[3] Listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Optone and being in the possession of Earl Hugh of Chester,[4] its entry reads: "In Wilaveston/Wirral Hundred.

"[5]Including the hamlet of Upton Heath, Upton-by-Chester was formerly a township within the parishes of St. Mary on the Hill and St. Oswald, Broxton Hundred.

Initially ribbon development but then housing estates were built as more people moved out of the overcrowded city.

Oakfield Manor and its stable block, now in the grounds of Chester Zoo, are both designated Grade II listed buildings.

[9][10] Estimated to be over two hundred years old, the last remaining communal water pump in Upton-by-Chester is on Heath Road.

The pump was used up to the end of the nineteenth century, but in the early years of World War II was temporarily brought back into use.

[12] According to the 2011 census the population of the civil parish stood at 7,956,[1] whilst the figure for the local government ward was 8,905.

In the vicinity there are at least four pubs, including the Race Horse, the Frog, the Mill@Upton (formerly the Egerton Arms Hotel) and The Wheatsheaf Inn.

Labour Party former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott lived with his parents in Upton after moving from Yorkshire, and married his wife Pauline (nee Tilston) at Church of the Holy Ascension in 1961.

[19] Samantha Dixon, who became the local Labour Member of Parliament for Chester in 2022, lived in Upon-by-Chester in her early life.