Upton Magna is a village and civil parish in Shropshire, England. (Magna is Latin, meaning "great". Therefore, the translation of Upton Magna is "Great Upton".) Nearby are the villages of Uffington, Rodington and Withington, as well as the wooded Haughmond Hill. The nearest town to Upton Magna is Shrewsbury, just 2.4 miles (3.9 km) to the west.
Upton Magna is notable for containing the oldest still-standing cottage in Europe – Cruck Cottage, a thatch-roofed, timber-framed cottage located near the church. The entry for this Grade II listed building on the Historic England website suggests that it dates from the 15th or 16th century. However, although the building appears to have been remodelled in the 15th century, dendrochronological tests on the crucks in the cottage have dated the timber to 1269.[3]
The church of St Lucia is a Grade II* listed building.
Key features of the village include a primary school, a Church of England parish church (dedicated to St Lucia), a village hall, a pub ("The Haughmond", formerly "The Corbet Arms"), and a small business park.
Upton Magna is identifiably the "Upton-under-Amon near Shrewsbury" where John Plimmer (1812–1905) was reportedly born, "Amon" being Haughmond Hill. Educated at the village school, he later emigrated to New Zealand, where he became known as "the father of Wellington".[5] He was registered as having been baptised, with the parental names given as Isaac and Mary, on 19 July 1812 at the parish church.
Civil engineer Sir Henry Maybury (1864-1943) was educated at Upton Magna village school.[6]
Russian-born novelist, biographer and children's writer, E. M. Almedingen (1898-1971) lived at house Frogmore on the road to Atcham lifelong after World War II.[7]
^Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Volume 32. Oxford University Press. 2004. p. 572.Article on Sir Henry Maybury by J.S. Killick, revised by John Hibbs.
^Dickens, Gordon (1987). An Illustrated Literary Guide to Shropshire. Shropshire Libraries. pp. 1–2, 120. ISBN0-903802-37-6.
