(July 1320/1)
William de Bykerton, a messuage and 55 acres in
Upton and Neuton, near Chester.
14 Edw.
II. William de Donecaster and Felice his wife, obtained by Fine tenements in
the same places, of Robert de Markynton and Lucy his wife.
(July 1322/3)
16 Edw. II. Margaret (daughter of Donecaster,
and) who was wife of Thomas Vaghan, obtained by Fine of Richard de Pulford and
Agnes his wife, a tenement in Upton juxta Chester.
These lands, which afterwards became appurtenances of the manor of Bache, passed from the Donecasters to the Chauntrells, in whose Inqs. they subsequently occur as being held of the abbot of Chester.
(Jan 1328/9)
The Deresburies, a Chester branch of Daresbury
in Bucklow Hundred, held lands in this neighbourhood, and 2 Edw. III. John son
of John de Deresbury and Margaret his wife, were sued for dower of two
messuages, a toft, a carucate of land, and a third of 40 acres of meadow, in
Upton juxta Neuton, by William de Basyngwerk and Agnes his wife, formerly wife
of Richard Ie Clerk.
(Jan 1342/3)
16 Edw. III. Another Chester family, the Hurels,
obtained tenements here by Fine of Thomas de Hassale and Margery his wife,
whose daughters were probably the wives (called Agnes and Cecily), of Richard
and John sons of Henry Hurel.
(June 1385/6)
9 Ric II. Hugh de Holes of Chester, Roger
Brescy, and Robert Erneys, chaplains, acquired by Fine of Thomas de Willesone
de Bradewell and Agnes his wife, a messuage, three gardens, two bovates and a
half of land, and a sixth part of six acres of meadow in Upton.
(Mar 1415/16)
These premises occur in the writ of livery 3 Hen. V. of Thomas son and heir of
sir Hugh de Holes, kt. as being in Upton in Wyrehale; and perhaps for some time
longer this Upton, or part of it, remained parcel of that Hundred. These lands
were all held of the abbot of St. Werburgh.
After the dissolution, and the struggles between
the dean and chapter and sir Richard Cotton, the lands were confirmed to
various fee farmers, by Pat. 22 Eliz. the most considerable of whom were the
Brownes and the Brocks, the latter of whom were the manerial proprietors.
(1606)
Inq.p.m. 29 July 4 Jac.I. Robert Brocke, gent.
held the manor of Upton and lands in Upton, Moreton, Newton, and Moston, from
Queen as of her manor of East Greenwich, in socage by fealty, but not in
capite; Value, 61. 13s. 4d. : also lands in Cotton Edmunds, and Abbots Cotton,
Christleton,
Roe Christleton, Little Christleton, and
Chester: Val. Tot 81. 6s. 8d.; died 30 Dec.(1603) I Jac.I. William Brocke son
and heir, aged 12 years, 8 months, and 1 day at taking of the Inquisition.
(footnote by webmaster – the numeric preceding
the named sovereign assumed to denote the year of their reign)
(Handwritten addition to typed text – “1592 -
Note Anne daughter of Edmund Gamul Esq J.P. (Mayor 1585) married JohnBrocke of
Upton in the County of Chester”
Upton was not a village as we know it, but
consisted at this time of scattered farms with cottages attached.
At times the rule of the Abbot may have been a hard one,
and in 1581, during the Peasants' Rising, some of the local bondsmen rose and
"wrought damage" to the Abbot's property and belongings at Upton.
The next mention of Upton occurs a hundred and sixty years
later and now we come to a period when there were many changes of ownership of
the manor.
After the Dissolution of the Monastery of
St.Werburgh in 1541, Henry VIII founded an Episcopal see and a charter was
made. In this the original grant comprised, among others, the manor of Upton
and at the time of endowment Upton was worth £21.11. 4d.
In 1553 the Dean and Chapter of Chester Cathedral granted
lands in Upton to Sir Richard Cotton, who died in 1556, leaving his estate to
his son George. Ten years later the manor of Upton was sold to Richard Spencer.
He leased lands in Upton to William Smith of Upton in 1576, and from about
1579-80 the lands were confirmed to various fee farmers. The chief of
these were the Brownes and the Brocks, the latter being the manorial
proprietors) Saxton's map of Cheshire 1577, shows two gentlemen's houses, Upton
Hall, soon to be the home of the Brocks, and Bache Hall.
There are interesting records of two houses in Upton about
this time,
i.e. Hogg House and Heath House.
Hogg House. This was an old house, belonging to the Monastery of St.
Werburgh. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries rent in future had to be
paid to the sovereign. In 1579 it was included with Le Longe Meadowe (6)
in a grant to the Glasear family and in the holding of Robert Davye. The rent
annually "for Hogg House 46/10 and for Ie Longe Meadowe 20/-, was to be
paid at the West Gate of the Abbey in Chester, "Le Abbey Gate," on
Michaelmas Day and Lady Day, by equal portions."
Heath House. There were references to this house in a description of
the boundaries of the Parish in 1656 in St. Oswald's Vestry Orders. It stood on
the Upton - Picton boundary "at the north end a lane led to Picton; on the
east....…. 'a meere stone' parted Upton and Picton Heath." There were much
earlier
records of a family named Robinson who lived here during Queen Elizabeth's
reign. Thus In the Parish Registers of St. Oswald's Church we read:- .
1584 William and Richard Robinson, sonnes to
Richard Robinsonne of Heathe House,
bapti. 13 July.
In 1607 R. Robinson, Heath House, was found in a
churchwarden's list of parishioners of St. Oswald's Church. By 1629 his son
William, born 1584, had grown up and married; there is a record of him in the
churchwarden's accounts of St. Mary's-on-the-Hill "Rec. for a kneeling
place for William Robinsons
wife of Upton......." It must be remembered that Upton was part of both
the parishes of St. Mary's-on-the-Hill and of St. Oswald's and the records of both
churches have supplied us with information.
Evidence of the Brownes In Upton come from various
sources;- ,
1.
From the old Parish Registers of St. Mary's-on-the-Hill (as stated above)
2. In
the Churchwarden's Accounts for the above church we find that in 1578 Thomas Browne of Upton was churchwarden
there.
3. .In
a list of Nobility and Gentry from Cheshire, given in the
"Britannia" of Richard Blane were mentioned:-
"Brock, William of Upton, Esq;
Browne, Tho, of Upton, Gent." (7)
4. From accounts of sales of land
found in the
Cheshire Sheaf:-
(a)
In 1587-8 R.
Browne sold to Henry Birkenhead lands in Upton and Wervin called the Acres. This
consisted of 16 acres lying between Upton Common on the South, Wervin Common on
the North and East, and the high lane from Upton Common into Coughall on the
West.
(b)
(b) In 1595-6 R.
Browne sold to Will Aldersey, Great Acres, which lies between Upton
Common and Coughalls Common, and between a close or pasture of R. Browne's on
the West and Picton Heath and a little croft of R. Browne's on the East. This
was sold for £80.
Finally we come to our most important family and the lords
of the manor - the Brocks. R. Brock held Upton from Queen Elizabeth
"as of her manor of East Greenwich." This may have been a Robert
Brock who In 1572 was a churchwarden in St. Mary's-on-the-Hill. From about 1580
the Brocks held the estate until the male line died out in 1734. Between the
1590s and 1754 there were five William Brocks.
During the next one hundred and fifty years
their name occurs in many records; those taken from the Parish Registers of St.
Mary's are on mentioned above. This period, an important one in history,
brought three things in particular to Upton - Plague, the Civil War and one
event of special local interest. This last was the recording of Upton as a
village in a map by Richard Blome in 1672