Registered Charity No 1000447
Latest News...…
Membership Information
If a Basingstoke resident why not Join us? - We need your support
Help us by joining the Basingstoke Heritage Society today.
Annual subscription - £5.00 per person, or £6 per household
(Students and under 18’s FREE)
Membership Benefits:
Quarterly Newsletter
Occasional free talks, walks and visits to places of local interest
Opportunity to attend the Society’s monthly Business Meetings & make views known
Opportunity to contribute to submissions on issues of concern
Support the protection of your locality from inappropriate development
Quarterly Newsletter
Occasional free talks, walks and visits to places of local interest
Opportunity to attend the Society’s monthly Business Meetings & make views known
Opportunity to contribute to submissions on issues of concern
Support the protection of your locality from inappropriate development
To download an application form go to the ‘contact us’ page.
Our Aims...…
The Society focuses its attentions on the town centre area of the Borough where residents have no Parish Councillors to represent them. Particular emphasis is on the six conservation areas and any surrounding area likely to impact on the town. Subject to this the Societies objectives are -
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To promote high standards of planning and architecture.
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To inform the public in the geography, history, natural history and architecture in the area.
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To secure the preservation, protection, development and improvement of features of historic or public interest.
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General Data Protection Regulations 2018 – please click here for the BHS Data Privacy Policy
Do get in touch - we like to hear from you.
The Basingstoke Heritage Society works with the following kindred organisations. . Simply click on their name to establish links to their own web sites.
Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council
The Basingstoke Willis Museum
Milestones Museum
The Friends of the Willis Museum
The Basingstoke Archaeological & Historical Society
Destination Basingstoke
The Surrey & Hampshire Canal Society
Civic Voice
The Hampshire Building Preservation Trust
The Viables Community Association
The Brookvale Community Association
The Vyne at Sherborne St John
The Basingstoke War Memorial - Regimental details, grave locations and home addresses of men listed on the town memorial
Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council
The Basingstoke Willis Museum
Milestones Museum
The Friends of the Willis Museum
The Basingstoke Archaeological & Historical Society
Destination Basingstoke
The Surrey & Hampshire Canal Society
Civic Voice
The Hampshire Building Preservation Trust
The Viables Community Association
The Brookvale Community Association
The Vyne at Sherborne St John
The Basingstoke War Memorial -
You can follow and contact us on facebook by following this link.
Our thanks to members who came to see the unveiling of the plaque on Crossborough Hill by the Mayor on 23 October. Mayor Cllr Dan Putty and Cllr Stacy Hart from the Women’s Equality Party unveiled it together. Our plaque commemorates the place where Cllr Edith Alice Weston lived. We remembered her extraordinary dedication in her work for the town. We were delighted that Edith’s grandson, Nicholas Usherwood, had travelled from Suffolk. His memories of his grandmother were of great interest
Mayor Cllr Putty, Cllr Stacy Hart with Acting Headteacher,
Andrew Conway and students from The Costello School
The Mayor with Nicholas Usherwood, grandson of Cllr Weston.
The Society has bought a bench for Eastrop Park, which was installed in October. It is near the paddling pool with a dedication plaque on it.
We set up 
a trail for children based on one done by Howard Ray some years ago. This was part of the activities put on by the council for the summer holidays. The aim was to find details on buildings in the Top of the Town and then say on which building the detail can be found. Here are 3 examples of Basingstoke’s Arms with St Michael overcoming Satan. Do you know which buildings these are on? There were 22 to find. If you would like a copy of the whole quiz, then contact Debbie Reavell.
a trail for children based on one done by Howard Ray some years ago. This was part of the activities put on by the council for the summer holidays. The aim was to find details on buildings in the Top of the Town and then say on which building the detail can be found. Here are 3 examples of Basingstoke’s Arms with St Michael overcoming Satan. Do you know which buildings these are on? There were 22 to find. If you would like a copy of the whole quiz, then contact Debbie Reavell. 
Cathy found this drawing on a w
ebsite of Yale University. It’s by architect Thomas Henry Wyatt (1807-1880) and was intended for a new Mechanics Institute in New Street, Basingstoke.
Instead, this more modest building wh
ich later became the Willis Museum and Public Library was built. This Wyatt was a distant cousin of Lewis Wyatt, who designed the Town Hall, now the Willis Museum, in 1837.
ebsite of Yale University. It’s by architect Thomas Henry Wyatt (1807-ich later became the Willis Museum and Public Library was built. This Wyatt was a distant cousin of Lewis Wyatt, who designed the Town Hall, now the Willis Museum, in 1837.
John Jenkins h
as published a new history of the Chapels of the Holy Ghost and Holy Trinity, following extensive research using ground penetrating radar and LIDAR to find the location of coffins of the Sandys and Cufaude families, which are in vaults beneath the chapel. The book is timed to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the granting of the patent by Henry VIII to Lord Sandys of the Vyne, and Bishop Richard Fox to establish the Guild of the Holy Ghost in November 1524. This is an important addition to our understanding of this site. It is available from John for £15 incl. P&P email pleighjenkins@btinternet.com
as published a new history of the Chapels of the Holy Ghost and Holy Trinity, following extensive research using ground penetrating radar and LIDAR to find the location of coffins of the Sandys and Cufaude families, which are in vaults beneath the chapel. The book is timed to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the granting of the patent by Henry VIII to Lord Sandys of the Vyne, and Bishop Richard Fox to establish the Guild of the Holy Ghost in November 1524. This is an important addition to our understanding of this site. It is available from John for £15 incl. P&P email pleighjenkins@btinternet.com
Hampshire History Trust is a group who run Heritage Open Days in Winchester, but are looking to expand in Basingstoke. At the moment we don’t do anything for Heritage Open days, but we do take part in events in the Basingstoke Festival. At present our workload cannot take this on.
Jane Austen. A committee of interested parties has met to talk about activities for 2025 for the 250th anniversary of the birth of Jane Austen. This group includes council officers, and representatives from The Vyne, Hampshire Cultural Trust, Overton and Steventon, Destination Basingstoke and us as well!
Facebook carried a comment that a board had been in the London Street Post Office which had the names of post office staff who had lost their lives in the two world wars. It is confirmed that this would have been in the New Street post office before the move to London Street. The premises have been gutted in preparation for a new sports bar which will open there. The new lessee has made some enquiries, but we are at a loss to discover what might have become of it.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission replace stones from time to time. Seeing them at work a month or so ago, it was evident that the grave of Corporal Mercer, which was nearby, had both a Christian cross, but at each corner, just visible in the left of the photo was a Star of David. His parents, David and Julia were, in 1911, living at 9 Rayleigh Road. Syd
ney was then an apprentice carpenter, with two sisters who were both dressmakers. The family had previously lived in Phoenix Park Terrace. Searching for his wife, Annie, her will showed that she had not lived many years longer than her husband and was buried in Edmonton Federation of Synagogue Cemeteries in north London. Her father was a tailor in Reading called Abraham Jacobs. The couple had married in Q1 of 1918 – his death so close to the end of hostilities just 17 days after his death.
ney was then an apprentice carpenter, with two sisters who were both dressmakers. The family had previously lived in Phoenix Park Terrace. Searching for his wife, Annie, her will showed that she had not lived many years longer than her husband and was buried in Edmonton Federation of Synagogue Cemeteries in north London. Her father was a tailor in Reading called Abraham Jacobs. The couple had married in Q1 of 1918 – his death so close to the end of hostilities just 17 days after his death.
MERCER, Corporal, SYDNEY ALBERT, 54928, Machine Gun Corps (Infantry). Died of wounds (gas) 25 October 1918. Age 23. Son of David and Julia Mercer, of Basingstoke; husband of Annie Mercer, of 10, Anstey Rd., Reading. Grave
