Highclere

---

title: "Highclere" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["villages-in-hampshire", "civil-parishes-in-basingstoke-and-deane"] description: "Village and parish in Hampshire, England" topic_path: "general/villages-in-hampshire" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highclere" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Village and parish in Hampshire, England ::

::data[format=table title="infobox UK place"]

Field	Value
country	England
static_image_name	Highclere Church In United Kingdom near Newbury.jpg
static_image_caption	Parish church of St Michael and All Angels, Highclere
coordinates
official_name	Highclere
population	1,606
population_ref	(2011 Census including Woolton Hill)
shire_district	Basingstoke and Deane
shire_county	Hampshire
region	South East England
constituency_westminster	North West Hampshire
post_town	NEWBURY
postcode_district	RG20
postcode_area	RG
dial_code	01635
os_grid_reference	SU4384060837
::

|country = England |static_image_name = Highclere Church In United Kingdom near Newbury.jpg |static_image_caption = Parish church of St Michael and All Angels, Highclere |coordinates = |official_name = Highclere |population = 1,606 |population_ref = (2011 Census including Woolton Hill) |shire_district = Basingstoke and Deane |shire_county = Hampshire |region = South East England |constituency_westminster = North West Hampshire |post_town = NEWBURY |postcode_district = RG20 |postcode_area = RG |dial_code = 01635 |os_grid_reference = SU4384060837 Highclere (pronounced ) is a village and civil parish in the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Hampshire, England, in the northern part of the county, near the Berkshire border. It is famous as the location of Highclere Castle, a Victorian house of the Earl of Carnarvon, and the setting for films and TV series including Downton Abbey.

History and buildings

The parish church of St Michael and All Angels sits between Highclere Castle and the main part of the village. This 'new' church (1870s) replaced a much older church sited adjacent to Highclere Castle, and parish records go back to pre-Norman times.

There is a pub, the Red House, a flourishing village hall and a private junior ('Prep') school, Thorngrove. The church parish is part of the North West Hampshire Benefice (with Ashmansworth, Crux Easton, East Woodhay and Woolton Hill). The civil parish of Highclere has two wards, Highclere and Penwood.

"Highclere Holly" (Ilex altaclerensis) was first identified here and still flourishes in local woodlands.

According to local legend there used to be a grampus living in a yew tree in the churchyard of the Highclere Estate Chapel.

On 22 August 1213, King John stayed at Peter des Roches the Bishop of Winchester's manor at Highclere, then called Bishop's Clere. An itinerary of King Edward II lists him as spending 2 September 1320 there.

References

References

1. "Civil Parish population 2011". Office for National Statistics.
2. "The Highclere Grampus - Hampshire History". Hampshire History.
3. Walter Money, ''Newbury'', 1887, page 129.
4. Walter Money, Newbury, page 160

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::