Basingstoke is an old market town expanded in the mid-1960s, as a result of an agreement between London County Council and Hampshire County Council.
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21 Facts About Basingstoke
2.
Basingstoke market was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 and it remained a small market town until the early 1960s.
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3.
Basingstoke became an important economic centre during the second half of the 20th century and houses the locations of the UK headquarters of Motorola, The Automobile Association, De La Rue, Sun Life Financial, ST Ericsson, GAME, Barracuda Networks, Eli Lilly and Company, FCB Halesway part of FCB, BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions and Sony Professional Solutions.
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4.
Basingstoke is recorded as a weekly market site in the Domesday Book, in 1086, and has held a regular Wednesday market since 1214.
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5.
Basingstoke bought a piece of open space that was about to be sold for housing and let it at a low rent to the Basingstoke Cricket Club.
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6.
Basingstoke suffered very little bomb damage during the Second World War.
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7.
Basingstoke has no single boundary that encompasses all the areas contiguous to its development.
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8.
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.
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9.
Basingstoke's expansion has absorbed much surrounding farmland and scattered housing, transforming it into housing estates or local districts.
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10.
The borough of Basingstoke was merged with other local districts in 1974 to form the borough of Basingstoke and Deane, and census data from that point covers the whole borough.
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11.
Basingstoke is part of a two-tier local government structure and returns county councillors to Hampshire County Council.
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12.
Basingstoke is home to two theatrical organisations: the Haymarket, which is situated in the former Corn Exchange, and The Anvil, which is near the railway station.
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13.
Basingstoke is the home of Rising Phoenix Cheer, a successful competitive Allstar Cheerleading programme for athletes from age 5 upwards, training at Aldworth school.
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14.
Basingstoke has a wide diversity for musical groups ranging from brass bands to symphony orchestras.
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15.
The Basingstoke Concert Band is a traditional wind band which has now been in existence for more than 35 years.
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16.
Basingstoke has two large further education colleges: a sixth form college, Queen Mary's College and Basingstoke College of Technology .
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17.
The University of Winchester had a campus in Basingstoke which closed in July 2011; it had offered full-time and part-time university courses in subjects including childhood studies, various management pathways, community development and creative industries.
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18.
Current rail services from Basingstoke are operated by South Western Railway, CrossCountry and Great Western Railway.
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19.
Basingstoke was linked to Reading on the National Cycle Network route 23 in May 2003; the route was extended south to Alton and Alresford in April 2006.
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20.
Basingstoke Canal started at a canal basin, roughly where the cinema in Festival Place is located.
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21.
In 2019 Gateway Church Basingstoke began a partnership with Christians Against Poverty to launch a Debt Centre in Basingstoke.
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