Upton Cheyney is a village near to

Bitton Bitton is a village and civil parish of South Gloucestershire in Gloucestershire, England, to the east of Bristol and on the River Boyd. The parish of Bitton had a population of 9,307, and apart from the village itself, includes Swineford, ...

and

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

South Gloucestershire South Gloucestershire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, South West England. Towns in the area include Yate, Chipping Sodbury, Kingswood, Thornbury, Filton, Patchway and Bradley Stoke. The southern p ...

, England, in the parish of Bitton. It has a population of about 140 in 60 households. Upton Cheyney was designated as a

conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewoo ...

on 24 October 1983. The name Upton Cheyney is thought to be derived from 'upper farmhouse'. Most of the buildings in the village were built between 1690 and 1830. Upton Cheyney

United Reformed Church The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2024 it had approximately 44,000 members in around 1,250 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers. The URC is a Trinitarian church whose theolog ...

was established in 1834 as Upton Cheyney Chapel, building on a congregation that met in the home of William Clark, a local farmer. Objectors who believed the parish church in Bitton was adequate had taken out a court injunction blocking the construction, which was eventually overturned by the

Court of King's Bench The Court of King's Bench, formally known as The Court of the King Before the King Himself, was a court of common law in the English legal system. Created in the late 12th to early 13th century from the '' curia regis'', the King's Bench initi ...

in London. In 1948, the Congregational Union of Gloucestershire and Hertfordshire became the trustees, and in 1966 a covenant was agreed with the

Congregational Union of England and Wales The Congregational Union of England and Wales brought together churches in England and Wales in the Congregational tradition between 1831 and 1966. Background The Congregational churches emerged from the Puritan movement, each church operating ...

which merged into the United Reformed Church in 1972. The chapel closed on 10 September 2023. In 1849, a

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

was created at the back of the chapel for about forty local children. In 1894 this was replaced by a separate school with two classrooms built by the local

school board A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional area, ...

, which closed in 1981.

References

Villages in South Gloucestershire District {{SouthGloucestershire-geo-stub