Hampshire

Walk in Stanley Spencer's footsteps around Burghclere

This gentle circular walk takes in the places that painter Stanley Spencer lived, loved, and was inspired by during the years he lived in Burghclere, creating his epic First World War themed masterpiece – Sandham Memorial Chapel.

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Total steps: 7

Start point

Sandham Memorial Chapel, Harts Lane, Burghclere, RG20 9JT. Grid ref: SU463608.

Step 1

Start at Sandham Memorial Chapel.

Sandham Memorial Chapel

The chapel’s unassuming exterior conceals an interior adorned with Stanley Spencer's First World War murals, including the world-famous Resurrection of the Soldiers. The chapel is a memorial to Lieutenant Harry Sandham, who died of malaria after fighting in Salonika. As he had been demobbed, he had not been included on any official war memorial. Outraged, his sister and her husband, the Behrends of Burghclere, commissioned Spencer to create the chapel in his memory.

Step 2

Leave the chapel grounds and turn left. Walk along the brick-bordered road that is in fact the bridge over the old Winchester to Newbury railway line. After the bridge take an immediate left down Pound Lane. Sandham House is the second house on the right along this road.

Sandham House

Sandham House, originally named Chapel View, was built for the Spencer family. Spencer's first wife Hilda designed it, and they lived here while he worked on the chapel. It was the setting for a few brief years of happy marriage, before Spencer's obsession with the artist Patricia Preece ended in his divorce. In later life Spencer yearned to recapture the happy times spent here, in his Domestic Scenes series of paintings.

Step 3

Continue to the end of Pound Lane and follow it round to the right. You are now on the Ox Drove.

Nightjars on the Ox Drove

Stanley noticed the nightjars in the trees while wandering along this stretch of road one evening. He was much taken with what he perceived as their strong sense of community, and included them in his painting The Builders, which also drew inspiration from watching workmen from local building firm William Head and Co constructing the chapel, and whose workshop was situated at Tot Hill.

Step 4

Continue along this road onto the dirt track for about 91m (100 yards) until you reach a kissing gate on your right-hand side. Take this footpath across the field and along a tree-bordered path, until you emerge opposite the Church of the Ascension.

Step 5

For a shorter walk (ideal for pushchairs or to avoid uneven terrain), leave the churchyard by the main gateway, onto Harts Lane, turn left, and follow the road back to the chapel. For the full route, leave the churchyard by the side gate, nearest the war memorial, and turn right. Follow the pavement for 25m (27 yards) to the farm gate and signed footpath entrance. This takes you to the field behind the church. Walk through the first field, go through the small gateway to the second field, and follow the footpath along the edge of the crops. Go through the next two gates, walk down Jacob's Ladder through the spinney of trees. To reach the main road, cross over the stream using the footbridge, then cross the final field to meet Spring Lane. Now either turn left for a closer look at Wellside, seen in Spencer's painting Cottages at Burghclere, or turn right and go straight to Old Station House.

Step 6

Retracing your steps back up Spring Lane, continue uphill, where you will see Old Station House on your left.

Step 7

At the end of the lane turn left, cross the old railway bridge and you'll see the chapel on your right.

End point

Sandham Memorial Chapel, Harts Lane, Burghclere, RG20 9JT. Grid ref: SU463608.

Trail map

Map view of Sandham Memorial Chapel, Hampshire | © National Trust

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Harts Lane, Burghclere, near Newbury, Hampshire, RG20 9JT

01635278394

sandham@nationaltrust.org.uk

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Walk in Stanley Spencer's footsteps around Burghclere

Total steps: 7