OS grid reference SU609787 Country England Post town READING Dialling code 01491 Civil parish Basildon | Region South East Sovereign state United Kingdom Postcode district RG8 Ceremonial county Berkshire UK parliament constituency Newbury | |
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Lower Basildon is a small village in the civil parish of Basildon (where the 2011 Census population was included), 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 the wildlife garden Beale Park.
Contents
Map of Lower Basildon, Reading, UK
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. It is currently the headquarters of ISPAL (the Institute for Sport, Parks and Leisure).
Facilities
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.
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. Tull developed his ideas at a farm called Prosperous at Shalbourne, just south of Hungerford.