Upwell sits quietly in a corner of Norfolk at the edge of the Cambridgeshire Fens. It straddles a river called the Wellcreek, previously called the River Nene. The parish is on either side of the river (which is now more of a canal) and the water level is controlled by locks at Salters Lode and Marmont Priory. The present waterway is highly valued by parishioners, its presence invoking pleasure and interest to many.
The Parish of Upwell consits of three villages (Upwell, Three Holes and Lakesend) and the surrounding countryside. Part of one street in Christchurch is also included in the parish. Historically the parish was larger and also included Welney and Nordelph too. People have lived in the place we now call Upwell for over a thousand years. In 970 records show that there was an inland port called Welle here. In 974 the King, Edgar, split Welle and gave half each to the Abbotts of Ramsey and Ely; we have him to thank for the division that still exists today between Upwell and Outwell. In those days the area was a marsh and the currecy was eels; the fishermen of Welle paid sixty thousand eels a year to the brethren of Ramsey.
A year after the Norman invasion of 1066 some northern Saxon barons intent on resisting William the Conqueror, sailed through the wash to Upwell. Here they elected Hereward the Wake their leader and pressed on south to their ultimate betrayal and defeat in Ely. In the early 1200's King John elevated Upwell to the status of market town and a market was held here every Wednesday. Henry VI even granted the town an annual fair which was held every year on 29th & 30th of June.
The change from marshland to fertile agricultural land began in 1630 when a group led by the Earl of Bedford employed the Dutch engineer Cornelius Vermuyden to begin the drainage of the Fens. Despite Vermuyden's work, nature contrived to ensure that the drainage work should continue as the dry peat shrunk and further lowered the level of the land. The marshy nature of the land was evidenced by the outbreak of the water borne infection, Cholera in 1832. There is a plaque in St. Peter's Church commemorating the 67 victims, who are buried under a stone marked with a 'C' in the churchyard. In 1844 the Middle Level Drain was excavated and the force of gravity was used to further drain the local fen. In the 1930's gravity had to be assisted by powerful pumps installed at St. Germains as further land shrinkage occurred.
Except for the church, the Baptist Chapel (1844), James Lee's Almshouses (1819), and the modern Secondary school, the buildings of the village have individually no great architectural distinction. They form, however, pleasant groups fronting the water-courses, and Upwell has been illustrated in books on the English countryside.*