... blog post:
Basing House, one of the ruins that Cromwell knocked about a bit! All that remains of this once splendid palatial Tudor house are the extensive house foundations, siege earthworks, the great barn and a bit of restored garden. It makes for a pleasant trip out, though.
It was the site of a very famous civil war siege between 1642 and 1645 which culminated in the place being completely slighted and demolished leaving only the great barn standing.
You can imagine being fired upon by batteries of 'heavy guns' like this one below, shooting round shot and large stones. In the final assault in 1645 there were also some ‘great guns’ brought up, including a cannon royal firing a 63 pound shot and two demi-cannon firing 27 pound shot. After three years of faffing about, Parliament were finally playing to win.
After it was all over and done, Parliament voted to have the house pulled down and all the building materials given away and dispersed. You can see what's left from the arial photo below taken by The Hampshire Culture Trust who care for the site today.
The Great Barn also known as the 'Bloody Barn' is still with us. Below is a shot of its' interior showing strings of lights as it is used now-a-days for wedding receptions.
Below is a picture of its exterior. The barn was built in 1535, it was the scene of some of the fiercest fighting during the Civil War evidence of which still scars it to this day.
Entrance to the Basing House site is gained by a stroll along a picturesque route passing through the yard of Bartons Mill or rather The Millstone pub as it is now called, and down the path along side the river Loddon and under part of the viaduct built in 1830 to carry the railway between Reading and Basingstoke. See below.
On the day we visited, in these Covidy times, there was mostly just ourselves and latterly two others in the whole site. It was a peaceful place with clamour of war, all those centuries ago, long faded and gone with just the ruined foundations and earthworks to remind us of what once was and occurred there.
It is now a pretty, cheerful little place to visit with its own interesting piece of history thrown in for a bit of entertainment. Ironic really.