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Basingstoke ( ) is the largest town in the county of
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...
. It is situated in south-central England and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon, at the far western edge of
The North Downs The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs): the Surrey Hills ...
. It is located north-east of Southampton, south-west of
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, 27 miles (43 km) west of Guildford, south of
Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...
and north-east of the county town and former capital Winchester. According to the 2016 population estimate, the town had a population of 113,776. It is part of the borough of Basingstoke and Deane and part of the
parliamentary constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...
of Basingstoke. Basingstoke is an old
market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...
expanded in the mid-1960s, as a result of an agreement between
London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kn ...
and Hampshire County Council. It was developed rapidly after the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, along with various other towns in the United Kingdom, in order to accommodate part of the London 'overspill' as perceived under the
Greater London Plan The Greater London Plan of 1944 was developed by Patrick Abercrombie (1879–1957). The plan was directly related to the County of London Plan written by John Henry Forshaw (1895–1973) and Abercrombie in 1943. Following World War II, London ...
in 1944. Basingstoke market was mentioned in the
Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
of 1086 and it remained a small market town until the early 1960s. At the start of World War II, the population was little more than 13,000. It still has a regular market, but is now larger than Hampshire County Council's definition of a market town. Basingstoke became an important economic centre during the second half of the 20th century and houses the locations of the UK headquarters of
Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent public companies, Motorola ...
, The Automobile Association, De La Rue, Sun Life Financial, ST Ericsson, GAME,
Barracuda Networks Barracuda Networks, Inc. is a company providing security, networking and storage products based on network appliances and cloud services. The company's security products include products for protection against email, web surfing, web hackers ...
, Eli Lilly and Company, FCB Halesway part of FCB, BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions (the leasing arm of BNP Paribas in the UK) and
Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
Professional Solutions. It is also the location of the European headquarters of the TaylorMade Golf Company. Other industries include IT, telecommunications, insurance and electronics.


Etymology

The name Basingstoke (A.D 990; Embasinga stocæ, Domesday; Basingestoches) is believed to have been derived from the town's position as the outlying, western settlement of Basa's people. Basing, now Old Basing, a village to the east, is thought to have the same etymology, and was the original Anglo-Saxon settlement of the people –
Basingas The Basingas were an Anglo-Saxon tribe, whose territory in the Loddon Valley formed a '' regio'' or administrative subdivision of the early Kingdom of Wessex. Their leader, Basa, gave the tribe its name which survives in the names of Old Basing an ...
– led by a tribal chief called ''Basa''. It remained the main settlement until changes in the local church moved the religious base from St Marys Church, Basing, to the church in Basingstoke.


History


Early settlements

A Neolithic campsite of around 3000 BC beside a spring on the west of the town is the earliest known human settlement here, but the Willis Museum has flint implements and axes from nearby fields that date back to Palæolithic times. The hillfort at Winklebury ( west of the town centre), known locally as Winklebury Camp or Winklebury Ring dates from the
Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...
and there are remains of several other earthworks around Basingstoke, including a long barrow near Down Grange. The site of Winklebury camp was home to Fort Hill Community School (this school has shutdown). Nearby, to the west, Roman Road marks the course of a Roman road that ran from Winchester to Silchester. Further to the east, another Roman road ran from
Chichester Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ...
through the outlying villages of Upton Grey and Mapledurwell. The Harrow Way is an Iron-age ancient route that runs to the south of the town. The first recorded historical event in the area was the defeat of King
Æthelred of Wessex Æthelred (; ang, Æþelræd ) or Ethelred () is an Old English personal name (a compound of '' æþele'' and '' ræd'', meaning "noble counsel" or "well-advised") and may refer to: Anglo-Saxon England * Æthelred and Æthelberht, legendary pri ...
and his brother
Alfred the Great Alfred the Great (alt. Ælfred 848/849 – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who bo ...
at Old Basing by the Danes in 871.


Market town

Basingstoke is recorded as a weekly market site in the
Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
, in 1086, and has held a regular Wednesday market since 1214. During the
Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...
, and the siege of
Basing House Basing House was a Tudor palace and castle in the village of Old Basing in the English county of Hampshire. It once rivalled Hampton Court Palace in its size and opulence. Today only parts of the basement or lower ground floor, plus the founda ...
between 1643 and 1645, the town played host to large numbers of Parliamentarians. During this time, St. Michael's Church was damaged whilst being used as an explosive store and lead was stripped from the roof of the Chapel of the Holy Ghost, Basingstoke leading to its eventual ruin. It had been incorporated in 1524, but was effectively out of use after the Civil War. The 17th century saw serious damage to much of the town and its churches, because of the great fires of 1601 and 1656.
Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...
is thought to have stayed here towards the end of the siege of Basing House, and wrote a letter to the Speaker of the House of Commons addressed from Basingstoke. The cloth industry appears to have been important in the development of the town until the 17th century along with malting. Brewing became important during the 18th and 19th centuries, and the oldest and most successful brewery was May's Brewery, established by Thomas and William May in 1750 in Brook Street.


Victorian history

The London and South Western Railway arrived in 1839 from London, and within a year it was extended to Winchester and Southampton. In 1848 a rival company, sponsored by the Great Western Railway built a branch from
Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...
. In 1854 a line was built to
Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of ...
by the London and South Western. In the 19th century Basingstoke began to move into industrial manufacture, Wallis and Haslam (later
Wallis & Steevens Wallis & Steevens of Basingstoke, Hampshire, England produced agricultural equipment, traction engines and steam and diesel road rollers. History The company was founded in 1856 by Arthur Wallis and Charles Haslam in newly built premises ...
), began producing agricultural equipment including threshing machines in the 1850s, moving into the production of stationary steam engines in the 1860s and then traction engines in the 1870s. Two traders who opened their first shops within a year of each other in the town, went on to become household names nationally: Thomas Burberry in 1856 and Alfred Milward in 1857. Burberry became famous after he invented Gabardine and Milward founded the Milwards chain of shoe shops, which could be found on almost every high street until the 1980s. John May, a member of the brewery family, was several times mayor of the town. A benefactor to the town, he paid for the building of a drill hall in Sarum Hill for the use of the Hampshire Volunteers (later used as a cinema and then a furniture shop) and a wing for the Cottage Hospital in Hackwood Road. The drill hall was opened in 1885 and also used for concerts and exhibitions. He also bought a piece of open space that was about to be sold for housing and let it at a low rent to the Basingstoke Cricket Club. This cricket ground is still in use and is called "May's Bounty". Ordinary citizens were said to be shocked by the emotive,
evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...
tactics of the Salvation Army when they arrived in the town in 1880, but the reaction from those employed by the breweries or within the licensed trade quickly grew more openly hostile. Violent clashes became a regular occurrence. On Sunday 27 March 1881 troops were called upon to break up the conflict after the Mayor had read the Riot Act. The riot and its causes led to questions in
Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
and a period of notoriety for the town. The town was described as 'Barbarous Basingstoke' by one London newspaper in 1882 but by March 1882 the disturbances were dying down. In 1898 John Isaac Thornycroft began production of steam-powered lorries in the town and Thornycroft's quickly grew to become the town's largest employer.


Recent history

Basingstoke suffered very little bomb damage during the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
. A stick of German bombs did fall in the Church Square area on 16 August 1940. The same day bombs destroyed part of a row of houses in Burgess Road. Six people were killed in the raid. Overall, 13 civilians died from enemy action during the war in the town. After the war, the town had a population of 25,000. As part of the London Overspill plan, along with places such as
Ashford Ashford may refer to: Places Australia *Ashford, New South Wales *Ashford, South Australia *Electoral district of Ashford, South Australia Ireland *Ashford, County Wicklow *Ashford Castle, County Galway United Kingdom *Ashford, Kent, a town **B ...
and Swindon, Basingstoke was rapidly developed in the late 1960s as an 'expanded town', in similar fashion to Milton Keynes. As the population increased, the town produced more figures of national importance, such as the art critic
Waldemar Januszczak Waldemar Januszczak (born 12 January 1954) is an English art critic and television documentary producer and presenter. Formerly the art critic of '' The Guardian'', he took the same role at '' The Sunday Times'' in 1992, and has twice won the ...
and the actress Elizabeth Hurley. Many office blocks and large estates were built, as well as a ring road. The shopping centre was built in phases. The first phase was completed by the 1970s and was later covered in the 1980s, and was known as The Walks. The second phase was completed by the early 1980s, and became The Malls. The third phase was abandoned and the site was later used to build the Anvil concert hall. The central part of the shopping centre was rebuilt in 2002 and reopened as Festival Place. This has brought a dramatic improvement to shoppers' opinions of the town centre, but it is unclear if it has softened the town's overall image.


Geography

Situated in a valley through the Hampshire Downs at an average elevation of Basingstoke is a major interchange between
Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...
, Newbury,
Andover Andover may refer to: Places Australia *Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * Andov ...
, Winchester, and Alton, and lies on the natural trade route between the southwest of
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
and
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
. The area had been something of an interchange even in ancient times. It had been cut by a Roman roadway that ran from northeast to southwest, from Silchester towards Salisbury (Sorbiodunum), and by another Roman road that linked Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum) in the north with Winchester (Venta Belgarum) to the south. These cross-cutting highways, along with the good agricultural land hereabouts, account for the many "Roman" villas in the area, mostly put up by Romanized native nobility ( Roman villa). Even more ancient was the Harrow Way, a Neolithic trackway, possibly associated with the ancient tin trade, that crossed all of southern England from west to east, from Cornwall to Kent, passing right through Andover and Basingstoke.


Physical geography and geology

Basingstoke has no single boundary that encompasses all the areas contiguous to its development. The unparished area of the town represents its bulk, but several areas popularly considered part of the town are separate parishes, namely
Chineham Chineham ( ) is a civil parish on the outskirts of Basingstoke, Hampshire, England. It is situated about northeast of central Basingstoke, just north of the A33 road between Basingstoke and Reading. Demography Population The population of Ch ...
, Rooksdown, and parts of Old Basing and Lychpit. The unparished area includes
Worting Worting is a former village and now a district of Basingstoke, Hampshire, that was formed around 1970 as part of the Basingstoke Town Centre Development Plan. The area is bounded to the south by Hatch Warren and the Worting Junction. To the ea ...
which was previously a separate village and parish, extending beyond Roman Road and Old Kempshott Lane, which might otherwise be considered the town's 'natural' western extremity. Basingstoke is situated on a bed of
cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...
upper chalk The Chalk Group (often just called the Chalk) is the lithostratigraphic unit (a certain number of rock strata) which contains the Upper Cretaceous limestone succession in southern and eastern England. The same or similar rock sequences occur a ...
with small areas of clayey and loamy soil, inset with combined clay and flint patches. Loam and
alluvium Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. ...
recent and
pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...
sediments line the bed of the river Loddon. A narrow line of tertiary Reading beds run diagonally from the northwest to the southeast along a line from
Sherborne St John Sherborne St John is a village and civil parish near Basingstoke in the English county of Hampshire. History The village was named in the Domesday book as ''Sireburne''. It became ''Shireburna'' (12th century), Schyreburne (13th century) and Sh ...
through Popley, Daneshill and the north part of Basing. To the north of this line, encompassing the areas of Chineham and Pyotts Hill, is
London clay The London Clay Formation is a marine geological formation of Ypresian (early Eocene Epoch, c. 56–49 million years ago) age which crops out in the southeast of England. The London Clay is well known for its fossil content. The fossils from ...
, which has in the past allowed excavation for high quality brick and tile manufacture.


Divisions and suburbs

Basingstoke's expansion has absorbed much surrounding farmland and scattered housing, transforming it into
housing estate A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex or housing development) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Popular throughout the United States ...
s or local districts. Many of these new estates are designed as almost self-contained communities, such as Lychpit, Chineham, Popley, Winklebury, Oakridge, Kempshott,
Brighton Hill Brighton Hill is a district of Basingstoke, England, that was formed around 1970 as part of the Town Centre Development Plan. The area is bounded to the west by the newer housing estate of Hatch Warren and by the A30. To the east of Brighton H ...
, Viables, South Ham, Black Dam,
Buckskin and South Ham Extension Buckskin may refer to: __NOTOC__ Leather *Buckskin (leather), leather made of buck (i.e. deer) hide *Buckskins, an outfit of buckskin leather Horses *Buckskin (horse), a body color of horses similar to buckskin leather, the animals also have a blac ...
and
Hatch Warren Hatch Warren is a district and ward of Basingstoke in Hampshire, England. The population of the appropriate ward called Hatch Warren and Beggarwood was 9,284 at the 2011 Census. It is situated west of the town centre and neighbouring housing e ...
. The M3 acts as a buffer zone to the south of the town, and the South West Main Line constrains the western expansion, with a
green belt A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges, which h ...
to the north and north-east. The villages of Cliddesden, Dummer,
Sherborne St John Sherborne St John is a village and civil parish near Basingstoke in the English county of Hampshire. History The village was named in the Domesday book as ''Sireburne''. It became ''Shireburna'' (12th century), Schyreburne (13th century) and Sh ...
and Oakley, although being very close to the town limits, are distinct parishes. Popley, Hatch Warren and Beggarwood saw rapid growth in housing in the mid to late 2000s.


Demography

The population of Basingstoke increased from around 2,500 in 1801 to over 52,000 in 1971; the most significant growth occurring during the latter half of the 20th century. The borough of Basingstoke was merged with other local districts in 1974 to form the borough of Basingstoke and Deane, and census data from that point covers the whole borough. Figures published for the UK census in 2011 for the Borough of Basingstoke and Deane give a population of 167,799 and a population density of 2.7 persons per hectare—only about half the national figure. The number of women slightly exceeded that of men, and a slight increase in the percentage of residents over 65 was also noted. Among other findings in 2001 were that 74.33 per cent felt they were in good health, 50.98 per cent were economically active full-time employees (over 10 per cent higher than the national average) and 48.73 per cent were buying their property with a mortgage or loan (almost 10 per cent higher than the national average). Amongst the working population, 64.2 per cent travelled less than to work. The biggest percentage of employees, 17.67 per cent, worked in real estate, renting and business activities.


Governance

Basingstoke is part of a two-tier local government structure and returns county councillors to Hampshire County Council. It is the third largest settlement in the ceremonial county, but when the cities of Southampton and
Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most d ...
attained unitary authority status in 1998, Basingstoke became the largest settlement in the
county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
administered by the county council.
Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council Basingstoke ( ) is the largest town in the county of Hampshire. It is situated in south-central England and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon, at the far western edge of The North Downs. It is located north-east of Southa ...
is the lower-tier
local authority Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-l ...
for the town, and has its offices in the town centre. Elections to the council take place in 3 out of every 4 years. Under the town twinning scheme, the local council have twinned Basingstoke with Alençon in France, Braine-l'Alleud in Belgium, and Euskirchen in Germany.


Facilities

The Top of Town is the historic heart of Basingstoke, housing the Willis Museum in the former Town Hall building (rebuilt 1832) as well as several locally run shops and the market place. Basingstoke is home to two theatrical organisations: the Haymarket, which is situated in the former Corn Exchange, and The Anvil, which is near the railway station. The Willis Museum was founded and directed by Alderman George W. Willis, a local clocksmith, who served as Mayor of Basingstoke in 1923–24. Willis established the museum in 1931 with much public support, and built its holdings up into a major collection on local history, with a particularly extensive collection of prehistoric implements and of antique clocks and watches. His association with the expanding museum continued for forty years. The museum's central location today is where, once upon a time, Jane Austen and her sister used to go to dances, and a statue of Jane Austen was installed outside the museum in 2017, on the 200th anniversary of her death. Although ostensibly set in Hertford, Austen's novel '' Pride and Prejudice'', written in 1797, is thought to have been based on her view of Basingstoke society two centuries ago. The major shopping area is Festival Place, which opened in October 2002. Festival Place gave a huge boost to the town centre, transforming and replacing what was the former The Walks Shopping Centre and the New Market Square. Aside from a wide range of shops, there is also a range of cafés and restaurants as well as a large multiscreen Vue cinema (formerly Ster Century from Festival Place's opening until their takeover in 2005; the pre-existing Vue in the Leisure Park was sold to Odeon). The Malls is a shopping area linked by a gateway entrance to the rail station. It had declined since the opening of Festival Place and the closure of its Allders department store. The leasehold was purchased in 2004 by the
St Modwen Modwenna, or Modwen, was a nun and saint in England, who founded Burton Abbey in Staffordshire in the 7th century. According to the medieval ''Life of St Modwenna'' she was an Irish noblewoman by birth and founded the abbey on an island in the ...
development group in partnership with the Kuwait property investment company Salhia Real Estate, with provision for redevelopment The redevelopment of The Malls started in late 2010. A clear roof canopy was installed to protect the Malls from bad weather while still allowing natural light and air in. The Malls has been repaved and new street furniture installed. The redevelopment was completed in the last quarter of 2011. The redevelopment work was carried out by
Wates Group Wates Group Ltd is one of the largest family owned construction, property services and development companies in the United Kingdom. Wates Giving, the firm's charitable foundation, has donated over £10 million since 2008. History Edward Wates ...
using a variety of subcontractors. A John Lewis at home and
Waitrose Waitrose & Partners (formally Waitrose Limited) is a brand of British supermarkets, founded in 1904 as Waite, Rose & Taylor, later shortened to Waitrose. It was acquired in 1937 by employee-owned retailer John Lewis Partnership, which still se ...
co-located store is near the station. It was built in November 2015 as part of the redevelopment of Basing View. The town's nightlife is split between the new Festival Square, and the traditional hostelries at the Top of Town, with a few local community pubs outside the central area. The town has four nightclubs, two in the town itself, one on the east side and one out to the west. The Basingstoke Sports Centre is located in Portchester Square. The sports centre has a subterranean swimming pool, sauna,
jacuzzi Jacuzzi Brands LLC (; ), through its subsidiaries, is a global manufacturer and distributor of branded baths, hot tubs, pools, saunas and, formerly, aircraft. Founded in 1915 by the Italian family of the same name, Jacuzzi is a federally regist ...
and steam room. Above ground there is a gym, aerobics studios, squash courts and main hall. There is also an Ofsted-registered crèche.


Sport and leisure

Outside the town centre there is a leisure park featuring the Aquadrome swimming pool, which opened in May 2002. Also located at the leisure park are an ice rink, a bowling alley, an indoor sky-diving centre with ski and surf machines, a Bingo club and a ten-screen Odeon (formerly Vue prior to the takeover of the Ster Century cinema in Festival Place, and before that, Warner-Village) cinema, as well as a restaurant and fast food outlets. The leisure park is home to the Milestones Museum, a living history museum which contains a network of streets and buildings based on the history of
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...
. Basingstoke has a football club,
Basingstoke Town F.C. Basingstoke Town Football Club is a football club based in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England. The club are currently members of the and play at the Winklebury Sports Complex. Their motto, 'Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum', means 'Never a step backward' ...
, the Basingstoke Rugby Football Club and the Basingstoke Bison
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...
team. Basingstoke also has a swimming team, known as the Basingstoke Bluefins and an American Flag Football Team known as the Basingstoke Zombie Horde. Further sporting organisations in the area include Basingstoke Demons Floorball Club, Basingstoke Volleyball Club, Basingstoke Bulls Korfball Club and Lasham Gliding Society. The home ground of Basingstoke & North Hants Cricket Club, Mays Bounty, was until 2000 used once a season by Hampshire County Cricket Club. As of 2011, Basingstoke has a roller derby league and team, the Basingstoke Bullets. Due to difficulty finding a suitable venue, the team practice in nearby Whitchurch. Basingstoke is also the home of Rising Phoenix Cheer, a successful competitive Allstar
Cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ente ...
programme for athletes from age 5 upwards, training at Aldworth school.


Musical groups

Basingstoke has a wide diversity for musical groups ranging from brass bands to symphony orchestras. The Basingstoke Concert Band is a traditional wind band which has now been in existence for more than 35 years. The band was started in 1977 by Lawrie Shaw when Brighton Hill Community School opened, where he was the first headteacher. Shaw formed the band as an evening class for amateur wind players and it was then known as the Brighton Hill Centre Band.


Media

There are two local newspapers – the '' Basingstoke Gazette'', and the '' Basingstoke Observer''. The town is also covered by the broadsheet newspaper '' Hampshire Chronicle''. Local TV coverage is provided by BBC South and
ITV Meridian ITV Meridian (previously Meridian Broadcasting) is the holder of the ITV (TV network), ITV franchise for the South and South East England, South East of England. The station was launched at 12:00 am on 1 January 1993, replacing previous broadca ...
, with BBC London and
ITV London ITV London is the on-air brand name used by ''ITV Broadcasting Limited'' for two broadcast franchises of ITV, Carlton Television (weekdays) and London Weekend Television (weekends) in the London ITV region. Its terrestrial digital signal is ...
also received in the town. Basingstoke is served by two regional radio stations. Greatest Hits Radio Berkshire & North Hampshire, serving North Hampshire and parts of
Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...
and
Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the Englis ...
, and Heart South, broadcast from
Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...
. BBC Berkshire is available in the town. The town has coverage from digital radio; the BBC, Independent National and Now Reading
multiplexes In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource - a ...
can be received in the town, and the outskirts can receive London and South Hampshire stations as well. The BBC national stations and DAB coverage is enhanced by a small relay just south of the town centre. The local radio Station is HHCR - Basingstoke's Community Radio, an internet-based broadcaster opened on 3 June 2019 by Cllr Diane Taylor Mayor of Basingstoke and Deane.


Education

The Holy Ghost School (subsequently Queen Mary's School for Boys) was a state funded
grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...
operating in Basingstoke for four centuries, from 1556 until 1970, producing nationally recognised alumni such as Revd. Gilbert White (1720-1793), a pioneer naturalist, and the famed cricket commentator, John Arlott (1914-1991). In modern times education in Basingstoke has been co-ordinated by Hampshire County Council. Each neighbourhood in the town has at least one primary school, while secondary schools are distributed around the town on larger campuses. Basingstoke has two large further education colleges: a
sixth form college A sixth form college is an educational institution, where students aged 16 to 19 typically study for advanced school-level qualifications, such as A Levels, Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) and the International Baccalaureate ...
, Queen Mary's College (QMC) and
Basingstoke College of Technology Basingstoke College of Technology (BCoT) is a further education college in Basingstoke, Hampshire, United Kingdom. The college is located in the centre of Basingstoke on Worting Road, and consists of three campus buildings: North, South, and STE ...
(BCoT). The University of Winchester had a campus in Basingstoke (Chute House Campus) which closed in July 2011; it had offered full-time and part-time university courses in subjects including childhood studies, various management pathways, community development and creative industries.
Bournemouth University Bournemouth University is a public university in Bournemouth, England, with its main campus situated in neighbouring Poole. The university was founded in 1992; however, the origins of its predecessor date back to the early 1900s. The univer ...
's health and social care students can work on placement at the North Hampshire Hospital. The hospital only caters for midwifery students.


Transport


Road

Basingstoke is situated close to junctions 6, 7 and 8 of the M3 motorway, which skirts the town's south-eastern edge, linking the town to London, and to Southampton and the south-west. The central area of the town is encircled by The Ringway, a ring road constructed in the 1960s, and is bisected east to west by the A3010 (Churchill Way). The A33 runs north-east to Reading and the M4 motorway, and south-west to Winchester. The A30 runs east to Hook and west to Salisbury. The A303 to Wiltshire and the West Country begins a few miles south-west of Basingstoke, sharing the first few miles with the A30. On the M3, there is a flyover, which passes over the slip road to A303, near Junction 8. The A339 runs south-east to Alton and north-west to Newbury.


Railway

The South West Main Line runs east and west through the centre of the town and Basingstoke railway station, linking Basingstoke to
London Waterloo Waterloo station (), also known as London Waterloo, is a central London terminus on the National Rail network in the United Kingdom, in the Waterloo area of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is connected to a London Underground station o ...
, Winchester, Southampton, Bournemouth and Weymouth. The
West of England line The West of England line (also known as the West of England Main Line) is a British railway line from , Hampshire, to in Devon, England. Passenger services run between London Waterloo station and Exeter; the line intersects with the Wessex Ma ...
links Basingstoke to
Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of ...
and to Exeter. The Reading–Basingstoke line runs north-east to
Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...
and is part of an important through route for longer distance services to Birmingham and the North. The town was the terminus of the defunct
Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway The Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway was opened in 1901, by the London and South Western Railway. It was the first English railway authorised under Light Railway legislation. It ran through unpromising, lightly populated terrain, and was prob ...
. Current rail services from Basingstoke are operated by South Western Railway, CrossCountry and Great Western Railway. The Reading-Basingstoke Line runs parallel to Chineham Business Park, Vyne Park, the suburb of Chineham and Taylors Farm.


Bus

Most bus services in the town operate from Basingstoke bus station. Bus 3 and 8 no longer serve the bus station. The majority are provided by the
Stagecoach Group Stagecoach Group is a transport group based in Perth, Scotland. It operates buses, express coaches and a tram service in the United Kingdom. History Stagecoach was born out of deregulation of the British express coach market in the early ...
through their
Stagecoach in Hampshire Stagecoach South is a bus operator providing services in South East England. It is a subsidiary of Stagecoach. It operates services in Hampshire, Surrey, and Sussex with some routes extending into Brighton and Wiltshire. It operates 487 buses fr ...
sub-division. Basingstoke Community Transport and Communities First Wessex run some smaller routes. A peak-time service is provided by Thames Valley Buses between Chineham Business Park and the railway station. National Express offers direct coach services to London and Southampton from the bus station.


Cycling

Separating cyclists from other road traffic was not part of the remit of the 1960s town redevelopment and, in 1996, the perception of provision for cyclists was very poor. Following the Basingstoke Area Cycling Strategy in 1999 an extensive cycle network was developed, mainly utilising on-road routes or off-road routes that run parallel with and directly alongside roads. Basingstoke was linked to Reading on the National Cycle Network route 23 in May 2003; the route was extended south to Alton and Alresford in April 2006.


Basingstoke Canal

The Basingstoke Canal started at a canal basin, roughly where the cinema in Festival Place is located. From there the canal ran alongside the River Loddon following the line of Eastrop Way. The old canal route passes under the perimeter ring road and then follows a long loop partly on an embankment to pass over small streams and water meadows towards Old Basing, where the route goes around the ruins of
Basing House Basing House was a Tudor palace and castle in the village of Old Basing in the English county of Hampshire. It once rivalled Hampton Court Palace in its size and opulence. Today only parts of the basement or lower ground floor, plus the founda ...
and then through and around the eastern edge of Old Basing. It followed another loop to go over small streams near the Hatch public house (a lot of this section was built over when constructing the M3) and headed across fields on an embankment towards Mapledurwell. The section of the canal from
Up Nately Up Nately is a small village in Hampshire, England, located to the south east of Basingstoke. Its nearest railway station is in Hook, three miles to the east of the village. The Basingstoke Canal runs through the village from the former Penny Brid ...
to the western entrance of the Greywell Tunnel still exists and is a nature reserve; there is water in the canal and the canal towpath can be walked. A permissive footpath at the western entrance to the tunnel allows walkers to access public footpaths to get to the eastern entrance of the tunnel. The limit of navigation is about 500m east of the Greywell Tunnel. The renovated sections of the canal can then be navigated east towards
West Byfleet West Byfleet is a village in Surrey which grew up around its relatively minor stop on the London & South Western Railway: the station, originally ''Byfleet and Woodham'', opened in 1887. More than from the medieval village of Byfleet, the i ...
where it joins the Wey Navigation, which itself can be navigated to the River Thames at
Weybridge Weybridge () is a town in the Borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. The settlement is recorded as ''Waigebrugge'' and ''Weibrugge'' in the 7th century and the name derives from a crossing point of the ...
. Aims to reconnect Basingstoke with the surviving sections of the Basingstoke Canal have been beset with difficulties, and actual restoration of a canal link is impossible. The Basingstoke Canal Society aspire to re-establish the route of the lost section of the canal as closely as possible with a footpath and cycleway.


Religious sites

The
Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...
church of St. Michael's is located west of Festival Place. The chancel dates from 1464, and the south chapel may be older. The nave and aisles were added fifty years later by Richard Foxe,
Bishop of Winchester The Bishop of Winchester is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Winchester in the Church of England. The bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire. The Bishop of Winchester has always held ''ex officio'' (except ...
. The Memorial Chapel at the north-east corner of the church was completed in 1921. The ruined Chapel of the Holy Ghost, north of the railway station, has not been a place of worship for four centuries, an effect of the Reformation. It was built by the first Lord Sandys, beginning in 1524, when King Henry VIII issued a charter of incorporation. The west tower of a 13th-century building also survives. It is surrounded by an ancient (as well as a more modern) cemetery; William, Lord Sandys himself lies buried in the chapel with his wife. In 1902, the
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
Holy Ghost Church was built by
Alexander Scoles Alexander Joseph Cory Scoles (30 November 1844 – 29 December 1920) was an architect and Roman Catholic priest.Directory of British Architects, 1834–1914: Vol. 2 (L-Z)' ed. Brodie, Antonia (London, 2001), p. 552 He designed many Lancet window ...
, named after the old chapel. It is a Grade II listed building. The Church of St Mary, Eastrop is an old church, enlarged in 1912. All Saints' Church was built in 1915, designed by Temple Moore. St Peter's Church was built in 1964-5 designed by Ronald Sims and is in a housing estate built in the 1960s. In 2014 a group named Basingstoke Community Churches covered an area of six churches in the town. There are also an Assemblies of God church called Wessex Christian Fellowship, two Roman Catholic churches, St. Bede's and St. Joseph's, and churches of other denominations. In 2019 Gateway Church Basingstoke began a partnership with Christians Against Poverty (CAP) to launch a Debt Centre in Basingstoke.


International relations


Twin towns - sister cities

* Braine-l'Alleud,
Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—al ...
,
Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...
* Alençon,
Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
,
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
* Euskirchen,
North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...
,
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...


Cultural associations

"Basingstoke" is a code word in Gilbert and Sullivan's 1887 comic opera '' Ruddigore'', used by the "bad baronet" after he reforms, to remind his bride "Mad Margaret" of their plan to live lives of boring respectability. In 1895, Thomas Hardy referred to Basingstoke as "Stoke Barehills" in '' Jude the Obscure''. Basingstoke's North Hampshire Hospital was one of two hospitals used for the filming of
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
's hit comedy '' Green Wing''. George Formby's film, ''
He Snoops to Conquer ''He Snoops to Conquer'' is a 1944 British comedy film directed by Marcel Varnel starring George Formby, Robertson Hare, Elizabeth Allan and Claude Bailey. Its plot involves an odd job man who becomes mixed up in corruption in politics and town ...
'' was partly shot in the town in 1944 and in 1974 the
National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary fi ...
produced a documentary here called ''Basingstoke – Runcorn: British New Towns''. The former Park Prewett Mental Hospital was the setting for the novel ''Poison in the Shade'' (1953), by Eric Benfield, a local author and sculptor who worked as an art therapist at that hospital.
Patrick Wilde Patrick Wilde is an English playwright, screenwriter, actor, and director for television, film and theatre. Early work Most of Wilde's early work was centred on the classics. He played Hamlet, Mark Antony for ATC and Amnon in Tirso de Molin ...
's 1993 play, '' What's Wrong with Angry?'' is set in Basingstoke. It was later adapted into the 1998 film, '' Get Real'', which was filmed at various locations around Basingstoke.


Notable people


Notes


References


External links

*
Local info on Basingstoke from Hampshire County Council
*
Further historical information and sources on GENUKI
{{Authority control Towns in Hampshire Unparished areas in Hampshire Basingstoke and Deane