Newtown Church
Home > Newtown Church
‘Well, it will be dark soon,’ said Hazel. ‘Come on, let’s get across. As far as I can see, this road’s no good to us at all. Now that I’ve learnt about it, I want to get away from it as soon as I can.’
By moonrise they had made their way through Newtown churchyard, where a little brook runs between the lawns and under the path.
Chapter Ten — The Road and the Common.
Leaving the beanfield, the rabbits pass into an adjacent grazing pasture. Here, Hazel notices a fast moving car on the road behind a hedge. At the roadside verge, the rabbits discover a dead yona (hedgehog) killed on the road. Bigwig enlightens his fellow travellers as to the dangers cars pose to rabbits, particularly at night. In the film, this scene is played to comic effect as Bigwig larks around, playing a game of ‘chicken’ with a passing Land Rover and an open-top sports car.
At the time Richard Adams wrote the novel, this same stretch of road was a reasonably quiet part of A34 Winchester to Preston trunk road. These days, the A34 has been re-routed to the west of Newbury as a hectic dual-carriageway bypassing the town, and the old stretch between Newtown and Tot Hill Services, near Burghclere, is designated as the B4640.
Bigwig crossing the A34 by the dead yona. Geography nerds will identify this still from the film as facing northwards, towards Newbury.
These days, the A34 has been re-routed to the west of Newbury as a hectic dual-carriageway, and the old stretch between Newtown and Tot Hill Services, near Burghclere, is designated as the B4640.
With darkness approaching, the rabbits cross to the eastern side of the road. From here they head east-northeast — presumably offroad — and make their way into the grounds of St Mary the Virgin and St John the Baptist Church.
The graveyard is bisected (newer burials in the western section) by a gentle, trickling brook. The rabbits would have made their way over the water by crossing a small culvert close to the south-eastern end of the church.
The brook in Newtown Churchyard.
The church is of Anglican (Church of England) denomination and was constructed in 1865 on the site of a medieval chapel.
Enthusiasts of the 1978 film will recall the eerie scene as the nervous rabbits pass the south-western corner of the church in the darkness. Having made a very brief stop to experience this location one gloomy December teatime, I can confirm it is equally as creepy in real life! And yes, the animators did portray the rabbits passing through the church grounds in the correct direction!
The south-west corner of Newtown Church.
The same view represented in the film.
The film also relocates the scene of the attack by rats to an outbuilding in the churchyard. No such building, if there ever was one, can be found today.
Gallery
I’m guessing someone placed a bulk order on this type of headstone.
Entering the churchyard from the B4640.
The rabbits would have entered through the hedgerow on the right.
The brook runs in the shadows behind these gravestones.
Access to the location
This site is publicly accessible!
Although there is access to the churchyard through an old wooden gate on the B4640, it is seldom used due to a lack of parking and the road’s busy nature.
It is far easier to park up outside of the churchyard on Well Street, entering through the wooden lychgate.