Landscape Section - 2021 Visits

Medieval and Post-medieval Buildings of Basingstoke

Sunday 3rd October 2021 from 10.30 - 13.00 approx.

Bill Fergie and John Hare, both of the Historic Buildings Section, will lead the walk.

Booking: Please download, print and complete the form which should be sent to our Treasurer (address on the form). If you wish to attend but don't have time to send in the booking form, please either ring Mike Broderick - 01256 351624 - or email landscape@hantsfieldclub.org.uk. N.B. There will be a limit of 20 people for this visit.

Getting to Basingstoke: If arriving by car, the nearest public car park is 'Eastlands' and parking will be £4.30 for up to 4 hours; this car park is shown on the downloadable pdf map in the south-east corner just north (above) the 'Civic Offices'. Alternatively, Eastrop Lane has free on street parking.
If travelling by train, then - from the front of the station - walk down the steps and find the No. 1 bus stop for Brighton Hill. This bus will call first at the bus station; once the bus leaves the bus station, you will need to get off at the first stop - the Magistrates Court. Walk towards the traffic lights and turn left into London Road. The War Memorial will be about 100 metres on the right on the other side of the road.

Meeting Point: We shall meet by the Basingsoke War Memorial; see photo below:

Bill Fergie (former Director of Development for Basingstoke, and chairman of the Historic Buildings Section) & John Hare, (author of Basingstoke: a medieval town), will look at the old town centre; we shall see older structures hidden by later ‘fashionable’ updating of frontages. A guided study of St. Michael’s church will, with Church Cottage, form part of the visit.

The walk will begin at the town’s War Memorial at 10.30 and will continue from there along London Street as far as the Market Square and on to the end of the pedestrianised section of Winchester Street. Buildings which will be seen include the Sir James Deane Almshouses and the Willis Museum. Our route will continue south down Church Street until we arrive at Church Square.

The parish church of St Michael, Basingstoke was rebuilt on a grand scale in the fifteenth and early sixteenth century. This lavish rebuilding reflected the increasing wealth of the town and the growth of the cloth industry of the town and surrounding area, particularly in the later fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Nearby Church Cottage is a fine example of a timber-framed building; see the photo below.