Basildon The Five Minutes Spare Guide

All you need to know about Basildon, including tourist attractions, history, and how to get there.

Basildon is situated in Essex, inside its own borough and roughly 26 miles east of London. Known for being one of the post-war new towns, Basildon was built to accommodate overspill from London. Nowadays, it is a pleasant town comprised of four small villages merged into one… but it hasn’t always been so.

This guide will look at Basildon to really get to grips with the location. We want to know if it is a suitable staycation destination if the people are friendly, and all the things you can do once you get there. Join us as we take a 5-minute tour of Basildon.

The Early History of Basildon

The name for Basildon is derived from the Saxon for ‘Beorhtels Hill’. Which would have been the name of the clan leader. Tools and weapons have been unearthed in the area, suggesting occupation throughout the Bronze Age. the people were hunters and gatherers although a Bronze Age axe was also found. We also know recent archaeologists have uncovered evidence of Stone Age occupation.

Cut forward a little, and permanent Iron Age settlements have been found all over the area, including at Billericay, Langdon Hills, and Basildon New Town. These Iron Age settlements were permanent structures, suggesting that early humans finally settled in the area rather than just hunting in it. Two larger settlements have been found nearby with the estimation that they were occupied right up until 150 BC.

When the Romans came just after 40 AD, they Romanised the entire area. They built roads connecting Basildon to London and stayed for roughly four centuries. When they did finally retreat, they left the Essex coastline unguarded. Basildon suffered as a result and was frequently invaded by Saxon Raiders.

In the 5th and 6th centuries, it is rumoured that the king of the East Saxons lived in Burstead. He also ruled over London although during these years the city had fallen to dilapidation. In 604 AD Christianity arrived in town.

The Danes Pay a Visit

As of 800 AD, the coastline of Essex was subjected to numerous Viking raids. the Danes sailed up the creeks and rivers, inclusive of the River Crouch, which experts estimate could be sailed as far as Wickford. There was an attempt in 894 AD to invade Basildon, but locals saw the Vikings off at Benfleet.

The Normans invaded and 1066, and king William the Conquerors’ half-brother, Sven of Essex, stayed in the area. He would later be imprisoned for plotting to be made pope. 20 years later, the king would order the first-ever Ordnance Survey of England. this was known as the Domesday Survey, and it detailed everything the new king owned.

According to the survey, Basildon was one of the smallest settlements in the country at that time. the land belonged to Sven of Essex, and he owned pastureland enough for 100 sheep, a cow and a pig, and the land was worth 1 pound five shillings. He also owned woodland containing 40 pigs, a few smallholders, and some villagers. The grand sum this amounted to was three pounds.

Let’s take a break from the history before we move on to the Medieval era.

Interesting Basildon Facts

No guide is complete without a bit of interesting (well fairly interesting) snippets of trivia. Here are our favourite facts about Basildon:

• The Basildon sign cost £90,000 and, in general, locals seem to hate it.

The #Basildon sign shone red, white and blue last night to mark #ArmedForcesDay today. pic.twitter.com/f9RX8cQu5I

— Essex News (@radioessexnews) June 27, 2020

• Basildon is comprised of four separate villages. these are Pitsea, Laindon, Vange, and Basildon itself.
• In the 1940s, Basildon was famously turned into a New Town. Its purpose was to house the overspill of London residents whose homes had been destroyed during the blitz.
• Basildon is extremely outdoors orientated, with more parks than virtually any other Essex town.
• Basildon has its own sporting village, which contains pretty much everything the active person could want.
• Sticking with sport there are two football clubs Basildon United and the storied women’s football team Hashtag United Women FC.

There are plenty of things that locals find delightful about this Essex town. It may have set out as a mid-20^th century New Town, but it has become so much more. let’s return to the history of Basildon to pick up where we left off.

Basildon In Mediaeval Times

During mediaeval times Basildon was still a small village. it would remain such right up until the 1940s. Nevertheless, we can still trace the history of the village up until that point.

In 1388 Basildon was hit by the Black Death. this is the same plague, which historians estimates killed so many people in some towns that there weren’t enough people left to bury them all. It came in three waves, each more deadly than the last. We should all probably take note.

Next came the English Civil War, in which the people of Basildon sided with the Ironsides. It would take until 1602 for the name of the town to stop evolving. Throughout medieval times, the town had plenty of different spellings, namely Berdleson, Bretlesden, Batlesdon, Basseldon, and Bassendon.

The town remained slow and sleepy right up until the 20^th century. It was surrounded by fields, as a map from 1876 suggests.  The locals would have made their living from farming the land and perhaps fishing the river. There were few houses and finding a wife or husband would have meant attending the fairs in nearby towns.

The New Town Emerges

After spending hundreds of years as a sleepy town, Basildon was merged with the other villages in 1949. The census data for the total of all the villages was 4,449 in 1921. Although they had come through an Industrial era, they were still not much but fields and individual high streets. By 1931, the population had grown to 34,000 between all the villages. This meant there were a significant number of people already in the area when it was made into a New Town. The modern population reaches 120,000. Back then, however, it was nothing more than a collection of small towns and farms.

There is still a slight amount of malice among the people whose families came from the villages, instead of moving in from London. Some accounts report that established homes and businesses were ‘cleared’ to make way for new builds. This left some people in a worse position than they had been before the New Town features were added.

Pitsea was the biggest town in the area, rather than Basildon, which was chosen as the name for the new build. It had a railway station all its own, whereas Basildon had none. Laindon also had its own railway station, suggesting that the area was better built than most seem to think.

Modern Basildon

At the start of the 20^th century, Basildon was a small town comprised of many different small plots of land which had been sold to independent buyers. The area was ‘underdeveloped’ according to the town council, and it was them that appealed to the government to make it a New Town. As a result, it became one of the 8 New Towns the government introduced in South East England after the first New Towns act was passed. It was officially designated on 4^th January 1949, after which the area became transformed. The first house wasn’t completed until 1951, and the boom ensued.

The first London residents were placed in Redgrave Road in Vange, and the rest is history… so to speak.

The large sign that declares you are in Basildon Town Centre was added in 1956 and the railway station was added that same year. Housing areas, commercial areas, and retail establishments flooded the area. An industrial sector was added, with the Basildon Centre opened by Jack Cunningham in 1989.

In the grand scheme of things, Basildon is still a new town. It lies in an area of countryside that has seen population since Roman times, and yet carries less history than just about every town around it. The sign for the town centre was replaced in 2010 and now stands five feet tall. This was an attempt to modernise the already modern town. The government injected £400k into improving the town in that same year… but what improvements were made evaporated into the mists of a cold Essex morning.

Modern Basildon

Nowadays Basildon is separated into distinct areas. There’s Vange, Laindon, Pitsea, and all the other old towns are still in there, though the government added in a few newer names. Lee Chapel, Langdon Hills and Barnstable to name a few.

Basildon has a heavy industrial area which gives many of the working-class residents their jobs. There is a Ford Motor Company factory, a Carreras Tobacco Company, a Gordon’s Gin plane and a CNH Tractor plant. It is the hub of building and construction in the town. A Costa Coffee bean roastery opened in 2017 which quadrupled their capacity for roasted beans from 11k a year to 45k a year. When all is said and done, Basildon is a busy industrial town with plenty of work.

What doesn’t it have? Basildon lost a lot of the community spirit it had in the old days before the towns were merged. What remains is a new, friendly, and welcoming spirit, that doesn’t have the same sense of cultural identity as most would-be old villages that grew big. As a result, it is in the country without being in the country, homely while being industrial, and there is a decisive split down the middle as to how locals feel about that sign.

Otherwise, Basildon is a perfectly pleasant place to live. There are lots of trees and green space and by all accounts, people are friendly and although the crime rate is a bit above the UK average it is not massively so. This, in our opinion, makes it a great place to live… but what if you were only passing through?

We’ll get to the sights and sounds of a New Town in a moment, first we want to find out if there are any famous faces we might catch a glimpse of in the supermarket.

Famous People from Basildon

Basildon hasn’t had hundreds of years to produce famous people yet, so we’re not expecting anything fantastic. It’s also pretty close to London, which makes it a prime candidate for commuting. Here are some of our favourite famous people that you might meet down the high street if you are staying in Basildon:

• Donna Bernard, a journalist for the BBC, lives here.
• Vince Clark, from Erasure, is from Basildon, too.
• Martin Lee Gore, from Depeche Mode, also from here.
• Katie Jarvis from EastEnders is Basildon born.
• Denise Van Outen is Basildon born.

And there are loads more. For a town so short-lived, it certainly does seem to have made plenty of contributions to the British Celebrity scene.

Finally, it’s the part you have all been waiting for… the attractions of Basildon.

Attractions in Basildon

If you were visiting Basildon on a Staycation, what sorts of things could you see and do there? We found out, so you can plan accordingly.

Historic sites and landmarks

For obvious reasons, there aren’t many historic sights and landmarks in Basildon, so you need to travel a little bit. Head to the Kelvedon Hatch if you want to see an interesting old nuclear bunker. It sports a self-guided tour which you listen to through headsets. There are lots of films that tell you about Britain during the time and there is a dressing up area complete with gas masks. It is said to be Britain’s deepest bunker.

Likewise, taking a tour for the day and heading to the Crossness Pumping House is a delightful experience. Reviewers say the Victorians really did know how to decorate their workplaces. Kids get to learn all about waterworks, and you can enjoy the café and gift shop. It was opened in 1865 and would work to pump through London’s sewage system.

Head to the coast to look at the Reculver Towers and Roman Fort, which would have once guarded the coastline against threats of invaders. It’s an interesting old building that has the remains of a 12th-century church attacked. The joining of Roman and Anglo-Saxon is rarely seen throughout England, so this place is a real treat for the history buff.

Museums and galleries

Back in the heart of Basildon, you should be able to track down some museums and galleries. First, there is a children’s museum in town that is well worth the visit if you are trying to keep your kids amused during a day out. This museum is run by Barnardo’s, the children’s charity so does give freely if you go along.

There is much more in the way of outdoor museums and galleries in Basildon. For example, you can visit the haven plotlands museum situated in Lower Dunton Rd. The haven is owned by Essex Wildlife Trust and has been in use since it was first built in the 1930s. The Haven was built by Frederick Mills and his wife and is the last of almost 200 plotlands homes but used to be in the area. It has been a Wildlife Trust since the 80s.

Baildon Eastgate Art is perhaps the best gallery in town. It features a unique mix of local and fine artworks. The art lover in your family will love perusing the artworks here. You might even find something that you want to hang in your living room. You will find it in the shopping centre of the same name.

Outdoor attractions

Basildon is teeming with outdoor attractions. One of the best-loved of these is the Wat Tyler Country Park. This Park contains 125 acres filled with wildlife. It has an incredible adventure play area that kids love, and for adults, it is one of the best business and event venues in Essex. The Country Park is an SSSI. This stands for Site of Special Scientific Interest. These sites tend to be of importance due to rare fauna & flora, but sometimes because they have unusual geological features.

If you are a bird watcher you might get the chance to see the elusive Cetti’s Warbler pictured above. This is the only site in Essex that they have bred at.

Foxes Farm Produce is another firm favourite with children and families. They have massive amounts of land, and they will use it to create interesting events for the kiddies wherever they possibly can. As well as a farm shop filled with lovely fresh produce, you can go along and pick a pumpkin at Halloween from their awesome pumpkin patch.

Don’t go to Basildon without having a splash around at the Festival Wakeboard Aqua Park. This place oversees making sure everyone has a blast in the water. They have boards you can rent, instructors you can hire, and a deck you can sit on and wait for the kids if you don’t want a dip yourself. There’s a café inside that has a nice outdoor seating area, too.

Football

Basildon has a senior men’s football club Basildon United FC who play in the Isthmian League North Division. Plus there is Hashtag United mentioned above. So no football fan will be short of a game to watch during the season. Plus there is a good chance of a couple of local derby games against nearby Bowers & Pitsea F.C! You can check out our club guide here.

Golf

As ever, each English town has at least 2 golf clubs nearby. Basildon does not disappoint. You can visit Basildon’s own golf club and course, or you can head to the slightly posher Noak Hill Golf Course nearby.

Recreation

If you are looking for a place to take the kids so they can burn off steam, we wholeheartedly recommend the partyman world of play. This adventure playground group have venues in Oxford, in Ipswich, and even here in Basildon. It contains indoor play adventures and a soft play area, as well as a café, so you don’t need to sit and watch the whole time.

If you would prefer to catch a show – or even indulge in a little amateur dramatics of your own – then the Towngate Theatre is the one to watch. You can catch a show every weekend, but they sometimes run through the week, too.

Shopping and retail

Everyone loves the Eastgate Shopping Centre but keep in mind that this is a New Town. This means the government drew up the plans for it and approved the town centre to contain XXX amount of shopping space. If you head to the centre of town, you will find what you are looking for.

Other Notable Attractions

That’s just about all we have time for in terms of attractions. However, let’s wrap it up by mentioning all the places we couldn’t fit in to write about in great detail. If you are in town for more than a few days, try to take in the following sights, too:

• There is a big bingo hall named Buzz Bingo for all your grannies.
• Another soft play area named Monkey Madness will soothe any troubled child.
• The Belvedere Golf Range will let you hit some shots without providing you the full course.
• High sports is the climbing wall centre we mentioned earlier.
• Visit the Noak Bridge nature reserve and feed the ducks, try to take seeds over bread.
• There is a riverboat museum that we almost forgot to mention.

As you can see, there is plenty of fun to be had for every type of person in Basildon. All you need to do is go there to find out.

How to Get to Basildon

Now we have told you everything you need to know about Basildon, we should probably tell you how to get there, too.

By Road

Head east out of London on the A13.

By Rail

Basildon train station is on the southern line.

By Air

The nearest airport is London Southend.

By Sea

You can head to Southend on Sea for a day trip if you want.

Got 5 Minutes Spare?

if you find yourself with five minutes to spare and you don’t know how to spend that time, we cordially invite you to take a look at our travel guides. Each of these provides you with insight into a different local area with the potential to be your staycation destination for 2021/22.