The Plague

In a scrapbook compiled by a former Inhabitant, Mr. R. Ithell, we read:- "Cheshire has fared very badly when plagues have visited the county, possibly due to the fact that it is rather low lying and the atmosphere has a tendency at times to be humid." In our churchyard stands the Plague Stone and in the church porch hangs the following inscription:- (8)

The Plague Stone 1507        '

During the earlier years of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the neighbourhood of Chester was visited by Plagues which often carried off quickly many inhabitants of the city. Such visitations are recorded in 1507, 1517, 1550, 1574, 1603, 1607, 1647. In 1507 there were 91 deaths in two days. In 1603 and 1604 upward of 1600 inhabitants perished. As such occurrences were happening in other parts of the country. PlagueStones were set up on order that the people might barter for food. People from the afflicted districts came to the district Plague Stone and placed money on the bowl which contained disinfectants and then retired to a safe distance. Food, in exchange, was then placed on the stone. The Upton stone formerly stood at the Upton crossroads. Bowl,restored by Mr. J.Colllns, the Blue Coat School, Chester 1938.
Placed In this position - by permission of the Vicar, Rev. T. 0. G. East - by Upton Parish Council 1938."

This stone is remembered in the wall at the crossroads by many villagers. In walking between Upton Heath and the Bache they used to put a foot in the hollowed bowl to help them over the wall. The original position for the Plague Stone was on the Butter Hill whence produce was brought from the outlying farms.

During the severe outbreak of 1603 the Widowe Davy of Hogg House, died and with many others was buried in the following manner in the 'Greene Church Yarde of the Parish of St. Werburges' "It shall be lawful for them to pull down a little stone wall for the better and readier conveying of dead during sickness. They shall be brought at 6 in the evening and one shall go in front carrying a white rod in his hand, and they shall not converse with the Inhabitants of the city, or enter any house."

There was a severe epidemic In Chester following the Civil War. It may have reached Upton later as in 1650 families at St. Mary's-on-the-Hill .-there was an outstanding number of burials from Upton families. In fact the names were almost consecutive. (9)

The Civil War.

This must have affected the lives of the inhabitants of Upton with so much fighting in the areas surrounding Chester. A Cheshire History and Description states that in November, 1644, "Military posts were placed by Sir William at Tarvin, Rowton, Euntlngton, Eccleston, Oldford, Upton and Trafford....... Towards the end of March.......posts were withdrawn."

 

Then in Ormerod we read how Upton Hall was garrisoned by Parliamentary Troops during the siege of Chester. According to tradition Cromwell's soldiers carried provisions and ammunition along Butter Hill, Flag Lane, Smoke Street to Upton Hall.

Property must have suffered damage at this time. Later when peace came and rebuilding was started possibly more houses were built which would account for Upton attaining the status of a village in 1675 map mentioned previously.

In 1681 there was an interesting marriage settlement between William Brock and Susanna Hockenhull mentioning Upton Hall and "all those lands commonly called Robinson's Tenement, Heath House, Broadley, and Pitch Croft." The last William Brock, dying in 1715 aged 19, the property had no heir, so W. Brock (senr.) devised the estate to Elizabeth Brock. It was she who in 1721 married John Egerton, an ancestor of the Egertons of Oulton, an old family going back to the reign of Henry III. Thus in 1754 on the death of William Brock, the
manor of Upton passed to Elizabeth Egerton (nee Brock). It did not descend from father to son. directly, but from that time the manorial landlords were the Egertons until 1828 when it became invested In the Grey-Egertons of Oulton. The last lord of the manor of Upton was Sir Philip Henry Brian Grey- Egerton, 12th Baronet, who, from 1891 until he died on 4th July, 1937, was the principal landowner. Having lost his sons in the 1914-18 war he left no heir, and his daughter now owns very little land in Upton. During his lifetime and since, like many another parish, much of the estate has been sold to private builders.

The story of the village of Upton in the last two (10) hundreds is told more easily through the people, their homes, their work and their pursuits, and Is dealt with in Part II of this Scrapbook.