Lower Basildon

Amenities

Shops and restaurants

Upper Basildon has a sub-post office (located in St Stephen's Church) and a pub-restaurant, The Red Lion. Lower Basildon currently has a garage/shop and a motor repair business.

Transport

The village is covered only by a Tuesday bus service running between Goring-on-Thames and Reading. The nearest railway station is Goring and Streatley (2.6 mi) which offers stopping trains between Didcot and London Paddington. The main A329 road connects the village with Goring and Reading.

Beale Wildlife Park

Main article: Beale Wildlife Park

To the south-east of the village there is a wildlife garden, Beale Park.

Historic buildings

St Bartholomew's Church

The 15th century parish church of St Bartholomew stands at the end of Church Lane, down by the River Thames.

Roman villa

The remains of a modest Roman villa were discovered near the church in 1839 during the construction of the Great Western Railway but nothing of the villa remains to be seen today. It housed two beautiful mosaic floors, which were unfortunately destroyed very soon after being found. A drawing of one was made by the antiquarian, Charles Roach Smith.

6-12 Reading Road

The village is well known locally for the presence of a row of early 20th century timber-framed 'black-and-white' houses on its western side. However, only one of these possesses a true timber frame. The remainder are built of brick, and clad with timber to resemble framing. These had been specifically commissioned as workers' cottages for Basildon Park.

Basildon Grotto

Basildon Grotto, or The Grotto House, is located 0.8 mi to the west of the village on the road to Streatley. The original Grotto was built in 1720 and consisted of a rock chamber filled with shells and a rock pool. This summer house was extended at the beginning of the 19th century by Arthur Smith MP to form a large mansion. Until about 2007, it was the headquarters of the Institute for Leisure and Amenity Management (ILAM). Although sold to a new owner, it remains empty, fire-damaged and ruinous.

Basildon Park

Main article: Basildon Park

The National Trust property, Basildon Park, occupies the space between the villages of Lower and Upper Basildon.

Notable people

In birth order:

• Jethro Tull (1674–1741), agriculturalist, was born in Upper Basildon and buried in the churchyard of St Bartholomew's Church in Lower Basildon, under a modern gravestone dated 1740, though he died in 1741.
• Sir Francis Sykes, 1st Baronet (1732–1804), British East India Company governor, landowner and politician, lived in Basildon, but died before his mansion was completed.
• Graham Whitehead (1922–1981), Formula 1 motor racing driver, died in Basildon.

References

References

1. Basildon, West Berkshire site. [http://www.basildon-berks.net/local_interest/local_interest.html Retrieved 8 May 2014.]
2. Beale Park site. [http://www.bealepark.co.uk/ Retrieved 8 May 2014.]
3. Ford, David Nash. (2020). "Mid-Berkshire Town and Village Histories". Nash Ford Publishing.
4. Christopher Winn: ''I Never Knew That about the River Thames'' (London: Ebury Press, 2010), p. 79.
5. Basildon Parish Plan draft [http://www.basildon-berks.net/village_plans/Basildon%20Parish%20Plan%20pages%201-8.pdf Retrieved 8 May 2014.]
6. [https://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/residential-sites/36422-grotto-house-lower-basildon-august-2018-a.html#.XznOuugzbBQ Retrieved 17 August 2020.]
7. "SYKES, Francis (1732-1804), of Basildon Park, Berks". History of Parliament Online.
8. "World Sports Racing Prototypes - British International Races 1952". WSRP.