Amport House, currently the British Armed Forces Chaplaincy

Military chaplain

A military chaplain is a chaplain who ministers to soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and other members of the military. In many countries, chaplains also minister to the family members of military personnel, to civilian noncombatants working for military organizations and to civilians within the...

 Centre (AFCC), is a manor house (at ) in the village of Amport

Amport

Amport is a small village and civil parish in the Test Valley district of NW Hampshire, England, a few miles west of Andover. It incorporates the small hamlet of East Cholderton and has a population of about 800....

, near Andover, Hampshire

Andover, Hampshire

Andover is a town in the English county of Hampshire. The town is on the River Anton some 18.5 miles west of the town of Basingstoke, 18.5 miles north-west of the city of Winchester and 25 miles north of the city of Southampton...

.

The current house was built near the village of Amport in 1857 by the Marquess of Winchester

Marquess of Winchester

Marquess of Winchester is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1551 for the prominent statesman William Paulet, 1st Earl of Wiltshire. He had already been created Baron St John in 1539 and Earl of Wiltshire in 1550, also in the Peerage of England...

 and replaced two earlier houses built on the site. The gardens were laid out by Sir Edwin Lutyens

Edwin Lutyens

Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens, OM, KCIE, PRA, FRIBA was a British architect who is known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era...

.

During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 the house was taken over and used as the headquarters of Royal Air Force Maintenance Command

RAF Maintenance Command

RAF Maintenance Command was the Royal Air Force command which was responsible for controlling maintenance for all the United Kingdom-based units from formation on 1 April 1938 until being renamed RAF Support Command on 31 August 1973.- History :...

. In 1962 the Royal Air Force Chaplains' School moved to Amport House from Dowdswell Court in Cheltenham. 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 regimental Headquarters and depot

Military base

A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. In general, a military base provides accommodations for one or more units, but it may also be used as a...

 of the Royal Army Chaplains' Department

Royal Army Chaplains' Department

The Royal Army Chaplains' Department is an all-officer corps that provides ordained clergy to minister to the British Army.As of 2007, there are about 280 serving regular chaplains in the British Army; these can belong to either one of several Christian churches, or to the Jewish faith, although...

 at Bagshot Park

Bagshot Park

Bagshot Park is a royal residence located near Bagshot, a village south west of Windsor and approximately north east of Guildford . It is the current home of The Earl and Countess of Wessex. Bagshot Park is on Bagshot Heath, a fifty square-mile tract of formerly open land in Surrey and Berkshire...

.

A converted stable block of the house also holds the The Museum of Army Chaplaincy

The Museum of Army Chaplaincy

The Museum of Army Chaplaincy is a museum at Amport House, Hampshire, United Kingdom, which tells the story of British Army Chaplaincy from earliest times to the present day with the help of archive material and historical relics from several centuries...

.

See also

• Royal Air Force#Branches and trades
• Bishop to the Forces
  Bishop to the Forces
  The Anglican church in the British Armed Forces falls under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury, however for all practical purposes the function is performed by the Bishop to the Forces. His full title is "The Archbishop of Canterbury's Episcopal Representative to the Armed Forces"...
  
   (Anglican)
• Bishopric of the Forces
  Bishopric of the Forces
  The Bishopric of the Forces is the Latin-rite Catholic military ordinariate which provides chaplains to the British Armed Forces across the United Kingdom and overseas. The chaplains are drawn from the dioceses of England, Wales and Scotland, and from some religious orders...
  
   (Roman Catholic)
• Military chaplain#United Kingdom
• Military chaplain#Annual International Military Chiefs of Chaplains Conference
• Religion in the United Kingdom
  Religion in the United Kingdom
  Religion in the United Kingdom and the states that pre-dated the UK, was dominated by forms of Christianity for over 1,400 years. Although a majority of citizens still identify with Christianity in many surveys, regular church attendance has fallen dramatically since the middle of the 20th century,...
  
  

External links

• Armed Forces Chaplaincy Centre. Defence Academy of the United Kingdom official website
• Who we are: Amport House. RAF Chaplains official website