Place:Basingstoke, Hampshire, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Basingstoke is a large town in northeast Hampshire, in south central England. It lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon. It is located northeast of Southampton, southwest of London, and northeast of the county town and ancient national capital of Winchester. In 2012 it had an estimated population of 84,275. This does not include the large villages of Chineham, Old Basing or Lychpit, which are now generally considered as outer suburbs. It is part of the borough of Basingstoke and Deane. Basingstoke is often nicknamed "Doughnut City" or "Roundabout City" because of the number of large roundabouts.

Often mistaken for a new town, Basingstoke is an old market town expanded in the 1960s. It was developed rapidly, along with various other towns in the United Kingdom in order to accommodate part of the London 'overspill' as perceived under the Greater London Plan in 1944. Basingstoke market was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 and it remained a small market town until the 1950s. It still has a regular market, but is now larger than Hampshire County Council's definition of a market town.

Basingstoke became an important economic centre during the second half of the 20th century, and houses a number of well-known businesses in electronics, publishing, telecommunications and insurance. Two traders who opened their first shops within a year of each other in the town, became household names nationally: Thomas Burberry in 1856 and Alfred Milward in 1857. Burberry became famous after he invented gabardine and Milward founded the Milwards chain of shoe shops, which could be found on almost every high street in Britain until the 1980s.

History of the town

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Basingstoke.

Research Tips

• Victoria County History of Hampshire, volume 4, chapter on Basingstoke.
• GENUKI has a list of archive holders in Hampshire including the Hampshire Record Office, various museums in Portsmouth and Southhampton, the Isle of Wight Record Office and Archives.
• The Hampshire Online Parish Clerk project has a large collection of transcriptions from Parish Registers across Hampshire.
• A listing of all the Registration Districts in England and Wales since their introduction in 1837 together with tables listing the parishes that were part of each district and the time period covered, along with detailed notes on changes of parish name, mergers, etc. Do respect the copyright on this material.
• The three-storey City Museum in Winchester covers the Iron Age and Roman periods, the Middle Ages, and the Victorian period.
• Volumes in The Victoria County History Series are available for Hampshire through British History Online. There are three volumes and the county is covered by parishes within the old divisions of "hundreds".

A collection of maps on the A Vision of Britain through Time website illustrating the English county of Hampshire over the period 1832-1932 (the last two are expandible):

• The Hundreds of Hampshire, a map from HMSO Boundary Commissioners, dated 1832
• Hampshire showing parishes in their Rural Districts as of 1900, a map from the Ordnance Survey
• Hampshire showing parishes in their Rural Districts after the alterations of 1932, a map from the Ordnance Survey

• A group of maps of the post-1974 municipal districts or boroughs of Hampshire on Wikipedia Commons