Upchurch
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Upchurch | |
  Upchurch shown within Kent |
|
| OS grid reference | |
|---|---|
| District | Swale |
| Shire county | Kent |
| Region | South East |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Sittingbourne |
| Postcode district | ME9 |
| Dialling code | 01634 |
| Police | Kent |
| Fire | Kent |
| Ambulance | South East Coast |
| European Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | Sittingbourne and Sheppey |
| List of places: UK • England • Kent | |
Upchurch village is situated at the junction of numerous minor roads on the edge of the Medway marshes, to the east of Gillingham. It is a civil parish within Swale Borough Council, and the village centre is about 1 mile (1.6km) east of the boundary with the unitary authority of Medway.
The area has an ancient history. It lay on a pre-Roman trackway; the many linking ads are the result of Roman occupation, who had built a community of ex-soldiers who wanted to settle in England. A Roman cemetery has been discovered here. There were also several Roman pottery works sited here. It is probable that, although today the land is low-lying and marshy, it was once higher than it is today. A more recent pottery was established here in 1909: it is now closed. This was the famous Upchurch Pottery retailing through such outlets as Liberty & Co..
The village prizes a connection with Sir Francis Drake whose father became its vicar in 1560 after having been prayer-reader to the Medway fleet.
Under the 14th century church is a small crypt, a charnel-house, where bones were kept if the churchyard was full. It was discovered in 1877, and the bones re-interred. The church is also notable for its very unusual 'candle-snuffer' steeple: an octagonal pyramid appears to have been stacked on top of a square one as if they were a couple of inverted ice-cream cones.
The settlement of Otterham Quay lies a mile west of the village at the head of Otterham Creek.
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