back again, but would really appreciate any news anyone would have regarding either my uncle and aunt or of the bakery in the village. As I live in New Zealand now it is difficult to get this kind of information
