Basingstoke is a town in northeast Hampshire. It lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon. It is 48 miles (77 km) southwest of London, 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Southampton, 16 miles (26 km) southwest of Reading, and 19 miles (31 km) northeast of the county town, Winchester. In 2006 it had an estimated population of 80,477. It is part of the borough of Basingstoke and Deane and part of the parliamentary constituency of Basingstoke. Basingstoke is often nicknamed "Doughnut City" or "Roundabout City" due to the number of roundabouts.

Often mistaken for a new town, Basingstoke is an old market town expanded in the 1960s as part of a tripartite agreement between London County Council, Hampshire County Council and Basingstoke Borough Council. It was developed rapidly, along with Andover and Tadley, to accommodate part of the London 'overspill' as perceived under the Greater London Plan, 1944.

Basingstoke market was mentioned in the Domesday Book and Basingstoke remained a small market town until the 1950s. It still has a regular market, but is now bigger than Hampshire County Council's definition of a market town.

Basingstoke is a prosperous town, with an above-average standard of living and low unemployment. It is an economic centre, and the location of the UK headquarters of Sun Life Financial of Canada, The Automobile Association, ST Ericsson, GAME, Motorola and Sony Professional Solutions (Europe). Other industries include drug manufacture, IT, communications, insurance and electronics.

Situated in a valley through the North Downs, Basingstoke is a major interchange between Reading, Newbury, Andover, Winchester, and Alton, and lies on the natural trade route between the southwest of England and London.

The precise size and shape of Basingstoke today are difficult to identify, as it has no single official boundary that encompasses all the areas contiguous to its development. The unparished area of the town represents its bulk, but several areas that might be considered part of the town are separate parishes, namely Chineham, Rooksdown, and Lychpit. The unparished area includes Worting, which was previously a separate village and parish, extending beyond Roman Road and Old Kempshott Lane, which might otherwise be considered the town's 'natural' western extremity. The ward boundaries within the parliamentary constituency are not (as of August 2007) coterminous with the parish boundaries.

Basingstoke is situated on a bed of cretaceous upper chalk with small areas of clayey and loamy soil, inset with combined clay and flint patches. Loam and alluvium recent and pleistocene sediments line the bed of the river Loddon. A narrow line of tertiary Reading beds run diagonally from the northwest to the southeast along a line from Sherborne St John through Popley, Daneshill and the north part of Basing. To the north of this line, encompassing the areas of Chineham and Pyotts Hill, is London clay.

The hillfort at Winklebury (2 miles (3 km) west of the town centre), known locally as Winklebury Camp or Winklebury Ring dates from the Iron age and there are remains of several other earthworks around Basingstoke including a long barrow near Down Grange. Nearby, to the west, Roman Road and Kempshott Lane mark the course of a Roman road that ran from Winchester to Silchester. Further to the east, another Roman road ran from Chichester through the outlaying villages of Upton Grey and Mapledurwell. The Harrow Way is an ancient route that runs to the south of the town.

Basingstoke is recorded as being a market site in the Domesday Book, and has held a regular Wednesday market since 1214. During the Civil War, and the siege of Basing House between 1643 and 1645, the town played host to large numbers of Parliamentarians. During this time, St. Michael's Church was damaged whilst being used as an explosive store and lead was stripped from the roof of the Chapel of the Holy Trinity leading to its eventual ruin. Cromwell is believed to have stayed in the town towards the end of the siege and wrote a letter to the Speaker of the House of Commons addressed from Basingstoke.

The cloth industry appears to have been important in the development of the town until the 17th century along with malting.

Brewing became important during the 18th and 19th centuries, and the oldest and most successful was May's Brewery, established by Thomas and William May in 1750 in Brook Street.

The London and South Western Railway arrived in 1839 from London, and within a year it was connected to Winchester and Southampton. in 1848 a rival company, Sponsored by the Great Western Railway built a branch from Reading, and in 1854 a line was built to Salisbury. In the 19th century Basingstoke began to move into industrial manufacture, Wallis and Haslam (later Wallis & Steevens), began producing agricultural equipment including threshing machines in the 1850s, moving into the production of stationary steam engines in the 1860s and then traction engines in the 1870s.

Two traders who opened their first shops within a year of each other in the town, went on to become household names nationally: Thomas Burberry in 1856 and Alfred Milward in 1857. Burberry became famous after he invented Gabardine and Milward founded the Milwards chain of shoe shops, which could be found on almost every high street until the 1980s.

London Street includes a variety of architecture from the 17th to the 20th century.

Ordinary citizens were said to be shocked by the emotive, evangelical tactics of the Salvation Army when they arrived in the town in 1880, but the reaction from those employed by the breweries or within the Licence trade quickly grew more openly hostile. Violent clashes became a regular occurrence culminating on Sunday 27 March 1881 with troops being called upon to break up the conflict after the Mayor had read the Riot Act. The riot and its causes led to questions in Parliament and a period of notoriety for the town.

In 1898 John Isaac Thornycroft began production of steam-powered lorries in the town and Thornycroft's quickly grew to become the town's largest employer.

Basingstoke was among the towns and cities targeted during the Second World War, and suffered bomb damage including St Michael's Church. After the war, it had a population of 25,000.

As part of the London Overspill plan, Basingstoke was rapidly developed in the late 1960s as an 'expanded town', along with places such as Harlow and Swindon. Basingstoke town centre was completely rebuilt. At this time many buildings of historic interest were replaced by a large red brick shopping centre and concrete multi-storey car park. Many office blocks and large estates were built, including a ring road.

The shopping centre, following money issues, was built in phases. The first phase was completed by the 1970s and was later covered in the 1980s, and was known as The Walks. The second phase was completed by the early 1980s, and became The Malls. The third phase was abandoned and the site was later used to build The Anvil concert hall.

In 2003 Basingstoke was voted ninth in the Crap Towns survey, a humorous, but unscientific guide to the worst places to live in Britain though was not in the top ten of the 2004 survey.

Later that year, the Basingstoke Gazette launched its "Basingstoke - A Place to be Proud of" campaign, aimed at changing people's perception of the town. The campaign is ongoing (as of May 2009) and marked by the presentation of annual awards to individuals, organisations or businesses nominated by the public for commendable local achievement.

The central part of the shopping centre was rebuilt in 2002 and reopened as Festival Place. This has bought a dramatic improvement to shoppers opinions of the town centre, but it is unclear if it has softened the towns overall image.

Further work to improve the image of the town continues with the latest Central Basingstoke Vision project coordinated by the Borough Council.

In the mid 1990s, numerous reports described sightings of the Beast of Basingstoke, a big cat believed to be a lion or a puma, possibly two. Local legend suggests the animal was shot and killed, although no official news sources document any capture or killing of the beast.

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