England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Burghclere All Saints

The Parish

The parish of Burghclere lies in the extreme north of Hampshire, indeed it forms part of the border with neighbouring Berkshire. Burghclere is located about 9 miles south of the Berkshire market town of Newbury. Burghclere is a strangely dispersed settlement, Old Burghclere (where the church sits) is merely a hamlet whilst the settlement now bearing the name is some 2 miles further north and grouped around the former station on the Winchester to Newbury rail line. The remainder is scattered across the chalk downlands in between. Burghclere sits just to the east of the modern A34, which connects the two mentioned places above as well as forming the main corridor for southern England to the Midlands. The growth of modern Burghclere came as a result of the sale and development of a large acreage of the Highclere estate in 1926 and was associated with the rail line, at the time of this transcript Burghclere would have been a farming settlement with the economy based on sheep raised on the chalk downlands. Burghclere is drained by a series of brooks heading north to join the River Enborne, this joins the Kennet at Aldermaston and then the Thames at Reading before reaching the North Sea through London & the Thames Estuary. Burghclere is sited at around 130 metres above the sea and land is rolling chalk countryside rising to a height of 260 metres on the hill-fort topped Beacon Hill. Burghclere parish was large, as are many downland parishes, and extended to north and south across all available landforms of the area covering almost 5,300 acres and supporting a population of around 850 parishioners. There is no specific mention of Burghclere within Domesday Book.

The Church

All Saints' church sits in the hamlet of Old Burghclere, the modern development has its' own church dedicated to the Ascension. The church sits at the end of a farm's driveway which becomes a footpath heading for & crossing the busy A34 under a half mile away to the west. All Saints has ancient origins, both southern and northern doorways are Norman in style, the latter being believed to be earlier. Much else is of the 13th century and Early English Gothic in style as was fashionable during that century. The large northern transept is probably the last piece dating to the turn of the 14th century. The low western bell turret stands in for a tower. The church is approached through an impressive set of gates along a gravelled road to a small parking area, the churchyard is relatively open and with few obstacles to photography.