Often mistaken as a new town, Basingstoke
market was mentioned in the Domesday Book and it remained a market town
until the 1950s when it was very rapidly developed to accommodate what
was then called the London 'overspill'. Basingstoke is a prosperous town
with an above-average standard of living and low unemployment. It is a
financial centre, and the location of the UK headquarters of Sun Life
Financial of Canada (not to be confused with AXA Sun Life) and of the
Automobile Association (which moved to Farnborough and then back again).
Other industries include drug manufacture, IT, Communications, insurance
and electronics.
Basingstoke's expansion has absorbed many smaller villages in its wake,
becoming housing estates or local districts. Many of these new estates
are designed as almost self-contained communities, such as Lychpit,
Chineham, Popley, Winklebury, Oakridge, Kempshott, Brighton Hill, South
Ham, Black Dam and Hatch Warren. The M3 acts as a buffer zone to the
south of the town, and the South Western Main Line constrains the
western expansion, with a green belt to the north and north-east, making
Basingstoke almost triangular in shape. As a result, the villages of
Cliddesden, Dummer, Sherborne and Oakley, although being very close to
the town limits, are considered distinct entities. Popley, Hatch Warren
and Beggarwood are seeing rapid growth in housing, while the open space
of the Manydown Estate to the west of the town is under threat.
Basingstoke has a long history of
settlement. The Winklebury hillfort (two miles west of the town centre)
dates from the Iron age and there are remains of several other
earthworks around Basingstoke including Down Grange. Nearby a roman road
from Winchester to Silchester, which has acted as a natural boundary to
town expansion. To the east of the area another roman road runs from
Chichester through the outlaying villages Upton Grey and Mapledurwell.
The Harrow Way is also part of an older ancient route and still runs to
the south of the town.
Basingstoke has held a Charter Market since before 1203, and is recorded
as being a market site in the Domesday Book. The ruins of the Tudor
palace of Basing House can be found two miles east of the town centre,
in Old Basing. Population growth has been rapid since its designation as
a London overspill town (often confused with new town status) in 1961:
in 1951 there were only 16,000 inhabitants. Today it is famous for
having a large number of roundabouts.