Bucklebury

Bucklebury is a pretty little village in the southern part of the Downs on the River Pang. It comprises a sprinkling of old houses and cottages and a few more modern houses.

In the heart of the village is the parish church, the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Early Norman with a 12th century North Chapel, 15th century tower and 18th century chancel. The ornate south doorway is late Norman. David Nash Ford's Royal Berkshire History describes it as "the finest Norman entrance in the county and one of the best to be seen anywhere in England. Carved around 1150, it depicts row upon row of chevrons, rosettes, faces and flowers. It is topped by a strange bearded mask crowned with an orb and cross. High up on the tower there are further carvings, of the 15th century."

On the south side of the village is Bucklebury House, which comprises the restored old servants' quarters, kitchen block, coach house, stables and dovecote of a Tudor manor house which was destroyed by fire in 1833. The fine gardens of Bucklebury House are occasionally open to the public. Just outside the village is Bucklebury Farm and Deer Safari Park. This and much of the surrounding land, including Bucklebury Common, is part of the Bucklebury Estate.

Further out of the village is a fine Georgian house built in 1833, the present Bucklebury Manor.

Bucklebury is about five miles north-east of Newbury.