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Basingstoke in Southampton County England History and GeographyBASINGSTOKE, a market town and parish, having separate jurisdiction, situated in the hundred of BASINGSTOKE, and in the Basingstoke division of the county of SOUTHAMPTON, 17½ miles (N.E.) from Winchester, and 45 (W.S.W.) from London, on the road to Exeter, containing 3165 inhabitants. In the early part of the Saxon dynasty, Basingstoke was inferior to Old Basing; but at the time of the Conquest, it had obtained the superiority, since in the record of Domesday it is deseribed as royal demesne, and as being in possession of a market. In 1261, Henry III., at the request of Walter de Merton, founded an hospital here for six poor priests, conceding preference to those from Merton College, Oxford. In the reign of Henry VIII. Sir William, afterwards Lord, Sandys, in conjunction with Fox, Bishop of Winchester, instituted a guild, and erected a beautiful chapel here, which he dedicated to the Holy Ghost. This fraternity was dissolved in the reign of Edward VI., and the revenue was vested in the Crown; but in the reign of Mary it was re-established, and the revenue appropriated to the maintenance of a priest, for the celebration of divine service, and the instruction of young men and boys belonging to the town. During the civil war, in the reign of Charles I., it was suppressed by Cromwell, and the estates were seized by the parliament; but through the intercession of Dr. Morley, Bishop of Winchester, they were restored in 1670, and appropriated to their former use. Of the chapel, and the buildings connected with it, there are some remains on an eminence on the south-western side of the town, consisting of the south and east walls, and an hexagonal tower at the northwest angle. The town is pleasantly situated in a fertile and well-cultivated distriet, near the source of the small river Lodden, and consists of several streets containing neat and well-built houses: it is paved and lighted under an act of parliament granted in 1815, and is amply supplied with water. Races, which continue for two days, and are well attended, take place annually in September. The trade is principally in corn and malt, which is carried on extensively and greatly facilitated by the situation of the town at the junction of five principal roads, and by the Basingstoke canal, which communicates with the river Wey, near its confluence with the Thames: this canal was completed in 1796, at an expense of £180,000. The market is on Wednesday: the fairs are on the Wednesday next after Whitsun week, and Oct. 11th, which latter is also a statute fair; a fair for the sale of cheese and cattle is also held on Basingstoke down, on Easter-Tuesday. The government, by charter of incorporation granted by James I., and confirmed by Charles I., is vested in a mayor, high steward, recorder, seven aldermen, and seven burgesses, assisted by a chamberlain, who is usually the eldest member in the corporation, a town clerk, two serjeants at mace, and subordinate officers. The mayor, and two aldermen appointed by the corporation, are justices of the peace: the corporation hold courts of quarter session for the town and parish, and have power to hold a court of record for the recovery of debts under £10, but this court is falling into disuse. The county magistrates hold a petty session here for the division, on the first and third Wednesdays in every month; and a court leet is held under the lord of the manor, the jurisdiction of which extends over nineteen tythings. Basingstoke sent members to parliament from the 23d of Edward I. to the 4th of Edward II., when it is supposed the privilege ceased on the solicitation of the inhabitants. The living is a discharged vicarage, with the chapelries of Basing and Upper Nately, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Winchester, rated in the king's books at £30. 16. 5½., endowed with £200 private benefaction, and £200 royal bounty, and in the patronage of the President and Fellows of Magdalene College, Oxford. The church, dedicated to St. Michael, is a spacious and handsome structure, in the later style of English architecture, with a low embattled tower: it contains a small parochial library, the gift of Sir George Wheeler. There are places of worship for the Society of Friends, Independents, and Methodists, and a chapel belonging to the Trustees of the late Countess of Huntingdon. The free grammar school, originally founded by Sir William Sandys, in connexion with the guild of the Holy Ghost, was re-established, after the dissolution of the fraternity in the reign of Edward VI., by Queen Mary, and has now a revenue exceeding £200: the master is apppointed by the crown, and the usher by the corporation. There are twelve boys at present on the foundation, of whom those belonging to the town pay 15s., and those in the neighbourhood £1. 1., per quarter: the school-room is part of an ancient edifice, adjoining the remains of the chapel of the Holy Ghost, and supposed to have been originally the parish church. Dr. Joseph Warton, a poet and refined critic, and his brother Thomas, the poet-laureat, received here the early part of their education, under their father Thomas Warton, B. D., some time Professor of Poetry in the Univcrsity of Oxford, and subsequently master of this school. The blue-coat school, in which ten boys are clothed, maintained, and educated, was founded and endowed in 1646, by Mr. Richard Aldworth. A National school, for one hundred boys, was established by Dr. Sheppard, late Vicar of Basingstoke, and another, for one hundred girls, by his widow, who erected a school-room at an expense of £500, both which are supported partly by endowment and partly by subscription. Almshouses for eight aged men or women, each of whom receive £6. 18. per annum, were founded and endowed by Sir James Deane, Knt. in 1607. Three almshouses, for aged widows of the Independent congregation, were founded and endowed by Mr. Joseph Page, in 1808; and several unendowed tenements, given by different individuals, are assigned rent free to the poor of the parish, who participate in the advantages derivable from various other benefactions. On an eminence in the vicinity of the town, there is an ancient encampment of an elliptical form, 1100 yards in circumference, called Aubrey Camp. John de Basingstoke, a learned Greek scholar, and the intimate friend of Matthew Paris; Sir James Lancaster, an eminent navigator, who in the reign of Elizabeth explored the Arctie Sea; and Thomas Warton, above mentioned; were natives of this place. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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