Basingstoke

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Basingstoke
Basingstoke shown within Hampshire
Population	80,477 Unparished area 2006[1] 152,573 Borough (Census, 2001)
OS grid reference	SU637523
District	Basingstoke and Deane
Shire county	Hampshire
Region	South East
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Basingstoke
Postcode district	RG21, RG22, RG23, RG24
Dialling code	01256
Police	Hampshire
Fire	Hampshire
Ambulance	South Central
European Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	Basingstoke
Website: http://www.basingstoke.gov.uk/
List of places: UK • England • Hampshire

Coordinates: 51°16′00″N 1°05′15″W / 51.2667, -1.0876

Basingstoke is a town in northeast Hampshire, England. It lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon. It is 48 miles (77 km) southwest of London, 30 miles (48 km) north of Southampton and 16 miles (25 km) southwest of Reading. In 2006 it had an estimated population of 80,477. It is part of the borough of Basingstoke and Deane and part of the parliamentary constituency of Basingstoke.

Often mistaken for a new town, Basingstoke is an old market town expanded in the 1960s as part of a tripartite agreement between London County Council, Hampshire County Council and Basingstoke Borough Council. It was developed rapidly, along with Andover and Tadley, to accommodate part of the London 'overspill' as perceived under the Greater London Plan, 1944.^[2]

Basingstoke market was mentioned in the Domesday Book and Basingstoke remained a small market town until the 1950s. It still has a regular market, but is now bigger than Hampshire County Council's definition of a market town.^[3]

Basingstoke is prosperous, with an above-average standard of living and low unemployment.^[4] It is an economic centre, and the location of the UK headquarters of Sun Life Financial of Canada, The Automobile Association, GAME and Motorola. Other industries include drug manufacture, IT, communications, insurance and electronics.

[edit] Geography and administration

Basingstoke is at 51°16′0″N, 01°05′15″W, grid reference SU637523. Situated in a valley through the North Downs, it is a major interchange between Reading, Newbury, Andover, Winchester, and Alton, and lies on the natural trade route between the southwest of England and London.

[edit] Politics

The Basingstoke parliamentary constituency was formed under the 1885 Act and is currently served by Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Mrs Maria Miller, who was elected in the 2005 general election.^[5]

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, which has its offices in the town, is a Conservative-led council, having 31 Conservative, 14 Liberal Democrat, 11 Labour and three Independent councillors (at August 2007).^[6] Basingstoke is part of a two-tier local government structure and returns county councillors to Hampshire County Council. When the cities of Southampton and Portsmouth attained unitary authority status in 1998, Basingstoke became Hampshire's largest settlement.^[7][8]

[edit] Physical geography/geology

The precise size and shape of Basingstoke today are difficult to identify, as it has no single official boundary that encompasses all the areas contiguous to its development. The unparished area of the town represents its bulk, but several areas that might be considered part of the town are separate parishes, namely Chineham, Rooksdown, and Lychpit. The unparished area includes Worting, which was previously a separate village and parish,^[9] extending beyond Roman Road and Old Kempshott Lane, which might otherwise be considered the town’s ‘natural’ western extremity. The ward boundaries within the parliamentary constituency are not (as of August 2007) coterminous with the parish boundaries.

Basingstoke is situated on a bed of cretaceous upper chalk with small areas of clayey and loamy soil, inset with combined clay and flint patches. Loam and alluvium recent and pleistocene 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 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.^[10]

[edit] Divisions and suburbs

Main Article on Basingstoke wards (Wikipedia)

Basingstoke's expansion has absorbed much surrounding farmland and scattered housing, transforming it into housing estates 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, South Ham, Black Dam and Hatch Warren. The M3 acts as a buffer zone to the south of the town, and the South Western Main Line constrains the western expansion, with a green belt to the north and north-east, making Basingstoke shaped almost like a kite. As a result, the villages of Cliddesden, Dummer, Sherborne St John and Oakley, although being very close to the town limits, are considered distinct entities. Popley, Hatch Warren and Beggarwood are seeing rapid growth in housing.^[11][12]

Nearby towns: Hook, Tadley, Whitchurch,

Nearby villages: Aldermaston, Baughurst, Bramley, Kingsclere, Oakley, Old Basing, Overton, Ramsdell, Silchester.

[edit] History

[edit] Early Settlements

The remains of the 16th-century Chapel of the Holy Trinity at the Holy Ghost Chapel

The hillfort at Winklebury (2 miles (3 km) west of the town centre), known locally as Winklebury Camp or Winklebury Ring^[13] dates from the Iron age and there are remains of several other earthworks around Basingstoke including a long barrow near Down Grange.^[14] Nearby, to the west, Roman Road and Kempshott Lane mark the course of a Roman road that ran from Winchester to Silchester. Further to the east, another Roman road ran from Chichester through the outlaying villages of Upton Grey and Mapledurwell. The Harrow Way is an ancient route that runs to the south of the town.

[edit] Etymology

The name Basingstoke (A.D 990; Embasinga stocæ,^[15] Domesday; Basingestoches) is believed to have been derived from the town's position as the outlying, western settlement of Basa's people, the Basingas.^[16][a] Basing, now Old Basing, a village a few miles to the east, is thought to have the same etymology, but is considered by some to be the older settlement.^[17]

[edit] Market Town

St. Michael's Church

Basingstoke is recorded as being a market site in the Domesday Book, and has held a regular Wednesday market since 1214.^[18] During the Civil War, and the siege of Basing House 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^[19] and lead was stripped from the roof of the Chapel of the Holy Trinity^[20] leading to its eventual ruin. Cromwell is believed to have stayed in the town towards the end of the siege and wrote a letter to the Speaker of the House of Commons addressed from Basingstoke.^[21]

The cloth industry appears to have been important in the development of the town until the 17th century along with malting.^[22]

Brewing became important during the 18th and 19th centuries, and the oldest and most successful was May's Brewery, established by Thomas and William May in 1750 in Brook Street.

[edit] Victorian History

The London and South Western Railway arrived in 1839 from London, and within a year it was connected to Winchester and Southampton. in 1848 a rival company built a branch from Reading, and in 1854 a line was built to Salisbury.^[23] In the 19th century Basingstoke began to move into industrial manufacture, Wallis and Haslam (later Wallis & Steevens),^[24] 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.^[25] 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.^[26]

London Street includes a variety of architecture from the 17th to the 20th century

Ordinary citizens were said to be shocked^[27] by the emotive, evangelical 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 Licence trade quickly grew more openly hostile. Violent clashes became a regular occurrence^[b] culminating on Sunday 27 March 1881 with troops being 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 and a period of notoriety for the town.^[28]

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.^[29]

[edit] Recent History

Basingstoke was among the towns and cities targeted during the Second World War, and suffered bomb damage including St Michael's Church. After the war, it had a population of 25,000.

As part of the London Overspill plan, Basingstoke was rapidly developed in the late 1960s as an 'expanded town', along with places such as Ashford and Swindon. Basingstoke town centre was completely rebuilt. At this time many buildings of historic interest (including a bomb-damaged methodist church) were replaced by a large red brick shopping centre and concrete multi-storey car park. Many office blocks and large estates were built, including a ring road.

The shopping centre, following money issues, was built in phases. The first phase was completed by the 1970s and was later coverred 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 new shopping centre Festival Place

In 2003 Basingstoke was voted ninth in the Crap Towns survey, a humorous, but unscientific guide to the worst places to live in Britain though was not in the top ten of the 2004 survey.

Later that year, the Basingstoke Gazette launched its "Basingstoke – A Place to be Proud of" campaign, aimed at changing people’s perception of the town.^[30] The campaign is ongoing (As of August 2007) and marked by the presentation of annual awards to individuals, organisations or businesses nominated by the public for commendable local achievement.^[31]

The central part of the shopping centre was rebuilt in 2002 and reopened as Festival Place. This has bought a dramatic improvement to shoppers opinions of the town centre, but it is unclear if it has softened the towns overall image.^[32]

Further work to improve the image of the town continues with the latest Central Basingstoke Vision project coordinated by the Borough Council.^[33]

[edit] Demographics

The borough of Basingstoke was merged with other local districts in 1974 to form the borough of Basingstoke and Deane. Since then most census data has been for the larger area: before 1974, census information was published for the town as a separate entity.

Figures published for the most recent UK census in 2001 for the Borough of Basingstoke and Deane, give a population of 152,573 and a population density of 2.41 persons per hectare.^[35] The number of women at 50.48% slightly exceeded that of men.^[36] 96.56% of the population were white, 1.22% Asian or Asian British, 1.02% mixed race, 0.58% Black or Black British and 0.61% Chinese or other ethnic group. With regard to religion, 74.02% of the population were Christian, 16.98% had no religion and 7.22% did not respond. Other religions in total accounting for less than 2%. Amongst other findings were that 74.33% felt they were in good health, 50.98% were economically active full time employees (over 10% higher than the National Average) and 48.73% were buying their property with a mortgage or loan (almost 10% higher than the national average).^[35] Amongst the working population, 64.2% travelled less than 10km to work.^[37] The biggest percentage of employees, 17.67% worked in real estate, renting and business activities.^[38]

[edit] Facilities

View of The Malls from Basingstoke Train Station

Festival Place, a new shopping centre, opened in autumn 2002, adding a huge boost to the town centre,^[39] transforming 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 multiple-screen Vue cinema (formerly Ster Century until their takeover in 2005).^[40]

Central Basingstoke has two further shopping areas: The Malls and the Top of Town. The Malls area has declined since the opening of Festival Place and the closure of its Allders department store, though it is still home to several major retailers. The leasehold was purchased in 2004 by the St Modwen development group in partnership with the Kuwait property investment company Salhia Real Estate, with provision for redevelopment^[41] and a 55,000 square metre Primark store opened on the previous Allders site, in the Malls shopping centre, in March 2008. The store, which employs 204 people, is in the top 25 largest Primark stores in the country.^[42]

View from Basingstoke railway station forecourt; the chrome yellow buildings of Crown Heights stand on the site of older office buildings that have been demolished to build apartments. The former IBM offices in the background are now being converted into flats.

The Top of Town is the historic heart of Basingstoke, housing the town's Willis Museum^[43] in the former Town Hall building and the Haymarket Theatre in the former Corn exchange. There are also several locally run shops, as well as the post office, and the market place.

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 2 miles (3 km) out to the west.

In Portchester Square is the Basingstoke Sports Centre^[44] which has a subterranean swimming pool, sauna, jacuzzi and steam room. Above ground there is a gym, aerobics studios, squash courts and main hall. There is also a playden for young children. Basingstoke town centre is also home to a modern concert hall, The Anvil.^[45]

[edit] Sports and Leisure

Outside the town centre, there is a leisure park featuring the Aquadrome swimming pool, which opened in May 2002.^[46] The park also includes an ice rink, Bowling Alley, Bingo club and a ten screen cinema, as well as a restaurant and fast food outlets. The leisure park is home to the Milestones Museum which contains a network of streets and buildings based on the history of Hampshire.

Basingstoke has its own football team, Basingstoke Town Football Club who (as of August 2007) play in the Blue Square Conference South. The Basingstoke Rugby Football Club play in Rugby Football Union's Powergen South West League 1, and the Basingstoke Bison ice hockey team play in the Elite Ice Hockey League. Basingstoke also has a swimming team, known as the Basingstoke Bluefins. The diversity of sporting activity in the area is illustrated by organisations such as Basingstoke Demons Floorball Club and Basingstoke Bulls Korfball Club. The home ground of Basingstoke & North Hants Cricket Club, Mays Bounty was until 2000 used once a season by Hampshire County Cricket Club. Players such as Shane Warne and Sachin Tendulkar as well as Ashes winners Michael Vaughan, Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard have graced the ground^[47][48][49] It was also where celebrated commentator and playwright John Arlott watched his first match.^[50] But in August 2008 County Cricket will return to May’s Bounty.[1].

Eastrop Park, with Fanum House in the background

[edit] Education

Basingstoke has two large further education colleges: a sixth form college, Queen Mary's College (QMC); and Basingstoke College of Technology (BCOT). There are also many large secondary schools in the area. Whilst not having its own university-level institution, a small campus of the University of Winchester is located in the town. Basingstoke is within 30 miles (48 km) of six universities, namely Thames Valley University (TVU), the University of Winchester, the University of Reading, the University of Southampton, Southampton Solent University and Surrey Institute of Art & Design, University College in Farnham.

[edit] Media

Basingstoke has its own radio station: Kestrel FM. 2-Ten FM, broadcast from Reading also provides local radio coverage. The town also has good coverage from digital radio; the BBC, Independent National and Now Reading multiplexes can be received in the town,^[51] and the outskirts can receive London and South Hampshire stations as well.^[52][53]

There are three local newspapers: the Basingstoke Gazette, Basingstoke Observer and the Basingstoke Independent. The town is also covered by the Hampshire Chronicle.

[edit] Transport

Basingstoke railway station, as seen from Alençon Link

Basingstoke is at Junction 6 of the M3 Motorway, which skirts the town's southern edge, linking the town to London and to Southampton and the south-west. The central area of the town is encircled by a ring road constructed in the 1960s named The Ringway and bisected from east to west by the A3010, Churchill Way. Major roads radiate from the Ringway like spokes from a hub. The A33 runs northeast to Reading and the M4 Motorway. The A30 runs east to Hook and southwest to Winchester. The A339 runs southeast to Alton and northwest to Newbury. Basingstoke has a reputation for having a large density of roundabouts.^{[citation needed]}

The South Western Main Line railway runs east and west through the centre of the town and Basingstoke railway station linking it to the South West of England, London Waterloo (the fastest train Basingstoke to London takes 45 minutes), Winchester, Southampton and Bournemouth, and via the Eastleigh to Fareham Line and West Coastway Line to Portsmouth and Brighton. The West of England Main Line to Salisbury and Exeter diverges at Worting Junction, to the west. The Basingstoke Branch^[54] runs north-east to Reading, providing services to Oxford, Birmingham, the north of England and Scotland. The town was also the terminus of the defunct Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway.

Most bus services in the town operate from Basingstoke Bus Station. The majority are provided by the Stagecoach Group through their Stagecoach in Hampshire sub-division. Countrywide Travel^[55] and Newbury Buses also operate over individual routes and cango operate a service linking villages between Basingstoke and Alton. A Park and Ride service provided by Courtney Coaches^[56] links Basingstoke leisure park with Basing View, via Basingstoke Railway Station. This service uses distinctive purple Optare Solo buses, and provides a daytime service at roughly 10-minute intervals throughout the week. Currently (2007), a complimentary peak time service is also provided by MEPC Coaches^[57] between Chineham Business Park and the railway station. National Express offers direct coach services to London and Southampton from the bus station.

Separate provision for cyclists from other road traffic was not part of the remit of the 1960s town redevelopment, and until recently provision for cyclists was very poor.^[58] A Basingstoke Area Cycling Strategy was developed in 1999^[59] and subsequently an extensive cycle network has been developed^[60] 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 and the route was extened south to Alton and Alresford in April 2006. A Basingstoke Bicycle Users Group meets quarterly to discuss local cycling issues.^[61]

The closest international airport to Basingstoke is Southampton, about 25 miles (40 km) away. Blackbushe (9 miles (14 km)) and Farnborough (11 miles (18 km)) have Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Ordinary Licences, allowing for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction. Other General Aviation (GA) airfields in the area are at Popham,^[62] (7 miles (11 km)) and Lasham (5 miles (8 km)). Prior Permission Required (PPR) sites are near Brimpton^[63] and Hook. Lasham is particularly well known for its gliding school.

Though there are no navigable waterways within the immediate area, plans to reconnect the town with the surviving section of the Basingstoke Canal have been mooted several times in the past and this remains a long term aim of the Surrey and Hampshire Canal Society.^[64] The Basingstoke Canal Heritage Footpath follows the canal route for 2 miles (3 km) from Festival Place to Basing House.

[edit] Nearest Places

Destinations from BASINGSTOKE
Newbury	Reading	London, Wokingham, Yateley
Andover	N W E S	Fleet, Farnborough, Aldershot
Southampton, Winchester	Portsmouth, New Alresford	Farnham, Alton

[edit] Cultural references

In the 1887 Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera Ruddigore, the word "Basingstoke" is used as a code word by Sir Despard Murgatroyd to soothe his new wife, Mad Margaret, when she seems in danger of relapsing into madness. Margaret suggests this course of action herself:

Well, then, when I am lying awake at night, and the pale moonlight streams through the latticed casement, strange fancies crowd upon my poor mad brain, and I sometimes think that if we could hit upon some word for you to use whenever I am about to relapse—some word that teems with hidden meaning—like "Basingstoke"—it might recall me to my saner self.

First published in 1895, Thomas Hardy referred to Basingstoke as "Stoke Barehills" in Jude the Obscure – Part Fifth, Chapter 5

"There is in Upper Wessex an old town of nine or ten thousand souls; the town may be called Stoke-Barehills. It stands with its gaunt, unattractive, ancient church, and its new red brick suburb".

"The most familiar object in Stoke-Barehills nowadays is its cemetery, standing among some picturesque mediaeval ruins beside the railway; the modern chapels, modern tombs, and modern shrubs having a look of intrusiveness amid the crumbling and ivy-covered decay of the ancient walls."

Carl Barât, co-founder of The Libertines rock band, was born in Basingstoke and responded to a request for a description of the town with the succinct question "Have you seen The Office?".^[65]

In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, just after Ford Prefect has explained to Arthur Dent that they hitched a lift on a spaceship Arthur replies: "Are you trying to tell me that we just stuck out our thumbs and some green bug-eyed monster stuck his head out and said, Hi fellas, hop right in. I can take you as far as the Basingstoke roundabout?".^[66]

[edit] Filmography

The 1998 film Get Real was filmed at various locations around the town.^[67]

The British sitcom Blessed referred to Basingstoke in an episode that aired during the last quarter of 2005. When the main character met an upper-class couple who had named their children "India" and "Ireland" to reflect their supposed mystical natures, he ironically replied that he had named his own children "Basingstoke" and "Milton Keynes".

Basingstoke’s North Hampshire Hospital was one of two hospitals used for the filming of Channel 4's hit comedy Green Wing.^[68]

[edit] Twinned towns

Basingstoke is twinned with^[69]

• Alençon, France, since 1968
• Braine-l'Alleud, Belgium, since 1979
• Euskirchen, Germany, since 1986

[edit] See also

• Category:Basingstoke: listing of Basingstoke-themed articles
• List of famous residents of Basingstoke
• Basingstoke Canal

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council
• Local info on Basingstoke from Hampshire County Council
• Local news (from the Basingstoke Gazette)
• Basingstoke Roundabout
• The Willis Museum The museum of Basingstoke History