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Basildon Leasing

Did You Know?

Basildon may be a little town in South Essex, but we've got world champions to be proud of. Locals know how great it is to have the Sporting Village nearby, which served as a training camp for the 2012 London Olympic Games. And when five-time Olympic gymnast Max Whitlock trains in the town, you can't help but be proud.

The name of Basildon is of Saxon origin meaning 'Beorhtels Hill', but the history of the district goes back to the early Stone Age. Thousands of years ago the early inhabitants of the area were roving bands of hunters.

Basildon new town was established in 1949. It was one of eight established 20 to 30 miles (32 to 48 km) from central London to help alleviate the city's acute post-World War II housing shortage. More than 230 factories have been built and nearly 400 shops.

Basildon Park is a gorgeous stately home in West Berkshire that has featured in an array of period dramas. The film adaption of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is perhaps the most notable, along with Downton Abbey and more recently Bridgerton.

Basildon was first mentioned in the Domesday survey of 1086 as Berlesduna and being in the Barstable Hundred, but for centuries was little more than a small village before being designated a new town. Its small population was mainly centred around the area of Church Road, close to Holy Cross Church.

All modern bicycles are descended from JK Starley’s Rover safety cycle, invented in Coventry in 1885. A decade later the city became the birthplace of the British motor industry, producing the first cars under licence from Gottlieb Daimler in Germany.

Coventry once boasted the only unfortified royal palace outside London. The palace’s surviving gatehouse, parts of which date back to the 13th century, is the oldest building in Britain to be used as a Register Office.

The nightclub was known by many different names, such as Tiffany's and Locarno, but took the Raquels name in 1974. In 1980, the venue moved with changing tastes and became 'Raquels II - The Discotheque', but was still known to locals as Raquels. It became one of the most iconic nightclubs in the south of Essex.

Basildon Park was built in 1776-83 by John Carr of York for Francis Sykes who made a fortune in service with the East India Company. This Palladian house consists of a 3-storey central block flanked by 2-storey pavilions.

Local government district of Basildon, which was formed in 1974 and received borough status in 2010, encapsulates a larger area than the town itself; the two neighbouring towns of Billericay and Wickford, as well as rural villages and smaller settlements set among the surrounding countryside, fall within its borders.

Basildon is home to Wat Tyler Country Park which opened in 1984; Marks Hill Nature Reserve ; Vange Hill; One Tree Hill Country Park; Langdon Hill Country Parks and the RSPB Nature Reserve at Bowers Marshes.

Basildon's published three novels: Three Blind Mice, described by Marian Keyes as 'a dark and compelling love story of a genre that could be called East End noir'; Prohibitions, a literary thriller again set in the East End; and Presenting … the Fabulous O'Learys, a bold and imaginative take on King Lear.