Up Nately's Environment

Conservation Area

The conservation area includes all but the Heather Lane area of the village that lies to its north.  The boundary is drawn tightly around the plots either side of the lane, from the main Greywell Road, and along the road itself.

Visit the Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council website or click on the cover image to view the full appraisal document.

You can also view a map showing the full conservation area on the borough council website.

Hampshire Treasures

Hampshire County Council undertook a survey to form a single record of treasures to be found throughout Hampshire so that the effects of both time and development could be known and assessed.  A Hampshire Treasure is defined as:

Those natural or man made features of the county which are of public interest by reason of their aesthetic, archaeological, historic, scenic, scientific, sociological or traditional interest, and whose deterioration or destruction would represent a serious loss to our heritage.

Both Up Nately and Mapledurwell villages contain features which by definition were included in the Hampshire Treasures survey, full details of which can be found at Hampshire Treasures Volume 2 (Basingstoke and Deane).

Listed Buildings

Under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport has a statutory duty to list buildings of special architectural or historic interest, so as to identify the best of our built heritage, protect and conserve it.

The national List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historical Interest holds details of all the listed buildings and structures in the village.  It also shows pastscapes with details of archaeological finds and excavations, and monuments.  Visit www.heritagegateway.org.uk/ for full details.

Basingstoke Canal

A section of the Basingstoke Canal runs through the northern half of Up Nately, entering the village at Little Tunnel Bridge, which is a Grade II listed structure.

In recognition of its special architectural and historic interest, a stretch of the Basingstoke Canal located three miles east of Basingstoke, running from the north-eastern border of Mapledurwell through the northern part of Up Nately to the entrance of the collapsed Greywell Tunnel, was designated a conservation area in 1977.

Visit the Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council website or click on the cover image to view the full appraisal document.  
         
Basingstoke Canal - brief history

An act of parliament was given Royal Assent on 15 May 1778 to build a navigable waterway from Basingstoke to the River Wey at West Byfleet.  To be known as the Basingstoke Canal, it was intended as an agricultural waterway to connect North East Hampshire with markets in London.

Work on the 32 mile long canal started in 1787 and included building bridges where any public highway crossed it and 29 locks to raise it 245ft above sea level, and engineering its way through the hill under the ancient woodland pasture of Butter Wood and a 1200 yard long tunnel at Greywell.  It was completed in 1794.

The canal was reasonably successful in its early years but by the 1840’s the railways greatly affected its lucrative small goods traffic.  A boost came during building of Aldershot Camp in the 1850’s but declined again afterwards, and following the Canal Company’s insolvency it was run for some years by the Official Receiver then a host of entrepreneurial owners who tried to make money from such things as pleasure boat hire, selling water, and commercial carrying.

During WW1 the canal was taken over and run as part of the inland water transport system, under the overall control of the Royal Engineers.  It carried very large amounts of materials and military stores to Aldershot, Crookham and Deepcut Camps along the Canal.  With the end of WW1 traffic slowly declined again, and in 1923 the canal was sold to a private owner who managed to retain traffic on the lower reaches to Woking.

As WW2 got under way, traffic patterns on rivers and canals were disrupted by imports coming into west country ports rather than the Port of London.  By the end of WW2 traffic had declined to such a point that in 1949 the canal was sold to its last private owner, the New Basingstoke Canal Company, who tried to manage it by selling fishing tickets and encouraging houseboat moorings and unpowered pleasure craft to use the canal.

However, with an overwhelming backlog of maintenance the canal was almost totally derelict by 1964 and by the late 1960’s it was perceived as an eyesore.  A group of residents in Brookwood asked the owners if they could work on it voluntarily at weekends but the owners wanted to sell off the dry sections for development.  So, the group of residents formed themselves into an action group called the Surrey and Hampshire Canal Society and campaigned for the canal to be put into public ownership and restored as a public amenity.

However, the section from Greywell Tunnel to Basingstoke had been abandoned and partially filled in many years before so it was only considered possible to restore the towpath and possibly the canal to navigation from Greywell Tunnel to the River Wey.  Following a couple of canal bursts in 1968, local authorities were forced to realise that the canal would either have to be eliminated or restored to a condition to make it safe, and after considering various options eventually decided to restore it to full navigable condition.

Possession under Compulsory Purchase Order was obtained by Surrey County Council and Hampshire County Council in 1974 and large numbers of volunteers and county staff started restoration work, clearing the towpath to make it available for walkers, and clearing the channel of fallen trees and obstructions ready for dredging.

The Surrey and Hampshire Canal Society purchased a floating steam dredger, which they restored to use, and spent the next 19 years dredging from Odiham to Fleet.  The 5 mile section from Fleet to Aldershot was dredged by county council contractors.

After millions of hours of voluntary labour from the society and both county council’s providing funding, materials and logistical backup, the restored section of the Basingstoke Canal was officially re-opened on 10 May 1991 and it is managed and maintained by the Basingstoke Canal Authority under a joint management committee.

For more details about the canal visit the Basingstoke Canal Authority website.     

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