Upperton is a hamlet

Hamlet

The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...

 in the Chichester

Chichester (district)

Chichester is a largely rural local government district in West Sussex, England. Its council is based in the city of Chichester.-History:The district was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, as a merger of the municipal borough of Chichester and the Rural Districts of...

 district of West Sussex

West Sussex

West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. Part of Tillington

Tillington, West Sussex

Tillington is a village and civil parish in the District of Chichester in West Sussex, England located one mile west of Petworth on the A272. The parish includes the hamlets of Upperton, River, and River Common....

 civil parish

Civil parish

In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...

 it lies on the Tillington to Lurgashall

Lurgashall

Lurgashall is a village and civil parish in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England. It is 6.5 km north west of Petworth and just inside the new South Downs National Park. The church of St Laurence, The Noah's Ark pub, the old school and several old houses are built around a picturesque...

 road 1.4 miles (2.2 km) northwest of Petworth

Petworth

Petworth is a small town and civil parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is located at the junction of the A272 east-west road from Heathfield to Winchester and the A283 Milford to Shoreham-by-Sea road. Some twelve miles to the south west of Petworth along the A285 road...

.

Upperton stands on a ridge of the lower greensand

Greensand

Greensand or Green sand is either a sand or sandstone, which has a greenish color. This term is specifically applied to shallow marine sediment, that contains noticeable quantities of rounded greenish grains. These grains are called glauconies and consist of a mixture of mixed-layer clay...

 overlooking the Rother

River Rother (Western)

The River Rother is a river which flows for thirty miles from Empshott in Hampshire to Stopham in West Sussex, where it joins the River Arun. It should not be confused with the River Rother, in East Sussex....

 Valley, separated from Tillington by the cricket ground and a field. The stone wall of Petworth deerpark bounds the village on the eastern side, with a gate by the house at the southern end giving access to the public. To the west a number of public footpaths through fields, a vineyard

Vineyard

A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice...

 and Upperton Common lead to the scenic Pitshill Park

Pitshill

Pitshill is a Grade II* listed house built in the neo-classical style and is located within the Parish of Tillington a couple of miles west of Petworth. Begun by William Mitford in 1760 on the site of an earlier house it was completed by his son, also William, in 1794...

. The Serpent Trail

The Serpent Trail

The Serpent Trail is a 64 mile long distance footpath. It runs from Haslemere to Petersfield by a circuitous route and is designed to join up the many heathland areas on greensand in the western Weald...

 hiking trail passes through the village from Pitshill Park to Tillington.

History

In 1350 there is a recorded dispute between the Rector

Rector

The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...

 of Petworth and Hugh of Merton Rector of Tillington over tithes. Mention is made of the Abbot of Upperton, an otherwise unknown figure, showing that there was some sort of religious community in the village.
During the sixteenth century A.D. a lot of common grazing land east of Upperton was illegally enclosed to make a deer park for Petworth House

Petworth House

Petworth House in Petworth, West Sussex, England, is a late 17th-century mansion, rebuilt in 1688 by Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, and altered in the 1870s by Anthony Salvin...

, causing impoverishment of the farmers of Upperton. This resulted in a long running legal case against the Earl of Northumberland, owner of Petworth, described by Peter Jerrome in his book Cloakbag and Common Purse. The "common purse" was a fighting fund raised by the tenants to fund legal action in the Chancery court; the "clokebagge well fraught with money" was a large bribe to the tenants' leader to drop the case, after first having had him press ganged

Impressment

Impressment, colloquially, "the Press", was the act of taking men into a navy by force and without notice. It was used by the Royal Navy, beginning in 1664 and during the 18th and early 19th centuries, in wartime, as a means of crewing warships, although legal sanction for the practice goes back to...

into the army and sent to fight "beyond seas" which probably meant in Ireland, which he survived.