Burghclere is a village in the Basingstoke and Deane district of N Hampshire, close to the border with Berkshire. The modern village is 3 miles S of Newbury (Berkshire), but All Saints is 2 miles to the S in Old Burghclere, which consists of the Manor House with the church in the grounds and a few cottages on lanes nearby. The church is of flint and ashlar with ashlar quoins and consists of a nave with a timber bell turret with pyramid roof over the W end, a chancel and a N transept. The original nave was 12thc., and this was extended to the W in the 13thc. The 3-order W doorway is of that date while the smaller N and S doorways are early 12thc. work. The transept was added in the 14thc., and the bell turret in the 17thc.. Two large plain mausolea are built against the S side of the church.

Clere, which included both Burghclere and Highclere, was held by the Bishop of Winchester in 1066 and in 1086, and had been in that possession from as early as the 8thc. It was assessedat 10 hides in 1066 and 7½ in 1086. One hide and the church was held from the bishop by Aelfric the Priest. More land in Burghclere was held by Saxi in 1066 and by William FitzBaderon in 1086. It was assessed for geld at 3 hides and 2½ virgates.

The main manor remained in the possession of the bishop until 1551. When the new parish church of the Ascension was built in the main village in 1838, All Saints was allowed to fall into a state of decay, until 1861 when it was restored for the Countess of Carnarvon.

Only the N doorway of the two 12thc. entrances is wide enough for public use, and it is suggested that the S functioned as a priests' doorway originally. Pevesner (1967) dates the N doorway 'ear;y Norman' and writes that the S doorway ' may be later'. Bullen, in his revesed edition dates the N doorway to c.1120 and the S c.1130, and it is difficult to see how he could have reached this conclusion, especially as the volute capitals on the N side are similar to the early capitals in the transepts of Ely cathedral,which also has a similar fishscale doorway. We suggest a date for the both of c.1100-20.