UPTON is an ecclesiastical parish, formed July 3rd, 1848. The church of St. Mary Magdalene, standing in Union street, erected on a site given by the late Sir L. V. Palk bart. and consecrated April 12, 1849, is an edifice of stone in the Gothic style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, south porch and a lofty western tower with spire, 182 feet in height, containing a clock and 8 bells, rehung in 1901, at a cost of £210, when also the spire was repaired and a lightning conductor fixed at a further cost of £140: the late P. Dawson esq. gave £2,000 to the building fund on condition that the sittings should be free and unappropriated for ever: during 1881—2 various structural alterations and improvements were made in the chancel and a new floor of polished Devonshire marble laid on raised arches: the rich chancel screen of marble and the plaques on either side of the chancel are memorials to Mr. A. B. Sheppard and Mrs. Sarah Wilks and Mr. William Kitson; the restoration was carried out from designs by Mr. G. Gilbert Scott R.A. at a total cost, including the organ, of £2,829 19s. 7d.; a reredos was erected and the church renovated internally in 1889 at a cost of £1,300: there are 792 sittings. The register dates from the year 1849. The living is a rectory, net yearly value £191, with residence, in the gift of trustees, and held since 1883 by the Rev. Edward Pease Gregg M.A. of Hertford College, Oxford, surrogate, and chaplain to the Torbay Hospital. A rectory house was provided in 1899, by Miss Lavers, of Upton Leigh.