Gargoyles on the bell tower of St Peter & St Paul's church, Upton.
"The 15th century west tower is arguably the most distinctive feature of the church. It is in the Perpendicular style and unusually, it has nine pinnacles, consisting of eight around the edges of the tower and a much larger ninth crocketed pinnacle in the centre, which with its base is estimated to weigh at least two tons. The weight of this has crushed down the vaulting, throwing the walls out of perpendicular.
Halfway up the tower, accessed by a narrow spiral stone staircase, is a squarish room about 30ft above the church floor, measuring 9ft from E to W and 12ft 6in from N to S. Its walls are 3ft thick, and on the inner walls are the remnants of a dovecote, of which 86 nesting boxes remain. The dovecote is a very durable stone construction. Dovecotes are an unusual feature of church towers – there are nine known examples in England and Wales, and no others in Nottinghamshire.
The room’s original purpose would seem to have been as some kind of habitation, as evidenced by a fireplace at its centre. Harry Gill hypothesised, plausibly, that it formed part of the benefice of the medieval chantry priest. Local lore speaks of it being the habitation of a recluse, or ‘anchorite,’ or even a leper (though the latter is highly improbable). Whatever the truth, it would seem clear that the room was originally a lodging and then diverted for use as a dovecote in the 17th or 18th century. It had ‘long-since’ ceased to be used as a dovecote by 1920, according to an article of that year in the Nottinghamshire Guardian. One indicative date for the usage of the dovecote may be that a house in the village, built in 1829, was named ‘The Dovecote.’
The wooden bellframe, now preserved below the modern steel frame, is an Elphick ‘V’ frame, Pickford Group 6.B. and, stylistically, may date from the late 16th or early 17th century.
Above the belfry the roof of the tower comprises stone rib vaulting, pitched east-west. An unusual construction for an East Midlands tower.
The tower itself rises in three stages, with heavy right-angle buttresses at the western corners and similar buttresses irregularly placed on either side. There are gargoyles below the parapet to the north, south, and east.
From the top, there is a good view of the surrounding area – several church spires can be seen and Lincoln Cathedral is just about visible on a good day. However the view is not as rich as that recorded 100 years ago by Harry Gill, owing to the growth of trees and power lines and other modern paraphernalia obscuring it.
From the base, there are two staircases – to the south-west is a winding stone staircase leading to the dovecote and the summit, to the north-west is a refurbished staircase leading to the ringing chamber, which is lit by a large, Perpendicular, three-light window."
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A very good church history is here - (Visit Link)