About Uppingham

Uppingham is an attractive market town that is found at the southern most tip of Rutland, is famed for being England’s smallest county since regaining its unitary status in 1997 after just 23 years of being merged into Leicestershire.  The towns history revolves predominantly around the wonderful Uppingham school which was built in 1584. Centuries on, the school had the great fortune of having the headmastership of the genius ‘Rev. Edward Thring’. In the late eighteen hundreds he transformed the small Grammar school into a much larger, 330 pupil strong Public School, introducing such lessons as languages, crafts and music, subjects of which were near unheard of in the educational curriculum of that period.

The town is situated on the crossroads of the busy A47 and the A6003, being the central point between the two large cities of Leicester and Peterborough, and the two smaller towns of Oakham and Corby. Present day Uppingham, benefits tremendously from the 1.4 million bypass that was installed north of the town back in June of 1982. Stretching One and a half miles, the road dramatically reduced the impact of the ever increasing traffic traveling through the heart of the town.

A key landmark in Uppingham is that of the ‘Workhouse’. In the eightieth century many towns would build workhouses that would give accommodation, as well as employment for people who, for many reasons were unable to support themselves. The first workhouse in Uppingham was built in 1777, which accommodated 40 people. However, by 1836, under the terms of the ‘Poor Law’, a new Union workhouse was built on Leicester road, under direction of the famous architect William Donthorne, one of the founders of the ‘Royal Institute of British Architects’. This new workhouse would support almost four times the people than that of the first building. Later to be used as a hospital in the ‘great war’, the building finally becoming a boarding house for pupils of Uppingham School.

The town center of Uppingham offers everything that you would wish for, from the quaintness of its shops and antique rooms, to the grandness of St Peter & St Paul’s Church that overlooks the square. Steeped in history, the church can be dated all the way back to the twelfth century in the Norman era. There is no doubting the tranquil pleasure available in the heart of this market town community.