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This is a little book I got my boyfriend about the town we currently live in. You know, this is just a tiny book, but it held so many fascinating facts about the town, I could barely put it down. Basingstoke being an overspill city of London, I didn’t think too much about it’s history. But how wrong was I. One of my absolutely favorite brands, Burberry, was founded here. I really love how the tiny book had a little bit of everything: history, photos, ghost stories, Hampshire based recepies and even a quiz at the end.

Some interesting facts about Basingstoke:

  1. The name supposedly comes from the saxon tribe that populated the area around AD700, who called themselves “basingas”
  2. One of the oldest buildings is Church Cottage (oldest part dates from 1520)
  3. One of Basingstoke’s historic sites is the ruined Chapel of the Holy Ghost (I go there for bunny-spotting)
  4. Daniel Defoe commented on the town’s corn market in 1724
  5. After Basingstoke was established as an overspill town, most of it’s town centre was rebuilt into a modern shopping center (which I am not a fan of)
  6. It features in Shakespeare’s ‘King Henry IV’
  7. The Tower at Skyline Plaza in the heart of Basingstoke is the tallest building on the flight path from Heathrow Airport to New York.

I think we should all try and know as musch as we can about the place we live in, because, at the end of the day, it’s very much so a  part of your life. So next time you’re out and about, go on, I challenge you, discover something, a building, an old tree, a windowframe, anything!

Also, for an amazing archive of old pictures about towns and villages of the UK, visit :

http://www.francisfrith.com