Uplyme is an English village in East Devon on the Devon-Dorset border and the River Lym, adjacent to the Dorset coastal town of Lyme Regis. It has a population of approximately 1700 recounted as 1663 at the 2011 census. Uplyme is situated in the electoral ward of Trinity whose population at the above census was 2,521.
History and background
The parish of Uplyme has one of the largest boundaries in England—in excess of, the area of the village being approximately. The remains of a Romano-British villa were excavated near to the village in 1850. The earliest recorded reference to the parish was in AD740 when Cynewulf, King of Wessex gifted the manor of Uplyme to Glastonbury Abbey. The Domesday Book mentions the village. The parish church of St. Peter and St. Paul lies within the village and is located adjacent to the primary school. The church is thought to have been founded in the 9th century, but the 14th century tower is the oldest part of the present structure. The village hall is situated a few hundred yards from the church, with adjacent playing fields containing a children's play area and two cricket pavilions. The old village hall was replaced by the modern building in 1993 and was financed by fundraising and grant funding under the leadership of villager Adrian Pearson.
Primary school
Mrs Ethelston's C of E Primary School is named after Mrs Anne Ethelston, the wife of the Reverend Charles Wicksted Ethelston. After her death, Charles Ethelston erected a building in his wife's memory in order to house the already existing school. The main building was not opened until 1873, a year after his death. The school houses around 120 pupils, encompassing seven years in six classes. The school consists of three buildings, an early 1990s building for reception to year 2 known as Wood Haven, and another building is being built, whilst the main original old building is home to years 3, 4, 5 and 6, as well as the staff and administration areas.
Facilities
The Black Dog and The New Inn public houses have closed, leaving just the Talbot Arms. The Black Dog was supposedly named after a phantom black dog which led a farmer to a hoard of Stuart coins, which he then used to purchase the inn. The last hotel, The Devon Hotel, formerly the vicarage, was converted to flats with the extensive grounds being developed for housing. Shops were reduced to one when the village butchers closed. There is filling station in the village. As with many villages Uplyme has a village hall that was rebuilt in 1994 after a monumental fund raising effort by the local people, run as a charity the village hall relies on funding from revenue raised by hiring out the halls facilities. Nearby is Furzehill Plantation a woodland owned and managed by the Woodland Trust.
