Place:Burghclere, Hampshire, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Burghclere is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England. At the 2001 UK census, it had a population of 1,138 and in the 2011 census, 1,152. The village is near the border of Hampshire with Berkshire, four miles south of Newbury. It is also very close to Newtown and Old Burghclere.

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Burghclere from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"BURGHCLERE, a village and a parish in Kingsclere [registration] district, Hants. The village stands on high ground, 5½ miles S of Newbury [railway] station, and 6½ N of Whitchurch; and has a post office under Newbury. A Roman station was here; but has not left any traces. The parish includes also the tything of Earlston. Acres: 5,080. Real property: £5,350. Population: 819. Houses: 164. The property is divided among a few. Two conspicuous chalk hills are here, Sidon Hill and Beacon Hill, 940 and 900 feet high; and command extensive views. Sidon Hill is within the park of Highclere, the seat of the Earl of Carnarvon; and is covered with wood. Beacon Hill is close to the park; and has on its summit an ancient camp, of irregular outline, with a very deep trench. These hills, and others in the vicinity, appear to have been the scenes of Border struggles among the ancient Britons, the Romanized Britons, and the Saxons. The living is a rectory, united with the [perpetual] curacy of Newton, in the diocese of Winchester. Value: £829. Patron: the Earl of Carnarvon. The church is a modern cruciform structure, in the early English style; and has a tower. A school has £20 from endowment; and other charities £20."

The parish is noted as belonging to the Hundreds of Evingar and Kingsclere. The Victoria County History of Hampshire prefers Evingar, at least by the early 19th century.

Research Tips

• Victoria County History of Hampshire, volume 4, chapter on Burghclere.
• GENUKI has a list of archive holders in Hampshire including the Hampshire Record Office, various museums in Portsmouth and Southhampton, the Isle of Wight Record Office and Archives.
• The Hampshire Online Parish Clerk project has a large collection of transcriptions from Parish Registers across Hampshire.
• A listing of all the Registration Districts in England and Wales since their introduction in 1837 together with tables listing the parishes that were part of each district and the time period covered, along with detailed notes on changes of parish name, mergers, etc. Do respect the copyright on this material.
• The three-storey City Museum in Winchester covers the Iron Age and Roman periods, the Middle Ages, and the Victorian period.
• Volumes in The Victoria County History Series are available for Hampshire through British History Online. There are three volumes and the county is covered by parishes within the old divisions of "hundreds".

A collection of maps on the A Vision of Britain through Time website illustrating the English county of Hampshire over the period 1832-1932 (the last two are expandible):

• The Hundreds of Hampshire, a map from HMSO Boundary Commissioners, dated 1832
• Hampshire showing parishes in their Rural Districts as of 1900, a map from the Ordnance Survey
• Hampshire showing parishes in their Rural Districts after the alterations of 1932, a map from the Ordnance Survey

• A group of maps of the post-1974 municipal districts or boroughs of Hampshire on Wikipedia Commons