BASING HOUSE

Hampshire

Standing just outside modern Basingstoke, Basing House is a real oddity.  It's origins are as a Norman earthwork of uncertain origin, but a mansion was built in 1521 by William Paulet, who gained for it one of the last licence's to crenellate granted in England.  The mansion's layout was forced by its construction inside the Norman ringwork - and only a few vague nods were made towards genuine fortification.

And yet, despite this it held out for one of the longest sieges during the Civil War - no less than two years, the siege only being ended by the arrival of Oliver Cromwell himself.  Cromwell's men had been camped outside for 26 months and were not in magnanimous mood when they finally gained access - the garrison inside were slaughtered and the House was smashed to pieces.

One of the umissable highlights of Basing House - although not for the squeamish - is the hands and knees crawl down an unlit tunnel (intended as a kind of back door out in emergency).

Basing House is open during the summer.

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© Text copyright - Raving Loony Productions, Andrew J. Müller and Roy Barton
© Photos and Artwork - Andrew J. Müller and Roy Barton
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2001