Amport House
Amport House | |
---|---|
Located near Amport in Hampshire | |
Type | Manor house, Chaplaincy Centre |
Site information | |
Owner | Ministry of Defence |
Controlled by | Ministry of Defence |
Site history | |
Built | 1857 |
In use | 1939-Present |
Garrison information | |
Garrison | RAF Maintenance Command Armed Forces Chaplaincy Centre |
Amport House, currently the British Armed Forces Chaplaincy Centre (AFCC), is a manor house (at grid reference SU296440) in the village of Amport, near Andover, Hampshire. It is now a Grade II listed building.
History
The current house, which was built in an Elizabethan style, was constructed near the village of Amport in 1857 by John Paulet, 14th Marquess of Winchester and replaced two earlier houses built on the site.[1] The gardens were designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and planted by Gertrude Jekyll.[1] During the 1930s the house was owned by Col. Sofer-Whitburn until it was taken over and used as the headquarters of Royal Air Force Maintenance Command during World War II.[1]
The last of the Paulet family to reside at Amport was Henry Paulet, 16th Marquess of Winchester, who died in 1962.[2] Later that year the Royal Air Force Chaplains' School moved from Dowdeswell Court in Dowdeswell to Amport House.[3] The School, which had included a Royal Navy chaplain staff member, became the tri-service Armed Forces Chaplaincy Centre in 1996 on the closure of the depot of the Royal Army Chaplains' Department at Bagshot Park.[4] There is also a gatehouse and a pleached avenue of lime trees, believed to be the longest such avenue in the United Kingdom.[5]
A converted stable block of the house also holds the Museum of Army Chaplaincy.[6]
In September 2016 it was announced that Amport House would be put up for sale as part of a programme of defence estate rationalisation by the Ministry of Defence.[7]
See also
- Royal Air Force: Branches and trades
- Bishop to the Forces (Anglican)
- Bishopric of the Forces (Roman Catholic)
- Military chaplain: United Kingdom
- International Military Chiefs of Chaplains Conference
- Religion in the United Kingdom
References
- ^ a b c "Amport House". Doomsday Reloaded. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
- ^ "Parishes: Amport, A History of the County of Hampshire: Volume 4". 1911. p. 337-344. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
- ^ "Parishes: Dowdeswell, A History of the County of Gloucester: volume 9: Bradley hundred. The Northleach area of the Cotswolds". 2001. p. 42-69. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
- ^ "Bagshot Park Conservation Area". Surrey Heath Borough Council. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
- ^ "Amport House". Ministry of Defence. 19 November 2010. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
- ^ "Museum of Army Chaplaincy". National Archives. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
- ^ "Military sites sold as part of £225m scheme to make way for 17,000 homes". Southern Daily Echo. Southampton. 6 September 2016. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
External links
- Armed Forces Chaplaincy Centre. Defence Academy of the United Kingdom official website
- Who we are: Amport House. RAF Chaplains official website
- Military chaplains
- Royal Air Force stations in Hampshire
- British Army bases
- Royal Navy bases in Hampshire
- Tudor Revival architecture in England
- Andover, Hampshire
- Country houses in Hampshire
- Royal Army Chaplains' Department
- Grade II listed buildings in Hampshire
- Elizabethan architecture
- Houses completed in 1857
- Gardens in Hampshire
- Gardens by Gertrude Jekyll
- Works of Edwin Lutyens