Upchurch lay on a pre-Roman trackway; the many linking roads are the result of Roman occupation, which had built a community of ex-soldiers who wanted to settle in England.
[3] Under the grade I listed[4] 14th century church is a small crypt (a charnel house) where bones were kept when the churchyard was full.
The church is also notable for its very unusual 'candle-snuffer' steeple where an octagonal pyramid appears to have been stacked on top of a square one resembling a couple of inverted ice-cream cones.
In 2008 residents with the aid of a National Lottery grant collected and published a book Upchurch in old picture postcards.
[6] When the last brick field was given planning permission for development, a publication Otterham, Kent: Your Heritage was produced.