THE BASINGSTOKE CANAL - BEYOND GREYWELL

M3 - CHURCH LANE (BASING)

Rainbow Close follows the canal's alignment

After the M3, the canal sweeps round in a long arc, almost encircling The Hatch, to enter Basing in a north easterly direction. It passses through a new housing development that has just been opened (2001) opposite Rainbow Close, just off the A30. The route then passes through Rainbow Close (above view, looking from the A30 north eastwards) and beyond the far side of these houses seen here, it passed what is now the site of a new house, and electricity substation, to cross Hatch Lane (below) where a pronounced rise from the A30 junction can be seen. To the right, looking over a garden wall one can look down onto a well preserved section of canal.

Old Basing - House on the left is built on canal route

Below: The well preserved section of canal at Basing, off Hatch Lane. This state of affairs is all too short as the canal's course is totally obliterated beneath gardens stretching off Belle Vue and Cavalier Roads, although the eastern boundary of the canal survives as trees and hedgegrows in places, as will be seen from the car showrooms complex just off the A30 at The Hatch.

Past the car showrooms at The Hatch, the canal's course can be discerned quite easily from the A30, although the first part is actually gardens off Cavalier Road. Where the houses end (about midway down this field) the canal is back in existence, now entering a substantially long and deep cutting. This view, below, shows the canal, across the fields from the A30, as it makes a turn to the north west to head towards Church lane, encircling the entire village en-route.

Canal route seen from the A30 at the Hatch

Below: This is a view from near the railway line, looking south east. The excavations for the deep cutting back in the 1790's has left a spoil heap that stretches almost back to the previous picture. The cutting is quite deep, and the spoil gives the impression that the cutting is even deeper, although as can be seen from the picture, the spoil is actually raised above the level of the surrounding land, with the canal hidden from view away to the south west in the trees. Although this section is on private land, there are some points at which this section can be observed, by using a track that veers off to the east at Milkingpen Lane, where it meets the railway bridge, and fighting through undergrowth in the woodland as far as a barbed wire fence, so as to gain the perspective to the south east. Research shows that at one time, this lengthy section from Milkingpen Lane to The Hatch belonged to a company called Waterways Properties. There used to be notices saying 'Private Waterways Properties Ltd,' although none of these notices now seem to exist. It may not be genrally realised, but from The Hatch to Basing House, the entire canal was in a substantial cutting, which has been filled completely where redevelopment has taken place in order to make property more accessible.

Spoil heaps as seen from woods near the railway line

On Milkingpen Lane, south of the railway, the canal passed under the road at what was known as Cuckoo Bridge. The house (above) is on the canal's alignment, and it is clear the lengthy cutting along here has been filled in completely. Cuckoo Bridge House (below) is a reminder of the canal's existence. The plaque is affixed to an older, but substantial building south of the canal's actual alignment. Looking over the other side of Milkingpen Lane, directly opposite the new property, one can peer down through the undergrowth onto a section, as yet undeveloped, of the former canal cutting.

Below: The canal cutting as seen off Milkingpen Lane. No trace remains of Cuckoo Bridge.

Overgrown canal cutting seen from site of Cuckoo Bridge

The parapet seen here on the left is all that is visible of Church Lane bridge, just off Milkingpen Lane. The bridge is still there but almost buried. The other parapet has been demolished to create an access drive to new, secluded properties on the south side of Church Lane.

Remains of Church Lane Bridge, Basing

THE LOST ROUTE FROM GREYWELL TO BASINGSTOKE:
Lost Section - Introduction    Over Greywell Hill    Greywell - Brickworks Arm    Brickworks Arm - Penny Br    Penny Bridge - Little Tunnel    Frog Lane - M3    M3 Motorway Section    M3 - Church Lane (Basing)    Church Lane - Crown Lane    Basing House    Redbridge La - Swing Br Cottages    The Loop - Ringway East    Eastrop Way - Basingstoke