THE plan to build four blocks of flats on the north side of London Road have caused a great deal of consternation among the residents in Eastrop Lane and Chequers Road, as well as those living in London Road, for the area these flats will cover is quite considerable.

The land hemmed in by New Road, Chequers Road, London Road, and Eastrop Lane has seen several changes over the years, and the present scheme will remove many trees that have been untouched for years.

Two hundred years ago this area was known as Chequers Close, hence the name was used for the road passing through it. In those days most of the land was in Eastrop parish, the boundary line also extending across New Road to the rear of the Red Lion Hotel. Until 1890, Eastrop parish was scattered all round the town, with part of it in Hackwood Park and another section in the present Oakridge estate. Then 113 years ago the Eastrop parish was reduced to its present size.

The old boundary line can be seen on old maps, but another feature of that border can be viewed at the rear of the London Road Court House, on the left, where an old stone wall is the last link with the long boundary between Basingstoke and Eastrop.

The rest of the wall has been demolished over the years.

The changes in London Road have been happening for many years – in 1923 Eastlands House was sold to become the offices of the rural district council. With the acquisition of Goldings mansion, opposite, to be used as the town’s municipal buildings, Eastlands was the ideal place for the rural administration.

After the Second World War the town’s population was increasing to such an extent that the Hampshire Constabulary realised that a new police station was needed in Basingstoke, so two houses in London Road – “Pagoda” and “Tregenna” – were acquired for the land to build a new and larger station. It was opened in July 1967 by Sir Philip Allen, the Permanent Under Secretary of State at the Home Office, as the divisional headquarters.

The old police station in Mark Lane, off London Street, was demolished and an office block was erected there. Meanwhile, the Court House was opened in October 1962 on land at the rear of the rural district council offices.

In the mid-1960s the east side of New Road saw various buildings being demolished including a row of houses, in one of which was found an array of posters which dated back to the early 20th century, including the famous “Your Country Needs You” produced for the First World War. The owner was a printer for a local firm.

In 1971 a row of cottages which branched off from New Road, called Mount Pleasant, was demolished and bungalows were built along their site.

These replaced the Page’s Almshouses further up New Road, and were occupied by elderly people in 1975. The old almshouses, built in 1930, were used to house people needing accommodation in the town.

Some years later, another change took place in the square area of land between New Road, Eastrop Lane, London Road, and Chequers Road, this being the demolition of the old mansion house of Eastrop Fields in Chequers Road in 1981. The land was used for the construction of Geffery’s Fields old people’s home.

But of all the changes there could be none as amusing as the name of one of the houses in London Road. It was called “Coo-ee” which the residents were quite satisfied with in the early 1950s.

But when a new occupant moved in some years later he was not amused, and he called it Lauriston, which had been the name of his previous house.