Old Basing
Encyclopedia
Old Basing is a village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 in the north-east of the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 county of Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

. It is situated just to the east of Basingstoke
Basingstoke
Basingstoke is a town in northeast Hampshire, in south central England. It lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon. It is southwest of London, northeast of Southampton, southwest of Reading and northeast of the county town, Winchester. In 2008 it had an estimated population of...

, and in the 2001 census
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....

 had a population of 7,232. Its former name is Basing (which several neighbouring village signs highlight), and while Basingstoke has grown, the 'Old' seems to suit Basing well.

History

Old Basing was first settled around 700 by an Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...

 tribe known as the Basingas
Basingas
The Basingas were an Anglo-Saxon tribe who settled in the Loddon Valley in approximately 700. Their leader, Basa, gave the tribe its name which survives today in the names of Old Basing and Basingstoke, both in Hampshire....

, who gave the village its name (the meaning being "Basa's people"). It was the site of the Battle of Basing
Battle of Basing
The Battle of Basing was a battle on 22 January 871 at Old Basing in what is now the English county of Hampshire. It was one of a series of battles that took place following an invasion of the then kingdom of Wessex by an army of Danes...

 on 22 January 871, when a Danish army defeated Ethelred of Wessex
Ethelred of Wessex
King Æthelred I was King of Wessex from 865 to 871. He was the fourth son of King Æthelwulf of Wessex...

. It is also mentioned in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

 of 1086.

The centre of the village, The Street, contains many old houses, and St Mary's Church. The River Loddon
River Loddon
The River Loddon is a river in the English counties of Berkshire and Hampshire. It is a tributary of the River Thames, rising within the urban area of Basingstoke and flowing to meet the Thames near the village of Wargrave...

, whose source is in Worting
Worting, Hampshire
Worting is a large 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 east is the district of Brighton Hill and the Cranbourne area....

 to the west of Basingstoke, flows through the village, which is perhaps best known for the ruins of Basing House
Basing House
Basing House was a major Tudor palace and castle in the village of Old Basing in the English county of Hampshire. It once rivaled Hampton Court Palace in its size and opulence. Today only its foundations and earthworks remain...

 which was built between 1532 and 1561 on the site of a Norman
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...

 castle. It was the home of the Marquesses 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...

 for several generations before being destroyed after a 24-week siege during the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

.

Many names in modern Old Basing allude to the war, such as Cavalier Road and Musket Copse, as well as several sites named after Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....

 including Oliver's Battery, Cromwell Cottage and Oliver's, an award-winning fish and chip takeaway and restaurant.

The route of the former Basingstoke Canal
Basingstoke Canal
The Basingstoke Canal is a British Canal, completed in 1794, built to connect Basingstoke with the River Thames at Weybridge via the Wey Navigation....

 also ran around Basing House and then through and around parts of Old Basing.

Governance

The village of Old Basing is part of the civil parish
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...

 of Old Basing and Lychpit and is part of the Basing ward
Wards of the United Kingdom
A ward in the United Kingdom is an electoral district at sub-national level represented by one or more councillors. It is the primary unit of British administrative and electoral geography .-England:...

 of Basingstoke and Deane borough council
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 hamlet of Deane, some from Basingstoke....

. The borough council is a Non-metropolitan district
Non-metropolitan district
Non-metropolitan districts, or colloquially shire districts, are a type of local government district in England. As created, they are sub-divisions of non-metropolitan counties in a so-called "two-tier" arrangement...

 of Hampshire County Council
Hampshire County Council
Hampshire County Council is the county council that governs the majority of the county of Hampshire in England. It provides the upper tier of local government, below which are district councils, and town and parish councils...

.

Old Basing elects three councillors to Basingstoke and Deane
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 hamlet of Deane, some from Basingstoke....

 Borough Council and is part of the Basingstoke constituency in elections to Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...

.

The current Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Basingstoke is Maria Miller
Maria Miller
Maria Frances Lewis Miller is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Basingstoke since the 2005 general election...

 (Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

) and the current councillors are Patricia Read (LibDem), Stephen Marks (Conservative) and Sven Godesen (Conservative).

Education

Old Basing provides both an infant school
Infant school
An Infant school is a term used primarily in the United Kingdom for school for children between the ages of four and seven years. It is usually a small school serving a particular locality....

 and a junior school
Junior school
A junior school is a type of school which caters for children, often between the ages of 7 and 11.-Australia:In Australia, a junior school is usually a part of a private school that educates children between the ages of 5 and 12....

. The junior school, named St Mary's, is aided by the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

. A new primary school has recently opened in nearby Lychpit
Lychpit
Lychpit is now the name of a modern housing development adjacent to Old Basing near Basingstoke, Hampshire. The modern development started in the early 1980s but the area has an ancient past associated with that of Old Basing. The name derives from a wooded dell that still exists at the western end...

. Children from Old Basing proceed to a variety of secondary schools in the Basingstoke area. The senior schools include Costello and a catholic school called Bishop Challoner.

Sport

Basing Rovers F.C. is the local football team, founded in 1886. The Recreation Ground in Old Basing plays host to a variety of sporting events as well as the Old Basing Carnival
Carnival
Carnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party...

. There are rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 and football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 pitches which overlap a cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

 ground in addition to five tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 courts (of which one is free), an archery
Archery
Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...

 area and a lawn bowling green.

Literature

Edward Lear
Edward Lear
Edward Lear was an English artist, illustrator, author, and poet, renowned today primarily for his literary nonsense, in poetry and prose, and especially his limericks, a form that he popularised.-Biography:...

 makes reference to Old Basing in his Book of Nonsense of 1846 (number 37):

"There was an Old Person of Basing,

Whose presence of mind was amazing;

He purchased a steed,

Which he rode at full speed,

And escaped from the people of Basing."

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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