The Church of the Blessed Mary, Upham.

It is not known precisely when this church was built, but the Domesday Survey records two churches in the Manor of Bishops Waltham, of which one is thought to be Upham. In 1132 it was referred to as an “ecclesia” (“church”) in the Charter of the Hospital of St Cross, Winchester, and again in 1284 in the Letters Patent of the Prior and Convent of St Swithun. The first known Rector of Upham was Robert de Borghaise in 1304, and we have a continuous list of his successors down to the present day, which can be seen on the wall to the right of the font.

The Lectern		The Baptismal Font
Interior of the church
The Choir stalls		Arches by the altar
The Pulpit
In Memory of GENERAL SIR ALEXANDER ERNEST WARDROP of Belmore House Upham GCB CMG OMG in India GOCinC Northern Command UK ADC General to HM King George VI Colonel Commandant Royal Horse Artillery Colonel 29th Inf Regiment, Indian Army Son of Major General A Wardrop CEM A churchwarden of this church BORN 1872 DIED 1961
In Loving Memory of ROBERT PERCY STARES Major 2nd Batt: Bedfordshire Regiment, Killed in Action near Ypres, Flanders, October 31st 1914, in his 48th year. Second son of the late John Twynam Stares of this Parish PRO REGE ET PATRIA
To the Glory of God and in Undying Memory of Brave Men BANBURY L      Cnr     RCA EMMETT H        Pte     RAMC FLAKE W          Pte     2nd Leices HOLLOWAY R   Pte     7th Wilts PEARCE W.      Pte     15 Hamps   PEARCE H    Pte     4th Hamps PERCY F       Pte    RNAS SEELS W       Pte   Canadians VYE A            Pte   4th Hamps WREN W        Pte   4th Hamps       WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR COUNTRY IN THE GREAT WAR 1914 - 1918

In 1598, which is as far back as the records of Upham go the church was described as having a squat tower, a nave, a chancel and a south aisle. The original tower was rebuilt in 1700, of red and blue chequer brick, and in Victorian times the church was extensively restored and the north aisle added, the latter being completed in 1881. The moving spirit behind this was the incumbent, the Reverend R. S. Gubbins and the architect was G. E. Street.

When the north wall of the church was demolished three early 13th century arches were uncovered, and one of them was re-used and the east end of the new aisle by the organ loft. Mr Gubbin’s daughter, writing in 1914, recalled the days before the restoration when Upham church had high pews, a three-decker pulpit, two large galleries and a grind organ with three cylinders of hymn tunes. The present organ was installed in memory of the Reverend Gubbins, who died in 1884, and it was renovated in 1981 by Mr R. Boston of Owslebury.

The beams in the chancel are of the 17th century, and the wheels on the beams were for raising and lowering the candles. The stained glass in mostly Victorian and later, but there is a little window, high above the altar, which is medieval. It is shaped like a lamb’s head and contains the arms of the Plantagenet Kings. Since these were also the arms of Henry, Cardinal Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester from 1404 to 1447, who built the Beaufort Gatehouse at St. Cross, it is tempting to think that there must be a connection with him.

The two windows in the north aisle and the one at the west end of the south aisle, in the choir vestry, are by Kempe, circa 1895 and 1892 respectively.

The memorial window to Mrs. Gubbins, at the east end of the south wall, is by a Mr. Powell, and was inspired by the first  two verses of Revelation 22. An  explanation given by her daughter, Bertha Tufnell, hangs below it.

During the Civil War, in the year 1642, Cromwell's soldiers stabled their horses in Upham Church, and there is an entry in the churchwarden's accounts of a sum of money being paid for cleaning the church after "use" by horses. A later churchwarden, when Cromwell's regime ended, added the letters "ab" in front of the "use", thus making it clear whose side he was on! During this period, the then Rector, Myrth Wayferer, was removed, and Mathew Stocke, described as an intruder, was installed. In due course he disappeared, and Myrth Wayferer was restored in 1663. This can be seen on the list of rectors, as can the name of Edward Young, sometime Prebendary and Dean of Salisbury and Chaplain to King William and Queen Mary. His son, also Edward, who was to become a well-known poet in his day, was born at Upham Rectory and christened in Upham church on 3rd July, 1683. Virtually forgotten today, he was honoured as "a great man" by Dr. Johnson, and his satires were said to rival those of Alexander Pope. His best known work was "Night Thoughts on Life, Death and Immortality", from which comes the well known line “procrastination is the thief of time". He was educated at Winchester College.

The bells have always been of great importance in the life of Upham church. There was a peal of bells in the original tower in the 16th century, which were replaced in 1761 by six bells cast by Thomas Swaine in a field near Alresford. These were rehung in 1850. The names of some of the workmen employed in installing the bells are in the bell chamber. In 1978 the frame had to be replaced and, as the result of an appeal. Enough money was raised to re-tune the six original bells and to add two new bells to improve the chime. There is a plaque giving details of this work behind the font.

Above the door of the church as you go out hangs a copy of an original painting by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) commissioned by the Burgomaster of Antwerp to hang above the altar of the Carmelite Monastery in Antwerp, and which is now in the art gallery of that city. The subject is the Crucifixion, and the painting is known as the “Coup de Lance – The Thrusting of the Spear".