Oakley is a village in the borough of

Basingstoke and Deane Basingstoke and Deane is a local government district and borough in Hampshire, England. Its primary settlement is Basingstoke. Other settlements include Bramley, Tadley, Kingsclere, Overton, Oakley, Whitchurch and the village of Deane, som ...

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 ...

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

Basingstoke 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 ...

. 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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

renamed as Oakley at the 2011 Census. Oakley appears 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. 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. C ...

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 learning competition, to create a ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the ...

'' 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 group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

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 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 (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. 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 that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...

, 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 ...

, closed in 1963, and the 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, 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 Roy Edwin Marshall (25 April 1930 – 27 October 1992) was a West Indian cricketer who played in four Tests from 1951 to 1952. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1959. Early career The son of a wealthy plantation owner, Marshall was bo ...

captained a team for a benefit match. This team, which won the match with 246 runs, also included

Arthur Milton Clement Arthur Milton (10 March 1928 – 25 April 2007)
...

and

Cliff Michelmore Arthur Clifford Michelmore (11 December 1919 – 16 March 2016) was an English television presenter and producer. He is best known for the BBC television programme ''Tonight'', which he presented from 1957 to 1965. He also hosted the BBC's tel ...

. Oakley Football Club was founded in 1967 by the

Chelsea FC Chelsea Football Club is an English professional football club based in Fulham, West London. Founded in 1905, they play their home games at Stamford Bridge. The club competes in the Premier League, the top division of English football. Th ...

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 2021 chairman of the council is Tim Parry

References

External links

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...