First thoughts.

Ewelme church- St. , Alms Houses and School.

Ewelme. A gem hidden in an Oxfordshire valley of the Chiltern Hills, as they slide south to meet the Thames valley. Not a precious village, ill at ease with today’s world, rather one that has absorbed the developments of the past centuries. History sits lightly yet securely on its shoulders.

These were my impressions, those of an outsider, who was there to assist with guiding a party of visitors around the 15^th century complex of church, almshouses and school. This is not the place to give a detailed description of these interesting buildings, or the fascinating history behind them but I hope I can tempt you to visit. In order to add an extra incentive to discover Ewelme for yourself, mention must be made of the tomb of Alice, Duchess of Suffolk (granddaughter of Geoffery Chaucer), it is, as far as I am aware, the only female transi tomb in England.

I left this successful afternoon contrasting the experience with one I had in my own town of Basingstoke. Some 18 months earlier I had been asked to take a party of visitors on a walk around the town, these visitors were likely to be relocated to the town by their employer and the idea was to give them a flavour of Basingstoke’s history. Sadly, from my point of view, the party elected to use the coach at their disposal to visit a retail park instead!

The architectural heritage of Basingstoke seems totally over shadowed by the image of the 1960’s redevelopment. It did not turn out as Pevsner expected “If Basingstoke really receives the new centre…. it will get something worth looking at”. Not many seemed to agree with this when the new centre emerged and the past 30 plus years have been spent correcting the aesthetic errors, work is still in progress as I write.

This image of roundabouts and concrete, whilst not entirely without foundation, ignores the fine building to be seen, even among the modern structures. For example there are the dramatic “Hanging Gardens” (Gateway House, Arup Associates for Wiggins Teape 1976).

Gateway House from Eastrop Park

The town centre area has not been entirely bulldozed, it includes a 15^th cent. church and meeting hall, 16^th cent. Almshouses, Georgian Town Hall, Victorian Italianate buildings, one of Temple Moore’s late gothic revival churches and an Art Deco factory. If the wider administrative area of Basingstoke and Deane is considered, then a Roman town and  the first country house to have a classical portico added are but two of the treasures that can be seen.

Porch at All Saints. Temple Moore 1914

I hope to show, via a series of illustrated walks and visits, that Basingstoke has an architectural heritage to be proud of. The first walk, to be posted soon, will visit the earliest surviving structure that I am aware of in Basingstoke, Winklebury Ring, and comment on some of the buildings that are passed on the way.

JTH.