Brighton Hill
| Brighton Hill | |
|---|---|
 Brighton Hill
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| Brighton Hill shown within Hampshire | |
| OS grid reference | SU6212950474 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Basingstoke |
| Postcode district | RG22 4 |
| Dialling code | 01256 |
| Police | Hampshire |
| Fire | Hampshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | |
Brighton Hill is a district of Basingstoke, England, that was formed around 1970 as part of the Town Centre Development Plan. The area is bounded to the west by the newer housing estate of Hatch Warren and by the A30. To the east of Brighton Hill, the Viables Industrial Estate and Cranbourne area. The area to the east is a lot older than Brighton Hill itself. The M3 motorway runs in a straight line to the south of the area, directly next to the southern ebb of Brighton Hill, which sometimes is referred to as Old Hatchwarren.
The earliest mention of the Brighton Hill name found so far was on a map dated 1877. However, this seems to relate to a cottage or some other building, situated just over halfway between Hatch Warren Farm (at the rear of the 'Portsmouth Arms' public house) and where the then Hatch Warren Lane and Winchester Road (now the A30) joined at a crossroads. An excerpt of map is shown here: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/mapsheet.aspx?compid=55119&sheetid=3770&ox=2671&oy=2821&zm=1&czm=1&x=363&y=235
The place marked as Brighton Hill on the 1877 map would roughly at the rear of Hatchwarren School, at the junction between the footpaths. As the map shows, one such footpath was the original Hatch Warren Lane in the area, the other links Brighton Hill with Hatch Warren.
Before the estate was built, the area was almost entirely farmland. The current Hatchwarren Lane, and Beggarwood Lane runs on the site of the original country lanes, which crossed the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway where Viables Roundabout is today. A section of track lies in the middle of the roundabout, as a permanent reminder of the railway. Cranbourne Lane carried on into Basingstoke Town Centre, passing many agricultural nurseries on the way. At the railway crossing, there was a junction with a road, now known as The Harrow Way but in times gone by, The Basingstoke Bypass. This road stretched from the junction with the road to Alton (now A339) from Hackwood Lane, to the Winchester Road (A30). The A30 route from Basingstoke Town Centre runs to a very similar alignment today, the main difference being a diversion behind Brighton Hill Community College, to allow for building of a retail park. The only real housing in the area was in a street known as Cumberland Avenue, at the time completely surrounded by fields. The road exists today and is a very unusual place in Brighton Hill.
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Wikipedia