Basing House

The siege of Basing House near Basingstoke in Hampshire, was a Parliamentarian victory late in the First English Civil War. Whereas the title of the event may suggest a single siege, there were in fact three major engagements. John Paulet, 5th Marquis of Winchester owned the House and as a committed Royalist garrisoned it in support of King Charles I, as it commanded the road from London to the west through Salisbury. The first engagement was in November 1643, when Sir William Waller at the head of an army of about 7,000 attempted to take Basing House by direct assault. After three failed attempts it became obvious to him that his troops lacked the necessary resolve, and with winter fast approaching Waller retreated back to a more friendly location. Early in 1644 the Parliamentarians attempted to arrange a secret surrender of the Basing House with the temporary commander Lord Charles Paulet, but the plot was discovered, Lord Charles was relieved of command and tried for treason, and so the plot failed. Parliamentary forces continued the siege by garrisons on the static approaches to Basing House to stop the Royalists foraging and relief convoys getting through. Then on 4 June 1644, Colonel Richard Norton using Parliamentary troops from the Hampshire garrisons closely invested Basing House and attempted to starve the garrison into submission. This siege was broken on 12 September 1644 when a relief column under the command of Colonel Henry Gage broke through parliamentary lines. Having resupplied the garrison he did not tarry but left the next day and returned to Royalist lines. The Parliamentarians reinvested the place but by the middle of November threatened by a Royalist army and his besieging force decimated by disease Weller ended the investment. Five days later on 20 November Gage arrived with fresh supplies. The final siege took place in October 1645. Oliver Cromwell joined parliamentary forces besieging the House with his own men and a siege train of heavy guns. They quickly breached the defences and on the morning of 14 October 1645 the House was successfully stormed. As the garrison had refused to surrender before the assault—during the two years of the siege, upwards of 2,000 Parliamentarians were slain.—the attackers, who had little sympathy for those they perceived to be Roman Catholics, killed about a quarter of the 400 members of the garrison, including ten priests (six of whom were killed during the assault and four others held to be executed later). During the assault the House caught fire and was badly damaged. What remained was "totally slighted and demolished" by order of Parliament, with the stones of the House offered free to anyone who would cart them away.

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 of Little Basing. Lych or Lich being the Old English name for a corpse, it is assumed that the pit was therefore some kind of mass burial ground, local tradition associating it with the Danish victory over Alfred's Saxons at the Battle of Basing in 871. Another possibility is that it was used to bury casualties of the Battle of Basing House, where Oliver Cromwell's troops laid siege to and eventually sacked this large private house. Several of the local roads bear the names of Cromwell's officers e.g. Norton Ride and Gage Close. Next to the Lychpit is a public house and restaurant making use of an old water mill on the River Loddon, a tributary of the River Thames. The river is well-stocked with trout and visitors to the pub can sometimes see kingfishers that hunt along the river banks, despite the roar of frequent trains overhead on the London line. Daneshill, which comprises rising and still wooded ground overlooking Lychpit has a reasonable example of Lutyens architecture in Daneshill House, formerly home to the Hoare family. Immediately before the first modern houses were built Hampshire County Council which had bought much of the land, commissioned an archaeological survey. The soil was stripped revealing the underlying chalk and with the help of RAF helicopters from nearby RAF Odiham they were able to spot and photograph the staining caused by timber building post holes dating from the Bronze Age. Armed with this invaluable knowledge of where to look the survey revealed several ancient timber building sites, artifacts, and a few skeletons of similar vintage. There are also visible remains of a Park Pale near Pyotts Hill, which surrounded a hunting park in the area during the middle ages. Park Pale is also said to be the line of part of a Roman road connecting the fort at Silchester with Chichester, another important Roman garrison on the South Coast.

The Battle of Basing was a victory of a Danish Viking army over the West Saxons at the royal estate of Basing in Hampshire on about 22 January 871.In late December 870 the Vikings invaded Wessex and occupied Reading. Several battles followed in quick succession, Englefield, a West Saxon victory, Reading, a Viking victory and Ashdown on about 8 January, a West Saxon victory. Two weeks later, King Æthelred and his brother, the future King Alfred the Great, were defeated at Basing. There was then a lull of two months until the Battle of Meretun, when the Vikings again prevailed. Soon after Easter, which fell on 15 April in that year, Æthelred died and was succeeded by Alfred.The Battle of Basing can be dated because Bishop Heahmund of Sherborne died in the Battle of Meretun, and it is known that he died on 22 March 871. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that the Battle of Basing was two months earlier, dating it to 22 January, Ashdown fourteen days before that on 8 January, Reading four days earlier on 4 January, Englefield another four days earlier on 31 December 870 and the arrival of the Vikings in Reading three days earlier on 28 December. However, as the two month interval between Meretun and Basing is probably not exact, the earlier dates are approximate.

Old Basing is a village in Hampshire, England, just east of Basingstoke. It was called Basengum in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and Basinges in the Domesday Book.

The Mill Field is a 11.7-hectare (29-acre) Local Nature Reserve in Basingstoke in Hampshire. It is owned by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council and managed by the Mill Field Conservation Group and Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council.The field has a large area of grassland together with scrub and hedgerows. There are water voles and dormice, while insects include waved black, lunar yellow underwing and water carpet moths and marbled white butterflies.

Daneshill Park Woods is a 4.4-hectare (11-acre) Local Nature Reserve in Basingstoke in Hampshire. It is owned and managed by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council.These woods have hazel coppice, an old orchard, scrub and a sunken lane. Ground flora include wood anemone, celandine and bluebells.

Fanum House is the headquarters of the Automobile Association in Basingstoke, in the English county of Hampshire. It is one of several current and former AA buildings named "Fanum House" around the country. The original headquarters in Leicester Square, London, was also called Fanum House, "Fanum" being the call sign of the AA.

Chineham ( CHIN-əm) is a civil parish on the outskirts of Basingstoke, Hampshire, England. It is situated about 3 miles (5 km) northeast of central Basingstoke, just north of the A33 road between Basingstoke and Reading.

Eastrop Park is a public park located in the east of Basingstoke, Hampshire. The park features a large boating lake, a miniature golf course, a café and walking trails. The River Loddon flows through the park, feeding into a balancing pond. The pond serves as a habitat for various wildlife, including kingfishers.

Hackwood Park is a large country estate that primarily consists of an early 18th-century ornamental woodland and formal lawn garden and a large detached house. It is within the boundaries of Winslade, an overwhelmingly rural parish immediately south of Basingstoke in Hampshire. In its 260-acre (110 ha) grounds contain 23 separately listed structures including a teahouse pavilion, an ornamental bridge, statue of George I of Great Britain, three dispersed stone tōrōs, five urns and two fountains, a coach house and stables. Sheep and deer are tended to on grounds behind a variously arc-shaped and straight ha-ha wall. The park and gardens are Grade I listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens and the main house is Grade II* listed on the National Heritage List for England.

The Costello School is an 11–16 mixed secondary school with academy status in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England.It originally opened as Basingstoke High School for girls. It became Harriet Costello Secondary School in 1972 when it became a co-ed, but was renamed Costello Technology College after gaining specialist Technology College status. The school was converted to academy status on 1 July 2012 and was renamed The Costello School. Before becoming an academy it was a community school under the direct control of Hampshire County Council. The school continues to coordinate with Hampshire County Council for admissions. The school, as of 1 September 2018, is now part of the multi-academy trust (MAT) Bohunt Education Trust.

The Breeze Basingstoke & North Hampshire was an independent local radio station serving Basingstoke and the surrounding area of North Hampshire. Owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Greatest Hits Radio Network.