Hampshire County Council

Recreation and Heritage Policy Review Committee Item

Executive Member - Recreation and Heritage

17 March 2004

Basing House, Grange Farm

Report by the Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services and the Director of Recreation and Heritage

How the conclusion in this report fits with the Corporate Strategy

This scheme will impact on the delivery of all Corporate Aims, focusing most immediately on:

Aim 1 - maximising life opportunities: the proposal to provide a package of repair works will allow increased public access, awareness and interpretation of this historical site.

1

Introduction

1.1

The County Council is currently responsible for the Basing House ruins and the surrounding Civil War earthworks, which are considered to be the best preserved in the country, as well as the Great Barn and associated farm buildings which reflect the working life of this once-great estate. Further details of the history of the Basing House site can be found in Appendix 1.

2.

Background

2.1

At the 12 September 2002 meeting of the Executive Member, Policy and Resources approval was given to the disposal of Grange Farmhouse as a private single residential dwelling and that the resulting capital receipt be used to fund a scheme to enhance visitor facilities at Grange Farm and Basing House.

2.2

Since that meeting the Farmhouse has been successfully sold and realised a capital receipt of £468,000. This sum is currently being held to fund works for the enhancement of the Basing House and Grange Farm site as a Reinvestment Project. The farmhouse building and immediate environs are being renovated by the new owner.

2.3

As previously reported, the majority of Grange Farm, including the Great Barn and other outbuildings, are retained in County Council ownership.

2.4

The Director of Recreation and Heritage, with the support of the Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services, is currently developing the proposals for the options, as previously reported to Executive Member, for the restoration of the Grange Farm site. These are to enable public access, educational and community use and to provide improved interpretation and allow a better understanding and stronger links with the Basing House site.

2.5

As these options are being progressed it is proposed to undertake repair work to the existing buildings and structures on the Grange Farm site up to the value of £190,000, plus fees of £30,000, giving a total value of £220,000, including fees, and to fund this work from the capital receipt identified above.

2.6

The Director of Recreation & Heritage has undertaken discussion with Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council about the longer term ambition for the Basing House site. In particular consideration is being given to the inclusion of Basing House in a country park, although there is not likely to be any immediate prospect of progress on this front.

3

Scope of the Proposed Repair Works

3.1

A more detailed review has been undertaken of the condition of the existing buildings and structures on the site and repairs have been identified for this coming year which include those required to stabilise existing structures, to make good existing building fabric and to safe guard the buildings and structures for the longer term.

3.2

The repair works will include works to the Great Barn, a Scheduled Monument, and to the ancillary farm buildings which will require Listed Building Consents.

3.3

The minor repairs to brick copings/brickwork and replacement of roof tiles, and the like, can be progressed more immediately with the appropriate conservation and planning consultations. These repairs can be carried out alongside other ongoing maintenance and repairs, including works to the structures on the Basing House ruin.

3.4

Signage will be erected at Grange Farm to provide an explanation of the repair works being carried out. This signage will also provide interpretation and describe the longer term vision for the site.

4.

Public consultation

4.1

The Head of Museums and Archives has received numerous representations in the past three months from members of the public and the Friends of Basing House enquiring when the promised improvements to Basing House and the Grange Farm were to commence. At the time there was considerable public interest surrounding the sale of the farmhouse and pressure for the receipt from the sale to be re-invested in the site.

5

Funding and Timing

5.1

The funding for the repair works will be part of the reinvestment proposal and will be £190,000, plus fees of £30,000, giving a total value of £220,000, including fees, of the total the capital receipt of £468,000 realised from the sale of the Farmhouse.

5.2

The value of any necessary repair work carried out up to 12 months prior to a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund, together with the remainder of the capital receipt, could be used by the County Council as match funding for the bid.

5.3

It is proposed to carry out and complete these repair works in 2005.

5.4

It is proposed to continue dialogue with the Heritage Lottery Fund with regard to a potential future bid in the spring of 2006.

6

Consultation with Local Member

6.1

Councillor K Chapman, the local Member for this area, is fully supportive of this scheme.

Conclusion

These proposals provide a package of repair works that will allow increased public access, awareness and interpretation of this historical site and will, subject to agreement, count as match funding to a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund to further develop the site.

Recommendations

That the Executive Member Recreation and Heritage approves;

1

the proposals to carry out essential repair work to the existing buildings and structures at Grange Farm to the value of £190,000, plus fees of £30,000, giving a total value of £220,000, including fees, which is to be funded from the capital receipt secured from the sale of Grange Farmhouse.

2

the completion of further detailed proposals for the options for enhancing the visitor experience at Grange Farm and a further report be presented to a future meeting of the Executive Member.

3

to continue discussions with other potential funding partners, including Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council, to establish whether other future contributions are available.

Basing House is probably the most significant relic of the English Civil War in England, and was the scene of one of the most stirring acts of defiance that the county of Hampshire has ever known, as a result of the political dissatisfaction and religious dissension that tore the country apart during that period.

For three summers the Royalist garrison at Basing held out against numerous attacks and assaults. It was not until `Ironsides' himself, Oliver Cromwell, and his New Model Army turned their attention to the site that the fate of Basing was decided. On the morning of October 14^th 1645, the Parliamentarian forces swarmed over the defences and within a matter of hours the house was ablaze.

This act of war effectively brought an end to five hundred years of history and tradition. Basing, initially the seat of the de Port family who had arrived with William the Conqueror, passed to the St Johns, the de Poynings, and thence to the Paulets. Sir William Paulet, the First Marquess of Winchester, turned the castle into a private mansion which rivalled royal palaces in its grandeur.

Although the land was returned to the Paulets at the Restoration, and remained with their descendants until the County Council acquired the site in 1972, Basing House as such was never reoccupied. The Paulet family themselves began archaeological investigations on the site in the later 19^th century, and this work was continued by the County Council from 1978 onwards.