A HISTORY buff who is campaigning for national listings of several Basingstoke buildings and landmarks has taken a step closer to success with one of his applications.
Liam Harding, from Kempshott, began his campaign in March this year when he had multiple landmarks rejected for national listing, including the Church Stone statue, better known as the 'Wote Street Willy'.
Unfazed by his setback, Liam decided to submit a new application to Historic England, to add John Mare’s Manor House, in Winchester Road, occupied by Clark and Son Solicitors, to the National Heritage List.
English Heritage acknowledged this submission, and the site is due to undergo listing assessment.
READ MORE
- Man arrested after sofa and bin set on fire over night in town centre
- Two more teens arrested after classrooms smashed up during school break in
- Basingstoke Wetherspoon pubs named in CAMRA's Good Beer Guide 2026
- Three emaciated horses 'starved to the brink of death' rescued from field
- Where to get help in Basingstoke if you are struggling or at breaking point
Liam, a Basingstoke Heritage Society committee member, said he is delighted with the prospect of listing: ”After spending quite a few hours filling out listing forms and having many instantly rejected, it’s great that this one site at least might be joining the National Heritage list where it firmly belongs.
“John Mare was a generous man with his factory, which helped house some of his workers and trained Thomas Burberry, who set up his infamous brand in Basingstoke at the Top of Town, where thousands of people walk through daily.
“Mare was responsible not only for employment in the town but in making a wonderful cloth innovator whose brand we take for granted now, despite it not being based in the town anymore.”
The assessment of John Mares Manor House by Historic England could take between three to six months or longer to complete, before it declares whether the DCMS (Department for Culture, Media and Sport) approves of its listing.
Mr Harding says “patience is key” for the necessary decision to be made, but is hoping for a positive outcome after all his previous efforts.
For the building to gain listing status, it must fall into the following three categories of threat, strategic priority, or significance, and it looks like the 1898 mansion could potentially fit the criteria.
The original occupant was John Mare, who owned a clothing factory in New Street and trained Thomas Burberry as his apprentice, who went on to create one of the leading cloth brands in the world.
The former cloth innovator contributed to Burberry’s landmark creation of making waterproof clothes, helping find materials, including inventing the Pletinvain coat.
Mare died in March 1930, and by the 1950s, his former home was taken over by the southern electricity board, before, in 1980, current occupiers, solicitors Clarke & Son, moved in.
Share