One of the UK's most notable sieges was conducted at Basing House in 1643 when Sir William Waller was given command of Parliament's South-Eastern Association army. Gathering his forces at Farnham on the 4th November he marched to attack the Royalist stronghold.

At this time Basing was the home of the Catholic Marquis of Winchester and was strongly fortified with a garrison of those loyal to the king and was set up to command the road from London to Salisbury.

Three attempts were made to storm the house and his troops met with fierce resistance each time, the weather and cold did not help much either and whole companies of Cromwell's men began to desert and head back to the capital. Waller eventually gave up the siege on 11 November and took his remaining units back to Farnham where he urgently contacted Parliament to arrange a resupply of ammunition, clothes and pay for his troops.

Eventually the house was taken but even today Basing still holds a place dear in the heart of British history. The great house unfortunately is now a total ruin but the church still stands and has many stories of courage and sacrifice to tell.

The Church		One of the village pubs
Peacock Cottage		Unknown name
A Selection of pircture postcard cottages

The church itself stands proudly on a small knoll above the road, but the best approach is to come in from the back as there is more parking space here. Its tower was restored but the base has been found to be of Norman origin. There are two chapels inside and a pulpit that comes from the 16th century, the font is 15th and a 17th century bier is used today as a seat. Several of the tiles date back to the 14th and 15th century and a statue to Madonna is dated from the 16th century.

One set of arches with the tombs either side		The interior of the church showing the arches
The Roman Tiles		The Millennium Tapestry
A coat of arms above the arches		The door to the church
The Font		Small staircase that is blocked off
The 16th century statue of the Madonna		Another monument in the church
"The Most Noble Prince HENRY, sixth Duke of BOLTON; Premier Marquis of England, Earl of Wiltshire Baron Basing of Basing, Baron S: John of Basing Died 25th December 1794. His Excellent Understanding And firm persevering disintested attachment to the Liberty of his country procured him respect; From the genuine goodness of his heart which was manifest In every action of his life, he died lamented As he lived beloved. Testimony of his disconsolate widow's affection is raised by her to the memory of the fondest of husbands and fathers and the best of men"

Tombs to the Paulets can be found below the arches, the one to Sir John and Eleanor are 15th century while the others are from a later period, one of the best being of Sir William who built Basing House. Carlyle called him a 'magnificent kind of man.......whose best bed excited the wonder of the world.' Sir John that took part in the siege is buried at Englefield.

One of the chapels is festooned with helmets and gauntlets and there is a magnificent bust of the sixth Duke of Bolton. On the wall it shows that there are six Dukes of Bolton buried beneath the floor of the chapel and all are Paulets.

Five of these dukes are not so well known as the first duke who was the Marquess of Winchester. At one time he feigned madness to hide an argument with the King, James II.

The Street showing the railway bridge, photograph taken from the church gate.
Old Basing Saddlery The Hampshire Rambler

The remains of Basing House stand on the site of a Norman castle which was demolished to make room for the home of Sir William and the gateway is till there today.

In the grounds is an old dovecot which held over 500 nests and the old ladder which was used to reach any of them can still be seen. Also remaining is an old barn in which it is said the Paulets learned to ride, and if one looks carefully one can see bullet holes and battle scars.

One of the most extraordinary member of the Paulet family was William born in 1485, he lived through four monarchs reign and died during the reign of Elizabeth Ist, who he spent a lot of time advising.  During his lifetime he married twice and his eldest son Sir John led a troop of soldiers against the Cornish rebels in 1497. In 1512 he was made Sheriff of Hampshire and in 1529 became Hampshire representative in the Reformation Parliament. In 1532 he was given control of the royal household and it was William Paulet who carried the orders of the king to his wife.

Basing House soon became recognised as a strategic spot to control the trade routes to the west, the Marquess of Winchester being a Catholic often visited the house. It was him who began to add fortifications to the house and at the end of July a hundred musketeers are reported to have marched in to garrison it under the auspicious eye and command of a Lieutenant Peake. Two of Peake's men were well know engravers of the time, Hollar and Faithorne, and also the chaplain was Old Thomas Fuller and the famed architect Inigo Jones were staying at the house for that last dreadful battle. Robert Peake was the son of the Serjeant-painter to James I, and he and his brother ran a print shop on Snow Hill, it was here where Faithorne worked.

Peake is said to have arrived a few days before the siege and the Parliamentarians attacked the house and were repelled for a period of three months.

Robert Peake was knighted by the king in March 1645 while on a visit to Oxford but when James died Peake was exiled for refusing to recognise Cromwell as the rightful ruler of England. Faithorne was also exiled for the same offence and he fled to Paris where he set himself up in his own business, he later obtained permission to return to London and in 1650 he set his own shop up there, his most famous work being his crayon portraits of the famous of the time.

Stories also relate that the Marchioness and the other womenfolk spent their time stripping lead from the roofs to make shot and would join in the battle by hurling tiles on to the heads of the attackers.

Parliament  again sent forces to take the house in the following year and from spring up to October 1645 the attacks became never ending. Edward Paulet was said to have made a pact with Waller to surrender but was discovered and he was punished by becoming the hangman to his own treacherous men. Smallpox also added to the death toll as well as starvation and on May Day 1645 500 men deserted but the others carried on regardless.

About this time Cromwell captured the castle at Winchester and then marched on to Basing and this turned the tables of the siege, it is said that Cromwell first climbed up to Winklebury Circle and ancient encampment and here he made his plan of attack. It was the 14th October that he attacked, first of all using his artillery to burst through the walls then sending his troops in. Being hugely outnumbered and weak through illness and starvation it was not long before a 100 men were killed and an estimated 300 other gave themselves up, but not after a gallant fight, among them being Inigo Jones who was stretchered out as his captors had stripped him naked.