Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for BASING, or Old Basing

BASING, or Old Basing, a village and a parish in Basingstoke district, Hants. The village stands adjacent to the Basingstoke canal and the Southwestern rail way, 2 miles NW of Basingstoke; and has a post office, of the name of Old Basing, under Basingstoke. The parish includes also Water-End. Acres, 5,104. Real property, £5,974. Pop., 1,193. Houses, 232. The property is all in one estate. Ethelred I. was defeated here, in 871, by the Danes. A very early castle, adjacent to the village, was held by the family of De Port from the Conquest till the time of Richard II.; passed then, by marriage, to the Poynings; and went, in the time of Henry VI., to the Paulets. Sir William Paulet, created Marquis of Winchester by Edward VI., rebuilt the castle in a style of great magnificence; and gave sumptuous entertainment in it to Queen Elizabeth. John, the fifth marquis, garrisoned it in defence of Charles I.; maintained it against a siege, by successive parliamentary leaders, during two years; and was eventually beaten by storm, under Cromwell's own leading, with results which made the place a ruin, and gave the victors about £200,000 worth of plunder. Only an ivy-clad gateway, and a few walls and mounds of the castle now remain; and even a subsequent but smaller mansion built near it, has passed away. Many balls, skeletons, and other relics of the conflict have been found; and a neighbouring field bears the name of Slaughter-close. Many ancient entrenchments are in the vicinity; and one, called Winklesbury Circle, about 1,100 feet in diameter, with a flint-formed vallum, was used by Cromwell as a surveying post preparatory to his attack. The living is a vicarage, united with the vicarage of Up-Nately, in the diocese of Winchester. Value, not reported. Patron, Magdalene College, Oxford. The church is late perpendicular; was repaired, in 1519, by Sir John Paulet; and contains tombs of the Paulets, including the six Dukes of Bolton, descendants of the fifth Marquis of Winchester. Charities, £51.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village and a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Basing CP/AP       Basingstoke RegD/PLU       Hampshire AncC
Place names: BASING     |     BASING OR OLD BASING     |     OLD BASING
Place: Basing

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