Basingstoke

Basingstoke is a market town in northern Hampshire, on the route between London and the West Country. Nearby stood Basing House, the great residence of the Paulet family, built on the site of an older castle. Its position gave it military importance when civil war divided England. John Paulet, Marquess of Winchester, held Basing House for Charles I. The house became a major Royalist garrison and withstood prolonged Parliamentary attacks before Oliver Cromwell's forces stormed it in October 1645. The defenders were defeated and the great house was destroyed. Its ruins recall the transformation of a noble residence into a fiercely contested fortress.