Burghclere is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, England. According to the 2011 census the village had a population of 1,152. The village is near the border of Hampshire with Berkshire, four miles south of Newbury. The closest settlements are Newtown, Old Burghclere and Newtown Common. Work by the 20th-century artist

Stanley Spencer Sir Stanley Spencer, CBE Royal Academy of Arts, RA (30 June 1891 – 14 December 1959) was an English painter. Shortly after leaving the Slade School of Art, Spencer became well known for his paintings depicting Biblical scenes occurring as if ...

can be found in the Sandham Memorial Chapel. The Church of the Ascension is on Church Lane in Burghclere.

Community

There are community clubs such as Stagecoach Newbury which is held at The Clere School, and there is a Sports and Social club. There are allotments, and a small memorial garden. In addition, there is a large playing field.

Transport

The nearest railway station is Newbury. Burghclere had its own

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

on the

Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway The Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway (DN&SR) was a cross-country railway running north–south between Didcot, Newbury and Winchester. Its promoters intended an independent route to Southampton and envisaged heavy traffic from the Midla ...

but the station closed in 1960. Limited bus services to Newbury are provided by

Stagecoach A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...

route 7A (as of March 2019).

Education

Burghclere has three schools, the Clere School which is a secondary school, Burghclere Primary School and the independent St. Michael's School, run by the traditionalist Catholic

Society of St Pius X The Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX; ("Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X"), FSSPX) is a canonically irregular traditionalist Catholic priestly fraternity founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. Lefebvre was a leading traditionalist ...

, which accepts both boarding and day pupils.

Rural scenery

Burghclere has some beautiful rural scenery, so you can walk along the old railway, through many fields, or go for a hike. In the winter time, if it snows, Beacon Hill, or Jacob's Ladder, are where many young people and older people gather for snowballing or sledging.

Literature

The rabbit warren where Cowslip lived in

Richard Adams Richard George Adams (10 May 1920 – 24 December 2016) was an English novelist. He is best known for his debut novel ''Watership Down'' which achieved international acclaim. His other works included ''Maia'', '' Shardik'' and '' The Plague Do ...

' ''

Watership Down ''Watership Down'' is an adventure novel by English author Richard Adams, published by Rex Collings Ltd of London in 1972. Set in Hampshire in southern England, the story features a small group of rabbits. Although they live in their natur ...

'' was in High Wood, just north-east of Burghclere village. In the book '' Rural Rides'' published by

William Cobbett William Cobbett (9 March 1763 – 18 June 1835) was an English pamphleteer, journalist, politician, and farmer born in Farnham, Surrey. He was one of an Agrarianism, agrarian faction seeking to reform Parliament, abolish "rotten boroughs", restr ...

in 1822 the name of the village was recorded as ''Berghclere''.

References

External links

Burghclere Primary School

GENUKI historical gazetteer information
{{authority control Villages in Hampshire Civil parishes in Basingstoke and Deane