[1] Burghclere is a parish five miles west of Kingsclere, and is immediately adjacent to Highclere, which is on its western boundary.

Beacon Hill, which is 842 feet above the ordnance datum, is here a conspicuous landmark, upon which are the remains of an ancient earthwork.

William Waynflete, Lord Chancellor of England (1456–1460) and founder of Magdalen School and College in Oxford was also particularly renowned.

In 1551 Edward VI received it from John Ponet, Bishop of Winchester, in exchange for lands elsewhere.

[6] Sir William bequeathed the manor to his wife Jane (died 1575) for life, and after her death to his three younger daughters, whose respective husbands are found each holding a third part; in 1568 Innocent Rede (Reade) and Elizabeth his wife conveyed a third part of the manor to Hugh Hare, in 1569 Francis Jermy was concerned in the conveyance of a third, and in 1576 Christopher Viscount Gormanston held a third.

Ten years later the property was conveyed to Sir Robert Sawyer, who died seised of the manors of Burghclere and High Clere in 1692, leaving as heiress an only daughter, Margaret wife of Thomas, Earl of Pembroke, ancestor of the Earls of Carnarvon.