Lower Basildon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Coordinates: 51°30′14″N 1°07′26″W / 51.50396°N 1.12397°W / 51.50396; -1.12397
Lower Basildon

Typical Building Style
Lower Basildon

 Lower Basildon shown within Berkshire
OS grid reference SU609787
Civil parish Basildon
Unitary authority West Berkshire
Ceremonial county Berkshire
Region South East
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town READING
Postcode district RG8
Dialling code 01491
Police Thames Valley
Fire Royal Berkshire
Ambulance South Central
EU Parliament South East England
UK Parliament Newbury
List of places
UK
England
Berkshire

Lower Basildon is a small village in the civil parish of Basildon, near to Pangbourne, in the English county of Berkshire. It is the location of the parish church of St Bartholomew. The National Trust property, Basildon Park, is just above it. To the south-east of the village is wildlife garden Beale Park.

Basildon Grotto

Basildon Grotto, or The Grotto House, is located 0.8 miles (1.3 km) to the west on the road to Streatley. The grotto was built in 1720 and consisted of a rock chamber filled with shells and a rock pool, but was later destroyed. The summer house was extended at the beginning of the 19th century by Arthur Smith MP.[1] It is currently the headquarters of ISPAL (The Institute for Sport, Parks and Leisure).

Former Roman villa

The remains of a modest Roman villa were discovered here in 1839 during the construction of the Great Western Railway. The major finds were two superb mosaic floors which unfortunately were destroyed almost immediately, although one was drawn in some detail beforehand by the antiquarian Charles Roach Smith. Nothing of the villa remains today.

Notable people

The agriculturist Jethro Tull was born in the parish of Basildon and is buried in the churchyard of St Bartholomew's Church in Lower Basildon, under a modern gravestone incorrectly dated 1740 – he died in 1741.[2] Tull developed his ideas at the Prosperous farm, just south of Hungerford.

References

  1. Christopher Winn: I Never Knew That about the River Thames (London: Ebury Press, 2010), p. 79.
  2. Winn, p. 79.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.