Upwell


Upwell is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. Upwell village is on the A1101 road, as is Outwell, its conjoined village at the north. The nearest towns are Wisbech to the north-west and Downham Market to the east.
The parish covers an area of and had a population of 2,456 in 1,033 households at the 2001 census, increasing to 2,750 at the 2011 Census.

History

Upwell in 1202 had a market-place and a weekly market. Marmont Priory was endowed by Richard I with 300 acres in Upwell and Outwell. The priory of Gilbertines was founded in the reign of King John. Cultivation of flax and hemp is referred to in an order of Sessions of Sewers in 1340. Upwell was connected with Wisbech by a steam tramway in 1884
William Wolsey a constable of Upwell, Outwell & Welney Protestants were tried at Ely for heresy and burnt at the stake in 1555.
The parish was struck by an F1/T2 tornado on 23 November 1981, as part of the record-breaking nationwide tornado outbreak on that day.

Governance

Upwell has a parish council. The councillors elect a chair.
Upwell falls within the electoral ward of Upwell and Delph. The population of this ward at the 2011 Census was 4,827.
For the purposes of local government, it falls within the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk. Until 1974 it formed part of the now-defunct Wisbech Rural District in Cambridgeshire.