PETERBOROUGH SOKE 



portion to the nunnery of St. MiiliacI, near Stami'orJ, 

 which was founded by William de Waterville, abbot 

 of Peterborough.' The chapel is not naentioned 

 in the survey of the possessions of the nunnery in 

 1535, but a rent of 24J. from Upton is included 

 among its temporalities.' This chapel was made 

 the parish church of Upton in 1 85 1, the vicarage 

 being in the gift of the bishop of Peterborough, 

 the patron of Castor. In 1903 it was united with 

 Sutton, and the combined benefice is presented to 

 alternately by the bishop of Peterborough and the 

 Rev. W. Hopkinson. 



The church of St. Helen ^ stands to 

 CHURCH the east of the small hamlet of Upton, 

 and is approached by a pathway across 

 a field, having no house near it except the manor- 

 house, now a farm. The church is small, consisting 

 of a chancel 26 ft. 6 in. by 15 ft., nave 30 ft. by 

 1 6 ft., and north aisle 30 ft. by 15 ft. 6 in. The 

 east wall of the nave is the oldest part, being of 

 early 12th-century date, and the plan of the nave 

 has not altered since that time, though 

 its south and west walls have been 

 rebuilt. 



Towards the end of the 12 th century 

 a north aisle was added to the nave, 

 and the shafts and responds of the 

 arcade of this date still remain. The 

 north aisle vv.is destroyed and replaced 

 by a wider aisle in the 17th century, 

 the arches of the north arcade being 

 rebuilt at the s.-,me time. The south 

 and west walls of the nave have been 

 rebuilt in the 17th or i8th century, 

 and the chancel entirely so in 1842. 



The chancel is roofed with bk; • 

 slates, and the nave and aisle with 

 Colljweston slates. 



The chancel has on the east a square- 

 headed window with three round- 

 headed uncusped lights. The north 

 wall is blank, and in the south wall 

 are a modern doonvay and a modern square-headed 

 window of two trefoiled ogee-headed lights. 



The chancel arch has twin half-round shafts on the 

 jambs with cushion capitals, and on the west face a 

 small nookshaft with similar capital on the north 

 side, the corresponding shaft on the south having 

 been cut away to make room for the pulpit. The 

 work is of early type, not later than 1 1 20. The 

 arch has been rebuilt, like those of the north arcade : 

 plain round arches with an ovolo moulding on the 

 angles. 



The arcade has square capit.ils with recessed angles 

 and foliage of c 11 80, the shafts and moulded bases 

 being round. The two south windows of the nave 

 are like the east window of the chancel, and the west 

 window of the nave is of the same type, but with 

 four light?. Below it is a round-headed west door- 

 way, with the date 1767. 



The north aisle is at a higher level than the 

 nave, and is approached by steps, with heavy stone 

 balustrades, which are continued along the line of 

 the north arcade. Its east end is screened off to form 



CASTOR 



a vestry, and the greater part of the remainder is 

 taken up by a large monument of the Dove family, 

 described delow. In the west wall of this aisle is a 

 blocked opening to the Dove vault below the monu- 

 ment. 



The windows of the aisle are of similar detail to 

 the rest, two of three lights on the north, and 

 one of four lights in the east and west walls. 



The aisle has east and west gables, and between its 

 west gable and that of the nave is a bellcot with 

 square-headed openings for two bells, separated by a 

 buttress. 



The woodwork of the roofs is all modern, but the 

 altar rails are of late 17th-century date, with pierced 

 balusters, and the altar table is of somewhat earlier 

 date, and has turned and carved legs. Within the 

 altar rails are two good oak chairs, one having an 

 inscription ' A.D. 1700. Joane Browne — want not.' 

 In the south-west angle of the nave is a good half- 

 octagonal pulpit of the early 1 7th century, with carved 

 arched panels, and panelling and a tester above it. 



Upton Church, fro.m the West. 



The font has a plain octagonal bowl on a stem, 

 and a flat oak cover with can'ed edges. 



In the north aisle is a large four-square altar tomb 

 with panelled base and black marble slab, with the 

 recumbent effigies of Sir William Dove, 1633, son 

 of Bishop Dove of Peterborough, and his two wives. 

 Above is a canopy, supported by four pillan with 

 Ionic capitals, with a broken pediment on each face, 

 between which are doves and olive-branches. The 

 efligies are painted a dirty white, that to the right 

 being of freestone, while the other two seem to be 

 made of terra-cotta. 



The plate consists of a small silver beaker, c. 1610, 

 of secular type and perhaps German origin, the lower 

 part having three medallions among engraved orna- 

 ment, a silver paten of 1680, and a cup of 1769, 

 marked at Newcastle-on-Tyne. 



There is a single bell, uninscribed. 



The registers at Upton date from 1770 for bap- 

 tisms and marriages, and from 1855 for burials. 

 Previous to these dates baptisms, etc. are recorded 

 in the Castor registen. 



' Mon. Ang. iv, 262. 

 " yahr Eat. (Rec. Com.), iv, 141. 

 ■' John Strcte of Upton (1521) left his 

 body to be buried in the church of Castor, 



and to the chapel of St. Helen of Upton 

 half a scnic of malt (Wills in North- 

 ampton Probate Rcgistr)-, Bk. B, fol. 142. 



485 



Sec also Bk. D, fol. 39;). Bacon {lAttr 

 Regii) gives St. John the Baptist as its 

 invocation. 



