Basingstoke is Old
Basing, two miles to the east, and ever memorable as the scene of the
defence of Basing House. This magnificent mansion had been built by
William Paulet, first Marquis of Winchester, on the site of the
original Norman castle of Basing. When the Civil War broke out, the
fifth Marquis, John Paulet, decided to defend the house for the King,
and gathering his friends and retainers about him, amply provisioning
his cellars and "writing 'Aimez Loyalte' on every pane of his windows
with the diamond of his ring," he calmly awaited the Roundheads, who
were soon in possession of Basingstoke. Two hundred and fifty Royalist
soldiers had already joined the garrison when the actual siege began
in July, 1643. The attackers under Waller numbered seven thousand, but
by December, after great losses, they were forced to withdraw. The
following spring another determined effort was made to starve out the
garrison, but the arrival of Colonel Gage with reinforcements from
Oxford put fresh heart into the "nest of hornets," and the news that
their fortress had been renamed "Basting House" by their admiring
friends stiffened their resolve. During the next few months, however,
religious differences within led to a weakening of the heroic defence
and to the beginning of the end, and after two thousand lives had
already been lost, Basing House fell to the redoubtable Cromwell in
person on October 14, 1645, about one hundred of the defenders being
killed in the final assault and some three hundred prisoners taken.

Of this historic site there remain but a few walls and the Gate-house.
The area covered by the entrenchments was about fourteen acres and the
garden must have been a place of beauty before the litter of the siege
marred the trim walks and parterres. The country people were bidden
help themselves when the victors departed with their prisoners, and
the work of ruin was quickly complete.

[Illustration: BASING.]

Basing church, which was used in the attack on the House, is of the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and contains many memorials of the
Paulet family. Its outside is much more striking and handsome than its
interior, which has a rather empty and featureless appearance. Not far
from Basing is the great entrenchment of Winklebury Castle, over 3,000
feet round. From the edge of its commanding vallum Cromwell took the
observations for his successful assault on Basing House.

Sherborne St. John, two miles north o