URPoint Details
One of Berkshire's most surprising places, Basildon is in the Thames valley along the Reading to Oxford road. The village which stands alone close to a sweep of the Thames and is reached from the main road by a straight lane that crosses the very busy Western region main line along which the Inter‑City 125 expresses thunder to and from Bristol or South Wales.
This old part of Basildon includes a farm, a few cottages and the church ‑ all grouped amid trees and with a tranquil air rarely found these days.
Although built in the 13th century the church is largely as changed in the 18th century, of mellowed red and blue bricks. Of greatest interest are two memorials in the leafy churchyard. One is to Jethro Tull who was one of the revolutionary figures in agriculture in the early l8th century; he invented the seed drill and horse hoe, for example. The other and rather poignant memorial, is to two boys who were drowned whilst swimming in the Thames in 1886.
To the South of Basildon and still in the river valley are the grounds of the Beale Bird Park whose features include the Peacock Pavilion (built in 1956 of stonework from the Robert Adam mansion at Bowood in Wiltshire), a
- Type:
- Landmark