Old Basing
| Old Basing | |
| Hampshire | |
|---|---|
 The Street, Old Basing | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SU664528 |
| Location: | 51°16’13"N, 1°2’50"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 7,232 |
| Post town: | Basingstoke |
| Postcode: | RG24 |
| Dialling code: | 01256 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Basingstoke and Deane |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Basingstoke |
Old Basing is a village in Hampshire, just east of Basingstoke.
The village is named Basengum (dative plural) in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and Basinges in the Domesday Book. The name is from Old English, Basingas which may mean 'Sons of (or people of) Basa', after an otherwise unknown progenitor.
History
In the ninth century, Basing was a royal estate and here on or about 22 January 871 was fought the Battle of Basing, when a Viking army defeated King Æthelred of Wessex and his brother, the future King Alfred the Great.[1][2]
The village is also recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086.
The centre of the village, 'The Street', contains many old houses, and St Mary's Church. The River Loddon, whose source is in Worting to the west of Basingstoke, flows through the village. Old Basing is perhaps best known for the ruins of Basing House which was built between 1532 and 1561 on the site of a Norman castle. It was the home of the Marquesses of Winchester for several generations before being destroyed after a 24-week siege during the Civil War. 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, including 'Oliver's Battery' and 'Cromwell Cottage'.
The route of the former Basingstoke Canal also ran around Basing House and then through and around parts of Old Basing.
In the 1980s, the Lychpit estate was developed to the north of the village, within the boundaries of the civil parish. In 2006, the name of the civil parish was changed to "Old Basing and Lychpit".
Sport
- Football: Old Basing Rovers F.C., founded in 2017, successor to the original 'Basing Rovers' founded in 1886 and dissolved in the 1990s
The Recreation Ground in Old Basing is used for a variety of sporting events as well as the Old Basing Carnival. Rugby union and football pitches which overlap a cricket ground in addition to five tennis courts, an archery area and a lawn bowling green.
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Old Basing) |
- Old Basing Parish Council
- Britannia: History of St. Mary's Church, Old Basing
- Old Basing in the Domesday Book
References
- ↑ Abels, Richard (1998). Alfred the Great: War, Kingship and Culture in Anglo-Saxon England. Harlow, UK: Longman. p. 131. ISBN 0-582-04047-7.
- ↑ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Parker Chronicle (871)