Basingstoke and Deane History Map

There is more to Basingstoke than meets the eye. May is Local and Community History Month which makes it the perfect time to get out and about and discover more!

Explore the huge amount of local history and heritage on our doorstep in Basingstoke and Deane.

For Local and Community History Month we ran an art competition encourgaing people to find out about our history and transform this into a piece of captivating art. We are pleased to display the winners below.

A brown building with dark roof and windows and doors. In the background is a yellow and orange sky.

Winner of 5-10 years category - Eifion

A brick background with the word Basingstoke in black. Then in the middle it's like a window looking at all the different periods of history. First ston age with a hut. Then Romans with a fort. Then medieval with a person on horseback. Then modern with high rise buildings with lots of glass windows.

Winner of the 11-17 years category - Ivona

A colourful design that is layered. A grey background then features a number of circular designs layered on each other so you can sometimes see full circles and some art part. There are paintings of statues and hand drawings of the Willis museum and a map. The main colours are blue, orange and pink with many of the drawings in white.

Winner of the 18+ years category - Lee-Anne

Discovering our history is a wonderful way to spend your free time. If you are looking for somewhere to explore then visit one of these places:

Basing House

Basingstoke Discovery Centre

Basingstoke Town Trail

Milestones Museum

Oakley Hall Hotel

Sandham Memorial Chapel

Silchester Roman Walls

St Nicholas Church, Steventon

The Holy Ghost Cemetery

The Vyne

Willis Museum and Sainsbury Gallery

Whitchurch Silk Mill

Find your Location

Explore our interactive map to discover historical landmarks, museums, and hidden gems, or delve deeper into the stories that shaped our town through informative resources.

A green grassed area with ruins sticking up

Hampshire Cultural Trust

Basing House

Visit the ruins of Basing House which served as a significant Royalist stronghold until it was destroyed in 1645.

Visit Basing House →

Festival Place

Basingstoke Discovery Centre

The library has a huge range of local history resources you can access for free. Take a look at old maps, photos and copies of old publications.

Visit Basingstoke Discovery Centre →

Basingstoke town centre. View of the Willis Museum with a large tree in front.

Basingstoke Town Trail

A self-guided walk showing you more about the town’s history, from Domesday to the modern day.

Visit Basingstoke Town Trail →

A group walks towards the camera, they walk on cobbled stones. There are six people within the image. To the front of the group is a small boy wearing a white top with a large yellow smiley face. A man walks next to him wearing a black jacket and blue jeans. Behind them in the group is a lady wearing a brown jumper and blue jeans. A man pushes a pram wearing a salmon coloured jumper. Next to him is a lady with white hair wearing a striped top. Slightly cropped to the left of the image is a victorian machine.

Andy Beeson

Milestones Museum

Hampshire’s museum of living history. Explore the museum’s streets, shops and buildings to discover how people used to live, buy a ration of sweets from the 1940s sweet shop and view the unique collection of vintage vehicles.

Visit Milestones Museum →

A red brick building with white windows.

Oakley Hall Hotel

Oakley Hall dates back to 1795 and has links to the celebrated novelist Jane Austen who lived in the nearby village of Steventon.

Visit Oakley Hall Hotel →

©National Trust Images/James Dobson

Sandham Memorial Chapel

Built in the 1920s for Stanley Spencer. Visit the chapel which contains his paintings.

Visit Sandham Memorial Chapel →

Silchester Roman Walls

The complete circuit of the Roman walls, some of the best-preserved Roman town defences in England, and remains of the amphitheatre still stand.

Visit Silchester Roman Walls →

A church is set against a blue sky with large green trees either side.

St Nicholas Church

St Nicholas Church, Steventon

St Nicholas was originally built around the year 1200 and, apart from some limited 13th, 15th and 19th century alterations, has stayed much the same since it was first built. The church is used regularly for worship and is well known for its associations with Jane Austen, born in Steventon in 1775, being the single most important building left standing in Steventon which relates to her. Her father George Austen, two of her brothers James and Henry, and her nephew William Knight were all Rectors of Steventon. Jane was baptized in St. Nicholas.

Visit St Nicholas Church, Steventon →

Holy Ghost Cemetary

The Holy Ghost Cemetery

Steeped in history, the Holy Ghost Cemetery is something of a hidden treasure in the town centre and if you visit today you can still see ruins. The burial ground has been in use since 1208 during the reign of King John and was extended in 1858 to the current footprint to accommodate the growing population of the town. Several well-known people including Thomas Burberry are buried here.

Visit The Holy Ghost Cemetery →

The Vyne

Explore a former Tudor powerhouse turned 17th Century family home, set in gardens, woodlands and wetlands.

Visit The Vyne →

A white building with three trees in front and market square.

Willis Museum, located at the Top of Town

Willis Museum and Sainsbury Gallery

Discover Basingstoke and Deane’s past, from the rich archaeological heritage beneath our feet right up to the modern day in this early Victorian building that was once Basingstoke’s town hall

Visit Willis Museum and Sainsbury Gallery →

A red three storey brick building with white windows. It has a triangular pitch in the middle of the roof and a tower. To the right of the image is the river.

Credit Whitchurch Silk Mill

Whitchurch Silk Mill

The UK’s oldest working silk mill and a gem of industrial heritage located on the River Test.

Visit Whitchurch Silk Mill →