A search is presented for production of a heavy up-type quark (t') together with its antiparticle, assuming subsequent decay to a W boson and a b quark, t'(t) over bar' -> W(+)bW(-)(b) over bar. The search is based on 1.04 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions at root s = 7 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Data are analyzed in the lepton + jets final state, characterized by a high transverse momentum isolated electron or muon, high missing transverse momentum, and at least three jets. No significant excess of events above the background expectation is observed. A 95% C.L. lower limit of 404 GeV is set for the mass of the t' quark.