21-562: Sandham Memorial Chapel is in the village of Burghclere , Hampshire , England. It is a Grade I listed , 1920s decorated chapel, designed by Lionel Godfrey Pearson . The chapel was built to accommodate a series of paintings by the English artist Stanley Spencer . It was commissioned by Mary and John Louis Behrend (1881–1972) as a memorial to Mary's brother, Lieutenant Henry Willoughby Sandham who died of illness contracted in Macedonia after
42-574: A nationally important example of a stage in the succession from juniper scrub to woodland. The chalk grassland within the SSSI includes a wide range of aspect and soils and in particular include chalk grassland developed on gradients which elsewhere have mostly been converted to arable or ley. The hill fort on the top of the hill has never been systematically excavated, but the land and ditch are sharply defined and well preserved. The Beacon Hill camp, (scheduled ancient monument number 7) built around 1000 BC,
63-543: Is a large playing field. The nearest railway station is Newbury . Burghclere had its own station on the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway but the station closed in 1960. Limited bus services to Newbury are provided by Stagecoach route 7A (as of March 2019). Burghclere has three schools, the Clere School which is a secondary school, Burghclere Primary School and the independent St. Michael's School, run by
84-418: Is also Rock Rose , Wild Thyme , and Clustered Bellflower . These flowers in turn provide for rare invertebrates such as Osmia bicolor , a scarce solitary bee. There is a decidedly neutral element in the flora which suggests that the soils may in part be derived from superficial drift or loess. In a national survey carried out in the early 1970s, the chalk scrub element of the SSSI is recognised as being
105-603: Is also very close to Newtown and Old Burghclere . Work by the 20th-century artist Stanley Spencer can be found in the Sandham Memorial Chapel . The Church of the Ascension is on Church Lane in Burghclere. 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
126-573: Is derived from the fact that it was one of many Beacon Hills in England and beyond. This hill was once the site of the most famous beacon in Hampshire. It is 261 metres high and has one of England 's most well known hill forts on its slopes, visible from the main A34 road which passes close by. From there, outstanding views of the surrounding area and much of Hampshire may be obtained. The site
147-460: Is open to the public and managed by Hampshire County Council . It is an 80.7-hectare (199-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest called Burghclere Beacon and a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I. Beacon Hill is a calcareous grassland chalk downland habitat and as such is scarce and home to some unusual and rare species. Many chalk grassland slopes in England show
168-722: The First World War . The chapel is surrounded by lawns and orchards, with views of Watership Down . It is run by the National Trust and is open to the public. Spencer's series of seventeen paintings was inspired by his own experiences during the First World War, in which he served as an orderly with the Royal Army Medical Corps , first at Beaufort War Hospital in Bristol, and then on
189-509: The Macedonian front , where he was subsequently transferred to the infantry. He was influenced by Giotto ’s Arena Chapel murals in Padua . He wanted to paint frescoes too, but the environmental conditions were not appropriate. The subsequent paintings were commissioned in 1923, with Spencer moving to Burghclere in 1926 to work in situ . The series was completed in 1932. It is dominated by
210-493: The Resurrection scene behind the altar, in which dozens of British soldiers lay the white wooden crosses that marked their graves at the feet of a distant Christ. The series chronicles Spencer's everyday experiences of the war rather than any scenes of action. When the art historian R. H. Wilenski saw the recently completed sequence, he wrote of his sense "that every one of the thousand memories recorded had been driven into
231-493: The "biscuit factory", in response to its "municipal" characteristics. 51°20′41″N 1°20′10″W / 51.34467°N 1.33622°W / 51.34467; -1.33622 Burghclere Burghclere is a village and civil parish in Hampshire , 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 . It
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#1732797401111252-516: The artist's consciousness like a sharp-pointed nail". The Chapel is consecrated as The Oratory of All Saints and only became officially recognised by its colloquial name Sandham Memorial Chapel following the National Trust's takeover of the property. Spencer would refer to it as his "Holy-Box", whilst the architect and patrons would privately refer to it as Spencer's "God-Box". Meanwhile, John and Mary Behrend's children pejoratively called it
273-466: The bonfire. The tomb of the famous Egyptologist, George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon lies within the fortifications. It is also where Sir Geoffrey de Havilland made his first successful test flight on 10 September 1910, commemorated by a memorial stone situated in the Seven Barrows field to the south of Beacon Hill. The site is located at grid reference SU458573 , to the southwest of
294-414: The fort are some fifteen contemporary hut sites comprising horseshoe shape scoops and circular enclosures, some of which can be seen by the casual visitor. The south-facing entrance is still well defined and a track would have led southwards towards an area of fields which are still apparent at the far end of the hill. Aerial photographs show considerable evidence of ancient field patterns throughout much of
315-467: The hill there are two lynchets halfway down the north slope, with a number of later hollow-ways encroaching upon them. The beacon on the hill here passed the Hampshire warning on from the county to Cuckhamsiey Beacon in Berkshire. Nearby excavations revealed red brick and flint fireplace pottery, tobacco pipes amongst other items. This was presumably the site of a shelter hut for the men who watched
336-511: The mark of centuries of grazing by sheep, the slopes bearing a stepped appearance formed by a mixture of soil creep and sheep paths. Such erosion is clearly visible on the slopes of Beacon Hill. The site includes an extensive stand of juniper Juniperus communis , privet Ligustrum vulgare , buckthorn Rhamnus catharticus , rose Rosa spp. , bramble Rubus spp. , wayfaring tree Viburnum lantana and hawthorn ( Crataegus monogyna ) and whitebeam Sorbus aria , which covers circa 20 ha to
357-412: The surrounding countryside. On the west side of Sidown Hill (immediately to the west of Beacon Hill) there is an area of well defined field terracing. North of Beacon Hill there is a Bronze Age Bowl Barrow (scheduled ancient monument number 290) sited in a fir plantation and covered with trees. 150 yards south of Beacon Hill Camp is a Bronze Age round Barrow (scheduled ancient monument number 318) On
378-507: The traditionalist Catholic Society of St Pius X , which accepts both boarding and day pupils. 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. The rabbit warren where Cowslip lived in Richard Adams ' Watership Down
399-1001: The west-facing slopes. There is little evidence of juniper regeneration (and some moribund bushes) and the site is probably witnessing a transition from juniper to a mixed scrub community, with the early indications of an eventual succession of woodland. The scrub is unusual on the chalk in lacking a yew Taxus baccata and ash Fraxinus excelsior component. The open grassland is rich in herbs, with fescues Festuca ovina and Festuca pratensis , crested dog's tail Cynosurus cristatus , spring sedge Carex caryophyllea , and locally quaking grass Briza media as dominants. Abundant herbs include ladys’ bedstraw Galium vernum , hedge bedstraw Galium mollugo , creeping thistle Cirsium acaule , fairy flax Linum catharticum , bird's-foot trefoil Lotus corniculatus , horseshoe vetch Hippocrepis comosa , kidney vetch Anthyllis vulneraria , chalk milkwort Polygala calcarea and felwort Gentianella amarella and several species of orchids . There
420-490: Was in High Wood, just north-east of Burghclere village. In the book Rural Rides published by William Cobbett in 1822 the name of the village was recorded as Berghclere . 51°19′N 1°19′W / 51.317°N 1.317°W / 51.317; -1.317 Beacon Hill, Burghclere, Hampshire Beacon Hill is near the village of Burghclere and Watership Down , in north Hampshire . The hill's name
441-529: Was probably inhabited by around 2–3000 people according to calculations from similar camps. It is one of a number of hillforts, which are strung out along the north-facing scarp of the Hampshire Downs , overlooking the Kennet valley to the north. When originally built, these structures must have looked spectacular even from a distance as their white chalk ramparts caught the sun. Within the ramparts of
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