Posted in Development Project on 19/08/2010| Leave a Comment »
Follow us on Facebook to keep up to date with all the latest news and information about the Battle of Basing!
Find us at http://www.facebook.com by searching for the Page, ‘Basing House’.
Find out more about our event on http://www.facebook.com on the Event page for ‘Basing House’.
Don’t forget to invite your friends and family too!
Posted in Development Project on 11/08/2010| Leave a Comment »
At 10am on Saturday 14th August Basing House will re-open to the public for ‘preview fortnight’ – which means that in the run up to our big celebration event on Bank Holiday weekend we will still be very busy adding finishing touches here and there (like the museum) but there will still be plenty to see!
With only a few days to go now the team is working flat out to get ready for Saturday. These photos taken in the past few days give a good sense of just how busy it is. It may look chaotic, but it’s organised chaos!
Basing Grange 10 August
An old friend! 10 August
Visitor Centre 4 August
Reception desk 6 August
Last week people living nearby were invited for a “sneak preview”. Over 100 people came and we are pleased to say their response was overwhelmingly positive. Here are a couple of the comments received:
“Thank you for showing us around! It was lovely to get an idea of how it will all look and operate once Basing House opens to the public. It really looks fantastic and we are looking forward to visiting again after it has officially opened.”
Residents' preview 5 August
“Hi – just to say how very much we appreciated all the efforts the ‘TEAM’ put into tonight’s pre opening tour for local residents. The transformation of the ‘Great Barn’ to a useable building once again is an inspiration in these days of gloom – may we wish you every success for the future.”
We hope to see YOU at Basing House soon!!
Posted in Development Project, tagged Basing House, Basingstoke, castle, Charles I, Civil War, Conservation, Education, Elizabethan, Hampshire County Council, Henry VIII, history, lifelong learning, Marquis of Winchester, Medieval, Old Basing, Oliver Cromwell, seige, Tudor on 23/06/2010| Leave a Comment »
Apologies to all our readers that it’s been so long since the last update. With only 7 weeks to go before Basing House re-opens for “Preview fortnight” on 14th August this is an incredibly busy time for the team. The good news is that although there are a thousand and one things still do the project remains on track.
The big news is that Basing House now has its new Operations Manager! We welcome Claire Capel into her new post and wish her every success. We look forward to working with her. Claire will do her best to meet as many local residents as she can in the coming weeks.
On the construction side highlights of the past few months have been the completion of the new tile roof on the Little Barn and all of the ‘first fit’ electrical work, the laying of limecrete floors in the Learning and & Community Centre, the completion of the toilets at Garrison Gate and the museum, and the start of work on the new museum space. Villagers will have noticed too that our new tourist road signs have been installed.
New roofs…
...and new floors…
From next week and for several weeks there is likely to be some disruption to traffic on The Street and Basing Road while a new broadband service for the village is installed, and also the new road crossing at Garrison Gate and water supply for Basing Grange. The County Council will do it all it can to minimise disruption but ask residents to be patient while this essential work is carried out, or find alternative routes.
An introductory meeting for prospective volunteers was held on Saturday 8th May, which was attended by 21 people including some existing Friends of Basing House.
If you wish to find out more about sort of activities that you might become involved in as a volunteer and the training that we can offer please send in your details via the form on the ‘Future Plans’ page of our website. There will be another introductory meeting at Basing House on 10th July. Induction for new volunteers will start at the beginning of August.
Behind the scenes the main emphasis now is on putting the marketing plan into action. Look out for changes to our website very soon. There will be lots of new information on display, for example about our new opening times, admission prices, and forthcoming events.
A new tourist sign
Exhibition consultants PLB Projects are putting the final touches to all the graphics for the site information points and these will go into production very soon. Also progressing well is preparation of the sound track for the Great Barn audio-visual presentation and of the site models. Meanwhile the Museum Service’s own exhibition team is forging ahead with putting together the new museum display.
The centrepiece of the celebrations to mark our re-opening will happen on August Bank Holiday weekend, when there will be whole series of exciting things going on both on-site at Basing House and on Basingstoke Common next door. Highlights will be two magnificent (and fierce!) Civil War battle re-enactments performed by The Sealed Knot telling the story of the long sieges and final dramatic downfall of Basing House to Oliver Cromwell’s Parliamentary army on the fateful morning of 13 October 1645.
The Sealed Knot in action!
Look out for more information coming on our website shortly.
Posted in Development Project on 10/06/2010| Leave a Comment »
The community archaeology dig at Basing House has now finished and we’re all exhausted!
Photos of finds and the great Young Archaeologist’s Club day that we had will go up here soon.
Don’t forget to click on this image to go to our Flickr page to see more photos!
Posted in Civil War, Conservation, Development Project, Education, Museum Refit, Reenactment, Volunteer, tagged archaeology, Basing House, Basingstoke, Civil War, Conservation, Education, Hampshire County Council, Oliver Cromwell on 16/04/2010|
Cabling in the Great Barn
Main contractor to the project, Durtnell & Sons, continue to maintain good progress.
Highlights are the completion of the extensive repairs to the Orchard Wall (which is really the remains of at least 3 successive walls dating back centuries!), and the stripping of the old corrugated metal roof of the Little Barn at Basing Grange, which will be replaced with handmade tiles. Work is well advanced, too, on adapting the little store building which will become the ‘gateway’ from/to Basing Grange, on refurbishing the WC block near Garrison Gate, and on the new accessible toilet near the museum.
Work has now begun too on the museum in The Lodge, and Museum Service staff are well advanced with their plans for the new exhibition.
The Little Barn minus roof!
Ecology
The works on the barns at Basing Grange began after Easter, following the granting of a “bat licence” by Natural England. This “European Protected Species Licence” is a permit to carry out such work but also safeguards the bats resident on the site. The licence application was prepared by consultants Thomson Ecology on behalf of the County Council. Thomsons carried out extensive surveys in 2009 to identify the presence of any protected species and then went on to identify the roosting bat species found to be present and to advise on measures that should be taken to protect them during the works and after.
The surveys found roosts for Brown Long-eared, Soprano Pipistrelle, and Common Pipistrelle bats at Basing Grange. Measures being taken now, under licence, seek to ensure that bats are not left without a roost during the works and that, once works are complete, enhanced roosting opportunities will be available.
Education and Interpretation
PLB Projects Ltd, Interpretation and Exhibition Design specialists, are now finalising their graphic designs for the information points, and are about to begin recording for the podcast and the Great Barn audio-visual presentation. Construction of 2 specially-commissioned site models is also under way.
The Museum Service’ education team have been busy consulting with primary schools and secondary schools across the county. Responses have been very positive and bookings are starting to come in.
Events programme
A programme of events for August and on into next year is being put together. To mark the re-opening of Basing House a spectacular Civil War event is being planned for August bank holiday. Watch out for news on that on that soon.
Staff and Volunteers
A new Operations Manager for Basing House has been appointed and will take up post at the beginning of June. Other members of the team will be recruited soon.
It is great to see so many people putting their names forward as volunteers. On May 8th from 2 – 4pm a special meeting for potential volunteers will be held on site. If you wish to find out more about sort of activities that you might become involved in as a volunteer and the training that we can offer please send in your details via the form on our website.
Traffic management
The design for a pedestrian road crossing outside Garrison Gate has now been finalised by the council’s Transport team and a start date for the works will be announced soon. A scheme for tourist road signs has also been approved. These news signs will direct visitor traffic from the ‘A road’ network to our public car park off Barton’s Lane, avoiding Old Basing village.
Coming next…
Recruit remaining staff
Sign up volunteers for training
Sign off final Interpretation designs and begin production
Finalise marketing and communications plans
Receive on-site services – telecoms, gas and electricity
Finalise scheme for The Bothy Tearoom and commission work to begin
Obtain Scheduled Monument Consent for new footbridge over bailey ditch (west side)
Announce date re-opening and admission prices
Finalise and announce plans for launch events
Shooting video for the new museum display
Posted in Development Project, tagged Basing House, Conservation, Hampshire County Council on 14/02/2010| Leave a Comment »
The exceptional wintry conditions in early January meant the loss of several days’ work, and the continuing low temperatures have prevented resumption of the repairs to the brickworks on the citadel. Sadly the frost has caused new damage, so the priority areas for repair now have to be re-assessed.
However, good progress is now being made on other things. Drains, paths and fences at Grange Farm and the site car park have been completed. The concessionary footpath around the Duke of Bolton’s field re-opened in mid December, and a small amount of work to improve accessibility on the riverside path was started and finished on 26 January. The driveway inside Garrison Gate has been resurfaced, and work continues on refurbishing the old W.C. block there. The old farmyard at Grange Farm is now being levelled and resurfaced, and work has begun on converting the outshot (or “lean-to”) into a staff room and storage area.
An application has been made to Natural England for a ‘bat licence’ to permit works to proceed in the barns and stables. Natural England will decide whether proposed measures to minimise disturbance to the bats will be effective. Their decision is due in early March.
The visitor centre complex at Grange Farm (barns, old stable block, farmyard, etc.) is to be renamed “Basing Grange” to distinguish it from the farmhouse, which is in private ownership.
Interior designs have been finalised for the Learning & Community Centre in the old stables and the visitor centre in the Little Barn.
Designs and costings for the The Bothy tearoom and the new museum in The Lodge are being finalised. Work continues on the conservation of objects that will go on display in the museum, and also in the Little Barn visitor centre.
Work has begun on designing the new footbridge which will carry visitors over the ditch on the west side of the bailey.
Scripting for all the information points and multimedia presentations is complete and the final design phase is about to begin.
Staff are also very busy planning the marketing and events programmes for the opening in late summer and beyond, and preparating the learning packs for teachers and consulting with schools.
Milestones expected to be reached over the next two months:
• Complete all outstanding ground works
• Complete refurbishment of main W.C. block
• Complete design of new footbridge
• Complete design of information points and multimedia presentations
• Submit application for Scheduled Ancient Monument Consent for groundworks associated with information points and signage, and new footbridge
• Begin refurbishment of buildings
• Complete consultation with schools
• Place orders for utility supplies – gas, water and telecomms
Posted in Development Project, tagged Basing House, Basingstoke, Hampshire, Hampshire County Council on 14/01/2010| Leave a Comment »
Enjoy Basing House at it’s rarely seen!
Photographs taken at on 13th January 2010. Click on our Flickr photos for more.
Posted in Development Project, Education, Future Plans, tagged archaeology, Basing House, Basingstoke, Education, events, Hampshire County Council, history, lifelong learning, Old Basing on 12/01/2010|
Basing House is such a fascinating site and there are many topics that can be covered in education sessions that can be offered to schools, families, adult lifelong learning groups and local interest societies that it’s hard to know where to begin telling you our plans!
We are working hard to redesign the schools education programme that will be on offer at Basing House from September 2010. This involves consulting with schools to make sure that we are offering the best service possible to our local schools. New sessions for Primary and Secondary schools will look at topics such as:
• The differences between lives for the rich and poor in Tudor times at Basing House.
• The visits to William Paulet at his home Basing House by Queen Elizabeth I.
• The events during the siege of Basing House during the Civil War.
• Archaeological investigations at Basing House and the huge variety of objects that have been found here.
If you are a teacher and would like to contact us to discuss the new Key Stage 2 or Key Stage 3 offers at Basing House, please visit our website where you will find more information about the planned sessions and contact details: www.hants.gov.uk/museum/basing-house/basing-house-news/basing-house-schools.htm
From the end of Summer 2010 there are going to be some great new family events being offered:
• There are going to be some archaeology pits that children can ‘excavate’ with finds and features to discover under the sand.
• Basing House is home to many bats and we have a resident barn owl; there will be an opportunity later this year to come and find out all about our shy wildlife.
• In October 2010 we will be inviting families for a spooky dusk walk around our historical site. Who knows what you will find walking around the grounds of Basing House!
The Basing House team will also be offering some great weekend events such as geo-caching and treasure hunts, as well as providing a varied programme of talks, lectures and tours throughout the year. Civil War re-enactment groups will continue to visit Basing House and re-enactment days will be offered. The community archaeology excavation will be taking place again this year, and the newly refurbished Basing House Museum will be showcasing the results of these excavations.
The Big Draw will be visiting Basing House in October 2010 and we will be supporting National Science and Engineering Week in March 2011 and, as always, site tours will be available as part of the nation-wide Heritage Open Days in September 2011.
Full details of all our events will be published in our What’s On leaflets and on our website.
Of course, you don’t have to come along to one of our events to enjoy Basing House. The site is going to be the perfect venue to have a family picnic, explore the ruins, or to just sit and soak up the atmosphere.
For now let us finish with two images:
This great photo appeared in the Basingstoke Gazette following a visit to Basing House by more than 80 Year 3 pupils from St Mary’s Junior School in Old Basing. Pupils learned how to collect and identify insects as part of National Insect Week:
The second photo was taken during the community archaeology excavations in May last year (2009). You can read more about the excavations on the Basing House website, under ‘Basing House Excavations’, www.hants.gov.uk/basing-house :
Posted in Development Project on 11/12/2009| Leave a Comment »
This is a beautiful view in the late afternoon sunshine, taken last week. You can see the silhouette of one of the dedicated workmen on site as he crouches behind the plastic protection sheets, working away on replacing worn and fixing lose bricks in the orchard wall at Basing House.
Thanks to Dave Allen, Senior Archaeologist with Hampshire Museums Service, for providing this image to post to the blog.
It really does capture just how magical the site can feel in the winter sunshine.
see ‘Working on theWall’ and many other photographs of the work being done at Basing House at our Flickr site.
Posted in Development Project on 02/12/2009| Leave a Comment »
This is a peek at the view inside the Old House here at Basing House.
If you look closely, you can see some of the bricks that have been delivered to help with repairing parts of the delicate brickwork.
www.basinghouse.org.uk
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