Old Basing is a village in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, England, just east of

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is a town in Hampshire, situated in south-central England across a valley at the source of the River Loddon on the western edge of the North Downs. It is the largest settlement in Hampshire without city status in the United King ...

. It was called ''Basengum'' in the

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the ninth century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of ...

and ''Basinges'' in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

Etymology

The name Basing comes from two

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

components: ''Basa'', the name of an Anglo-Saxon tribal leader, and the suffix ''-ingas'', meaning "people of". This origin is shared with Basingstoke, which came from adding the additional component ''stoc'', meaning "secondary farm/settlement", reflecting that Basing was originally the larger settlement. The

adjective An adjective (abbreviations, abbreviated ) is a word that describes or defines a noun or noun phrase. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives are considered one of the main part of speech, parts of ...

''Old'' was added officially in the latter half of the 20th century (between 1968 and 1986 according to OS maps); a 1911 local history referred to the village as Basing, with Old Basing listed as an alternative name.

History

Old Basing was first settled in the sixth century by a proto-

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

tribe known as the '' Basingas''. In the ninth century it was a royal estate and it was the site of the Battle of Basing on or about 22 January 871 AD, when a Viking army defeated King Æthelred of Wessex and his brother, the future King

Alfred the Great Alfred the Great ( ; – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who both died when Alfr ...

. It is also mentioned in the

of 1086 AD. 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

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

. 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 (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

including ''Oliver's Battery and'' ''Cromwell Cottage.'' ''Oliver's'', a fish and chip takeaway and restaurant is named after Les Oliver who opened the restaurant in 1974. 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".

Governance

The village of Old Basing is part of the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Old Basing and Lychpit which in turn is part of the Basing

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

of Basingstoke and Deane borough council. The borough council is a

Non-metropolitan district Non-metropolitan districts, or colloquially "shire districts", are a type of Districts of England, local government district in England. As created, they are sub-divisions of non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties (colloquially ''s ...

Hampshire County Council Hampshire County Council (HCC) is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Hampshire in England. The council was created in 1889. The county council provides county-level services to eleven of the thirteen districts geo ...

. The Basing ward elects three councillors to

Basingstoke and Deane Basingstoke and Deane is a local government district with borough status in Hampshire, England. The main town is Basingstoke, where the council is based. The district also includes the towns of Tadley and Whitchurch, along with numerous vil ...

Borough Council and is part of the North East Hampshire

constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

in elections to

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. The current Member of Parliament for North East Hampshire is Alex Brewer ( Liberal Democrat ) and the current councillors are Onnalee Cubitt (Independent), Stephen Marks (Conservative) and Sven Godesen (Conservative).

Education

Old Basing provides both an

infant school An infant school is a type of school or school department for young children. Today, the term is mainly used in England and Wales. In the Republic of Ireland, the first two years of primary school are called infant classes. Infant schools were ...

and a

junior school A junior school is a type of school which provides primary education to children, often in the age range from 8 and 13, following attendance at an infant school, which covers the age range 5–7. Since both infant and junior schools provide pri ...

. The junior school, named St Mary's, is aided by the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

. A new

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

has recently opened in nearby Lychpit. There are a variety of

secondary schools A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

in the Basingstoke area.

Sport

Basing Royals F.C., founded in 2018, is the local football team. The club plays their home games at Royals Park which is part of the wider Basingstoke Common and is situated next to the Old Basing British Legion. The Recreation Ground in Old Basing is used for a variety of sporting events as well as the Old Basing

Carnival Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Carnival typi ...

. There are

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

pitches which overlap a

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

ground in addition to five

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

courts, an

archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a Bow and arrow, bow to shooting, shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting ...

area and a

lawn bowling Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which players try to roll their ball (called a bowl) closest to a smaller ball (known as a "jack" or sometimes a "kitty"). The bowls are shaped (biased), so that they follow a curve ...

green.

Literature

Edward Lear Edward Lear (12 May 1812 – 29 January 1888) was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, who is known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limerick (poetry), limericks, a form he popularised. ...

makes reference to Old Basing in his ''Book of Nonsense'': ''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.''

People

William Paulet, 1st Marquess of Winchester William Paulet, 1st Marquess of Winchester (c. 1483/1485 – 10 March 1572), styled Lord St John between 1539 and 1550 and Earl of Wiltshire between 1550 and 1551, was an English Lord High Treasurer, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, and statesma ...

, buried at St. Mary's Church *

John Paulet, 2nd Marquess of Winchester John Paulet, 2nd Marquess of Winchester ( – 4 November 1576), styled The Honourable John Paulet between 1539 and 1550, Lord St John between 1550 and 1551 and Earl of Wiltshire between 1551 and 1555, was an English Peerage, peer. He was the el ...

, buried at St. Mary's Church * Elizabeth Paulet, buried at St. Mary's Church * William Paulet, 3rd Marquess of Winchester, buried at St. Mary's Church * Elizabeth Seymour, Lady Cromwell, buried at St. Mary's Church *

William Paulet, 4th Marquess of Winchester William Paulet, 4th Marquess of Winchester (bef. 1560 – 4 February 1629) was an England, English nobleman, the son of William Paulet, 3rd Marquess of Winchester and Anne or Agnes Howard. He was styled Lord St. John from 1576 to 1598. He wa ...

, buried at St. Mary's Church *

Charles Paulet, 1st Duke of Bolton Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was ...