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Find out what life used to be like in Hampshire as you stroll along the museum’s cobbled streets and travel through time from the age of the Victorians to the 1930s, 1940s and beyond. WHAT TO SEE AND DO
- Your visit
To find out more and to book your group visit, please call...
- School visits
School visits - Milestones - Living History Museum in...
- Volunteer
Join the Milestones volunteer team today and become part of...
- Book Now
With your ticket, you can return to Milestones Museum as...
- What to see and do
There’s no need to ‘remember the good old days’ – at...
- Food and Drink
Where to eat Visit Milestones' Rooftops Café for fish and...
- Events
Events - Milestones - Living History Museum in Hampshire
- Admission FAQs
Where can I buy tickets? Tickets are available to purchase...
- Contact
Contact - Milestones - Living History Museum in Hampshire
- Prices & School Travel Bursaries
Price includes museum entry, use of a lunch room and...
- Your visit
- Things to Do
- Basing House
- A Once Great House
- The English Civil War
- Under Siege
- The Great Barn
- Walled Garden
- Museum
Discover the Great Barn and spot the artillery damage still visible on its wallsExplore the ruins and imagine what the house would have looked like from the viewing platformsVisit the walled garden and learn about Basing House’s fascinating history in the museumUse the free app to experience every aspect of this remarkable site, from the ruins themselves to the gatehouse and LEGO model of the great houseBasing House today is a collection of banks and ditches, cellars and broken walls, with only the occasional surviving structure, such as the majestic Great Barn. The huge circular bank, or ringwork, and defensive ditches are all that remain of the castle built in the 1100s by the de Port family, who arrived with William the Conqueror in the Norman ...
Sir William succeeded in creating a fabulous castellated residence using his vast fortune amassed from a long life of service to the crown. He poured much of this into the expansion and elaboration of the property, which was said to be “larger than most of the King’s Palaces”. Sadly, in later years, the Paulets were unable to maintain this extravag...
When the English Civil War broke out in 1642, England was divided between the Royalist and often Catholic supporters of King Charles I and those who favoured a more powerful Parliament, mainly Protestants. At this time, Basing House was owned by John Paulet, the fifth Marquess of Winchester. He lived up to his family motto Aymez Loyaulte (Love Loya...
Basing House was attacked by Parliamentary troops on three occasions. The final assault came in August 1645 when 800 men took up position around the walls. The garrison held out, despite further reinforcements to the attacking force, until Oliver Cromwell himself arrived with heavy artillery. By 13 October 1645, the walls of the house had been brea...
Standing on the south side of the river Loddon was The Grange, a once bustling centre of food processing and storage for Basing House. The only visible surviving features are the Great Barn and fishponds. The Great Barn was built from over a million bricks and tiles and has a magnificent roof frame of quality oak. Despite suffering artillery damage...
No stately home would be complete without its formal gardens, a place for relaxation and entertainment and also a source of plants used in medicine. The walled garden reflects the final phase of Basing House as a great residence in the Jacobean period, 1600-1625. Sadly, no contemporary illustration or description of the gardens survived, so a disti...
Basing House museum is situated in the walled garden area of the Basing House grounds and covers all aspects of its history, from Saxon times to the present day. The museum focuses particularly on the archaeology of Basing House, life at the house in its Tudor and Elizabethan heyday, the Civil War and eventual downfall of this once great house.
Unearth the amazing stories of Basing House, the nationally important historical ruins of the largest private house in Tudor England which suffered at the hands of Oliver Cromwell during the English Civil War.
- Barton's Lane, Old Basing, Basingstoke, RG24 8AE, Hampshire
- 01256 463965
Milestones Museum of Living History is a museum located on the Leisure Park in Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK. Milestones is made up of a network of streets that have been recreated according to those found in Victorian and 1930s Hampshire.
Immerse yourself in the past at Milestones, Hampshire’s museum of living history. Explore the museum’s streets, shops and buildings to discover how people used to live, buy a ration of sweets from our 1940s sweet shop, view our unique collection of vintage vehicles and have a go in our penny arcade! Your trip to Hampshire past will take you ...
- (1.5K)
- Attraction
- Churchill Way West Leisure Park
Immerse yourself in the past at Milestones, Hampshire’s museum of living history. Explore the museum’s streets, shops and buildings to discover how people used to live, buy a ration of sweets from our 1940s sweet shop, view our unique collection of vintage vehicles and have a go in our penny arcade! Your trip to Hampshire past will take you ...
Immerse yourself in the past at Milestones, Hampshire’s museum of living history. Explore the museum’s streets, shops and buildings to discover how people used to live, buy a ration of sweets from our 1940s sweet shop, view our unique collection of vintage vehicles and have a go in our penny arcade!
