please empty your brain below
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Also arriving by train for an explore, I wondered if I would ever find my way out of the gigantic shopping centre and reach the "real" Basingstoke.
It looks nicer on a sunny day than an overcast autumn one.
Man of Kent | 03.07.24 - 8:28 a.m. | #
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'...but Thomas's heart remained in Basingstoke. I found his grave in the cemetery on Chapel Hill.'
Those two lines together are perfect! Also great photo of the Holy Ghost Chapel, with the modern building in the background.
Jayne | 03.07.24 - 8:34 a.m. | #
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Basing House/Old Basing isn't infrequently served during the daytime (by provincial standards at least), although it may need a bit of walking from the bus stops served hourly. Best experienced on a sunny day.
Route 13 past Basing does cover some pleasant towns and countryside and a second branch line (Alton) for a "triangular" gadabout.
MilesT | 03.07.24 - 8:52 a.m. | #
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The Vyne tomorrow?
David B | 03.07.24 - 8:58 a.m. | #
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Basingstoke. My niece has just got onto the housing ladder.
A bit cheaper than Epsom.
Chris | 03.07.24 - 9:20 a.m. | #
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A good photo of St Michael’s with a halo.
An interesting write-up of a town I’ve never visited. I have memories of driving through town to avoid congestion on the A30 bypass before the M3. (When I say “driving”, I mean “being driven”, as I was only a child.)
Man of Kent | 03.07.24 - 9:20 a.m. | #
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I attended what was then Queen Mary's School for Boys from 1960, though we never lived in Basingstoke, but rather for most of the time in Silchester, a village between Basingstoke and Reading that the Romans knew as Calleva Atrebatum. The ruins of the Roman settlement are well worth a visit.
My most vivid memory of that time is cycling through the ice and snow during the winter of 1963 to reach the nearest town (Tadley) to catch the bus to school. From the photos it looks like Basingstoke town centre has changed a lot since we moved to London in 1967.
JohnC | 03.07.24 - 9:45 a.m. | #
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As a viewer of BBC local news in the 1960s, all I knew of Basingstoke was through successive items detailing yet another farm which was to make way for housing development.
Later, I was involved in Gilbert and Sullivan productions. In "Ruddigore" Mad Margaret discovered that declaiming the word "Basingstoke" was an instant cure for episodes of insanity. In Southampton, that always got the biggest laugh of the evening.
In the late 1970s, a brief contact through work made me aware that the town's twin claims to fame were the preponderance of traffic roundabouts, and the presence of a large AA building near the centre of the town.
cau1khead | 03.07.24 - 10:03 a.m. | #
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Interesting, as one of those overspill places I've never visited, but had wondered about. Indeed like most of the overspill towns, it's the type of place you live or work but tend to ignore otherwise.
Mikey C | 03.07.24 - 10:12 a.m. | #
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I grew up in Alton, a town about 12 miles south of Basingstoke. In the early 1960s the two towns were approximately the same size. When Basingstoke was undergoing its Town expansion scheme, there was a sense of relief in Alton that it had happened to them, and not us. As you note, much of the old town centre was swept away for a new one and fields transformed to housing estates. Construction of a ring road and new access routes meant that for several years routes through or around the town constantly changed.
Later, there was some envy as Basingstoke benefitted from its size. The retail offer was better Basingstoke got a new district hospital, while Alton's closed (The "new" Basingstoke hospital now proposed for closure/relocation), and over time Basingstoke was able to support better cultural facilities.
Two towns which were very similar in 1960 are now very different.
Boneyboy | 03.07.24 - 10:55 a.m. | #
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The Holy Ghost chapel ruins can be seen from the railway station platforms (maybe not in summer when the trees are in leaf) and that always seems slightly incongruous. The Waitrose does indeed look gargantuan. That's because it was originally a 'John Lewis at Home' plus a Waitrose when it opened nearly a decade ago, but the John Lewis part sometimes seemed to have the staff outnumbering the customers and was closed down a few years back during the pandemic.
michaelH | 03.07.24 - 11:04 a.m. | #
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As a teenager on the south coast my knowledge of Basingstoke was limited to its railway connections. Later as a motorist I found the A30 and A33 main routes to be notable for the Sainsburys lorries based at the new distribution warehouse in the town.
Ian | 03.07.24 - 11:26 a.m. | #
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My knowledge of Basingstoke comes mainly from the odd hour of wanderings invited by incredibly poorly-timed train connections. Seems there’s more to see than a few loops of the town centre would suggest, and I may consider staying longer next time.
Nick | 03.07.24 - 11:58 a.m. | #
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The 'very old' location may not be Silchester since that's a decent stroll north. But may I recommend a visit there sometime? Not much physical remains - a few walls here and there - however the imprint is remarkable for its scale. With a little imagination you can visualise the scope of what the Romans achieved and marvel that whilst many of the towns built up then are now modern cities, this one is merely fields.
Peter T | 03.07.24 - 12:11 p.m. | #
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Foe many years my parents had a Teasmade, on my father's side of the bed.
We children were forbidden to touch it.
Freddie Fitch | 03.07.24 - 5:22 p.m. | #
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Other nicknames are Basingrad or Doughnut city.
Rational Plan. | 03.07.24 - 8:07 p.m. | #
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Old Basing and Basing House are really worth a trip, if you ever venture back that way.......Oliver's Chip Shop is excellent.
Auntie Doris | 03.07.24 - 11:19 p.m. | #
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Milestones is pretty good; certainly better than one might expect in Basingstoke
Ian | 04.07.24 - 8:08 a.m. | #
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Being from the U.S., the only reason I know anything about Basingstoke is that it's the setting for an awesome alien/zombie-like game by Puppy Games, in which the object is "to get as far away from it as you possibly can".
Geoff | 05.07.24 - 7:53 a.m. | #
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