BASINGSTOKE HERITAGE SOCIETY

Basingstoke Heritage Society
News for Members no 84
July 2010

Walk
Sunday August 1st

we are delighted that Bill Fergie has agreed to conduct a walk around the town’s oldest buildings. Bill’s expertise in timber-framed buildings will make this a very interesting experience. The walk starts at 11.00 at the Deanes Almshouses in London Street.

As it would be helpful to have numbers in advance, please let the secretary know on 01256 473390 or reavell@btinternet.com, giving your name and phone number.

John Jenkins talk at the AGM about the windows from the Holy Ghost Chapel at South View, was, as expected, fascinating. His research continues into the story of the windows and it’s well worth hunting out his book which is called The Painted Glass of William, Lord Sandys (1470-1540) Authors J M Jenkins and N W Simpson.

The report of the year’s activities was tabled at the AGM as below:

Heritage Open Day – South View Cemetery (Holy Ghost Ruins) -

This was the core activity of our year, taking a great deal of planning and preparation. We worked with members of the Archaeological and Historical Association, Friends of the Willis and NADFAS and invited the Proteans to perform a History of Basingstoke in 15 minutes, which was hugely entertaining. An exhibition in the tent, World War 1 re-enactors and an illustrated trail for people to visit not just the ancient monument, but to locate the many famous Basingstokers buried in the cemetery. Talks throughout the day by Bill Fergie and Barbara Applin were well attended and interesting. Nearly 400 people visited the HOD. A grant from the Borough of Basingstoke helped us arrange the day and the drama was funded by a grant from Destination Basingstoke which was handed to us at the Place to be Proud of Awards.

Kingsclere Road development – Lemon Land -

The society has focussed on the retention of the Lilly building itself. The developers intend that a hotel use will be found for the building if the development goes ahead. We did ask the council if they could give the building ‘spot’ conservation area status, but they do not think that this is appropriate for this area. Currently there is a new planning application and the one refused by the council is being appealed.

Exhibition at the Willis – April 2011 -

Following on from the work done for the Heritage Open Day, we will stage an exhibition next year at the Willis on the Holy Ghost Ruins and the cemetery. This will take place in April 2011 in the Community Room at the Willis.

Local List -

This is the council’s scheme to give some extra protection to buildings of local historical or architectural interest. We recently nominated the old World War 2 air raid shelters behind Brinkletts car park. Are they worth preserving? We were very pleased that other buildings nominated by the society have made their way onto the list – these included Hackwood Cottages, Hackwood Road; the former school at Worting (St Thomas’ Church Hall); 41and 43 Cliddesden Road.

Planning Applications -

We look at these at meetings via the internet. It makes it much easier for everyone to see the plans and make comments. Broadly we look at plans which impact the society’s area of concern, which is the unparished area of the town. We look at signage applications for the central conservation area as well as other planning application in the conservation areas at Brookvale, Fairfields, Worting and South View.

Sign on Norn Hill Bridge -

There is a sign on this pedestrian bridge over the railway which notes that Dudley Keep opened the bridge. We have asked for this sign to be cleaned and re-furbished and this has been done.

Bronze Age Burial Mounds -

These are off Brackley Way and we are trying to help a local resident who has campaigned for some years to get a good interpretation board at this site.

Heritage Plaques -

We have the council’s permission to turn our plaques blue and white! They will be much more visible and is the colour used by many other towns for historic plaques. The first one is done, the Burberry in London Street.

Civic Trust and the new Civic Voice -

Following the demise of the Civic Trust a new body has emerged. It would have cost us nearly 4 times to join this than our subscription to the Civic Trust and we have decided not to join at present but to review in a year’s time.

Web Site -

We have added the Heritage Open Day material to it and were delighted to get an enquiry from Australia from someone who had looked at the site.

Bluecoat Boy Statue -

Some minor repairs have been done generously by Barry Champion, who was the original builder of the statue base in Cross Street. We are also restoring the text plaque as it has become almost illegible.

Walk around Basing View -

Members enjoyed an interesting walk around the architecture in Basing View and close by, led by Andrew Benson-Wilson, the society’s first chairman.

Tree Warden’s Report -

Tree wardens, conservation volunteers and community groups met on the Common on 27 and 28 November 2009 for tea and cake and to plant trees during National Tree Week. Crabtree and Basing Fen will be connected by a natural ‘woodland corridor’ by planting 1500 native species saplings. War Memorial Park now has marker posts to identify trees. Tree Wardens met the Secretary of State, Hilary Benn in February to talk about the huge amount of work done by tree wardens.

The Local List

We have nominated the air raid shelters at Brinkletts for the Local List – they are now arguably historic structures. A local resident remembers that there was a fire station here during the war .. we will also nominate the building at Whiteditch, Sherborne Road which is either a shelter or was an ARP hut. If you can help with identifying the wartime use of these old buildings, then please get in touch. After a building or structure is nominated, the landowner has to be asked if they have objections. However, if the council’s view is that the building should be on the Local List, then a panel will make the decision. Our chairman sits on the panel, which meets from time to time as necessary.

St Michael’s: Church and People – Celebrating 500 years

Many of you will know that St Michael’s is having a celebration this year. Obviously Basingstoke’s parish church is of earlier date, but there is good evidence that the townsmen of just over 500 years ago were well off enough to give generously to the enlargement of the nave. An interesting discovery was the link between this wooden object which hangs at the back of the church and the description in Baigent and Millard of the gift of a bell. The plaque refers to 4 churchwardens: John Coleman, Henry Barfoot, Robert Kew and Ambrose Cleve, with the date 1670 followed by ‘FC’ which we believe stands for the latin ‘fieri curavit’ which means roughly ‘who had it made’. ‘It’ being the tenor bell presumably.

Part of the 500 year celebration will be an exhibition in the Willis Museum Community room from 7th August. If you are interested in the history of the town and its church; the damage it suffered in both the Civil War and in WW2, then visit this exhibition. The church will be open under the Heritage Open Days scheme on Saturday 11 September and worth seeing will be the 16th century triptych by a Flemish artist, a gift to the church by Canon Millard, vicar from 1864 to 1891. The triptych is kept at Winchester Cathedral, where it is on the altar in the Langton Chantry (and very difficult to view). St Michael’s has an in memoriam book of the town’s fallen in the First World War which was made by Kathleen Boustead, whose husband was the vicar at the time. The book, which is now a fascinating document, has photos of the young men, among them the two Simmons brothers who are also commemorated in the church in a lovely window at the east end of the church, between the chancel and Memorial Chapel windows.

Heritage Lottery Fund for the Holy Ghost Ruins

Hampshire Museums and Galleries Trust will make an application for funds to do 2 main things in the old cemetery – firstly to improve the site by putting interpretation boards and a welcome at each entrance and secondly to make a new entrance into the cemetery across the piece of waste ground opposite the Great Western pub in Vyne Road. This entrance will make the cemetery accessible from the ‘town’ side, which at present has only the difficult steps by the Vyne Road railway bridge. We would like to see ‘brown’ signs pointing out this site, which is after all a scheduled ancient monument. The application needs to be supported by the community so, do come along to see the proposals on:-

Saturday July 17th, 1-3pm in the cemetery

Please note that our meeting day has got to change as Queen Mary’s College will not be open on Thursday evenings from September.

We will now meet on the 2nd Tuesday of each month (except August).

Perhaps this change will make it possible for you to come along to meetings where all members are welcome ...

All members are welcome to attend meetings of the society.

At most meetings we consider planning applications which fall within the area of concern to the society and agree comments.

Next meetings - Tuesday 14 September, 12 October at Queen Mary’s College (go in at the main entrance and reception will guide you to the room) at 7.30.

NB. NO MEETING IN AUGUST.

For further information contact Debbie Reavell on 01256 473390
or by e-mail