XX.—On the Excavation of the Site of Basing House, Hampshire

Extract

The village of Basing lies in the upper Loddon Valley a mile and a half east of Basingstoke on the south bank of the river, which rises some four miles to the east, near Worting, and here runs in a flat and marshy channel. At either end of the village is a mill, the Lower Mill at the west end and Old Basing Mill at the east, near the church. A third mill mentioned in Domesday does not now exist. The ground rises gently southwards, the road running through the village along the base of the slope, and at the east end of the village is higher ground on which the church stands. At the south-west, about 500 yards from the church, are the earthworks marking the site of Basing House, and commanding at the same time the road and the approach to the bridge over the Loddon. In early days, when the river probably ran through a wider belt of marshy ground than at present, the position must have been one of great strategic importance, and in fact it continued to be so down to the time of the destruction of the house in the Civil Wars. Its strength is also witnessed to by the fact that it resisted attack after attack by the soldiers of the Parliament, and was only taken at length when the Royalist power was broken, and Cromwell himself could give all his energies to its reduction.