Oakley is a village in the borough of

Basingstoke and Deane Basingstoke and Deane is a local government district with borough status in Hampshire, England. The main town is Basingstoke, where the council is based. The district also includes the towns of Tadley and Whitchurch, along with numerous vil ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, England, located around 4.5 miles (7 km) west of

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is a town in Hampshire, situated in south-central England across a valley at the source of the River Loddon on the western edge of the North Downs. It is the largest settlement in Hampshire without city status in the United King ...

. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 5,322. Together with the smaller village of Deane, it forms the Oakley and Deane

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

renamed as Oakley at the 2011 Census. Oakley appears in

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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086. Oakley is divided into two districts, East Oakley and Church Oakley. The village sits on

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Ch ...

land.Parish Council
/ref> Its village magazine, ''Link'', is published monthly.

Education and worship

Oakley has two linked educational facilities: Oakley CE Junior School and Oakley Infant school, both of which have in the past achieved 'Outstanding' ratings in OFSTED inspections. In 2015 Oakley CE Junior School's overall effectiveness was rated 'Good'. Pupils of Oakley CE Junior School won a

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

learning competition, to create a ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'' mini-adventure. Their winning adventure was entitled " Death Is the Only Answer". Oakley contains a small

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

church, and the ancient Anglican church of St Leonard's which also has a community centre in the building opposite and the old school house where there is a pre school nursery. The

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church (St John's) was recently demolished for safety reasons and has been transformed into a garden of remembrance with the war memorial positioned on the site of the altar.

Facilities

In the centre of the village is a duck pond surrounded by thatched dwellings. The duck pond is inhabited by mallard ducks and

coots Coots are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail family, Rallidae. They constitute the genus ''Fulica'', the name being the Latin term for "coot". Coots have predominantly black plumage, and—unlike many rails—they are usually ...

. The village is supplied with local tradesmen, has a surgery (part of a shared practice with the next village of Overton), a central convenience store with a post office, a local butcher's, a cake shop, multiple estate agents (Brockenhurst, Jacobs), pharmacy, an arts and crafts shop, a Co-Op store (opened in December 2020), a local window cleaner and a dental practice. There are three public houses, the Barley Mow, The Fox (on the B3400) and The Beach Arms. A coffee shop was an addition to the village. In Meon Road there is a beauty salon, a hairdresser salon and a well stocked charity shop. Its

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

, originally on the

West of England Main 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 ...

, opened in April 1856 and closed in 1963. The station buildings are now used by other businesses. The village allotment site is next to the old railway station. Situated to the west of the village is

Oakley Hall Oakley Maxwell Hall (July 1, 1920 – May 12, 2008) was an American novelist. He was born in San Diego, California, graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and served in the United States Marine Corps, Marines during World War II ...

, an 18th-century Georgian manor that is now a hotel, used for weddings, special celebrations and corporate events.

Recreation & Surrounding Area

There are opportunities for walking with the Wayfarers Way close at hand and a riding stable and riding school are found in the village. Oakley Cricket Club was founded in 1849; OCC's grounds are at Oakley Park, where, on 11 June 1961, the

cricketer Roy Marshall captained a team for a benefit match. This team, which won the match with 246 runs, also included Arthur Milton and Cliff Michelmore. Oakley Football Club was founded in 1967 by the

Chelsea FC Chelsea Football Club is a professional football club based in Fulham, West London, England. The club was founded in 1905 and named after neighbouring area Chelsea. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football, pl ...

footballer, Peter Houseman. Oakley Tennis Club has four hard courts. Oakley Bowling Club was formed in 1978 and plays on the Malshanger Estate. There are several children’s play areas within the village with the largest of these undergoing a refurbishment in 2021-22. There are many short, medium and longer countryside walks all reached from the borders of the village. There is a multi-user path which links Oakley to Kempshott; this can be utilised by walking, cycling or with buggies/wheelchairs/mobility scooters which are capable of travelling over rough terrain. There are many small and medium wooded copses surrounding the village, many of which have beautiful displays of bluebells in early spring.

Oakley and Deane Parish Council

Oakley Parish Council was formed in 1894. In 1966 the East Oakley ward of Wootton St Lawrence became part of the parish and in 1976 the Deane Parish Meeting also joined the council, at which point it became known as Oakley and Deane Parish Council. The 2025 chairman of the council is Gary McAllister

References

External links

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...