Upton, Newark and Sherwood

In the 1640s the jobs of the village were shared between the families who lived there. Some detail exists of this as the farmer and recent widow Jane Kitchen became the village's constable in 1644. She had the responsibility of the job although she employed William Chappell to do any public tasks. It was a tricky time as the country was at war. Nearby Nottingham was for the parliamentarians and Newark Royalists. Sir John Meldrum laid siege to Newark and Kitchen had the task of sending hens and calves from her own and her neighbours when the siege ended Lord Loughborough troops required feeding. Kitchen kept detailed notes and someone else took over the following year. In 1852, Upton was…