Basingstoke Leasing

Did You Know?

A Neolithic campsite of around 3000 BC beside a spring on the west of the town is the earliest known human settlement here, but the Willis Museum has flint implements and axes from nearby fields that date back to Palæolithic times.

Basingstoke began as a Saxon village. By the time of the Domesday Book (1086), it had a population of about 200. By the standards of the time, it was quite a large village. In Basingstoke, there were 3 watermills, which ground grain to flour. Basingstoke also had a weekly market.

In the Middle Ages Basingstoke grew into a town, though a small one. In the 13th century, the town probably had a population of around 600 or 700 people. There were really only 4 streets. In the middle was the Market Square. On the west was Church Road that led to St Michael of the Mount church.

The people of Medieval Basingstoke grew most of their own food. Around the town were 3 large fields, the west, south and north field. They were divided into strips and most men would own some strips in each field.

The prosperity of Basingstoke depended on wool. Sheep were raised locally and wool was woven in the town. After the wool was woven it was cleaned and thickened by pounding it in a mixture of water and clay. Wooden hammers worked by watermills pounded the wool.

In 1449 Basingstoke was granted the right to hold a fair. In the Middle Ages, a fair was like a market but it was held only once a year, for a few days, and people would come from a wide area to buy and sell goods.

In 1642 came civil war between king and parliament. The people of Basingstoke were sympathetic to parliament but the Marquis of Winchester, who owned Basing House, supported the king. On 31 July 1643, a force of parliamentary soldiers attempted to take the house but the Marquis and his men were armed with muskets and drove them off.

There was little change in Basingstoke in the 18th century. It remained a small market town reaching a population of about 2,500 by the end of the century. A workhouse was built in the town in 1722 where paupers were housed and fed.

In 1857 Millwards boot and shoe-making business began in Basingstoke. It was followed in 1860 by an engineering firm. Brewing was another important industry in the town. When the Salvation Army came to Basingstoke in 1880 they were unpopular, as they were teetotallers and people thought they might harm the brewing industry.