Basildon

Basildaska(Basildonian)

Basildons national flag

GREEN - Basildon

**Basildon** /ˈbæzɪldən/ is the largest town in the borough of Basildon in the county of Essex, England.

It lies 32 miles (51 km) east of Central London, 11 miles (18 km) south of the city of Chelmsford and 10 miles (16 km) west of Southend-on-Sea. Nearby smaller towns include Billericay to the north, Wickford northeast and South Benfleet to the east. It was created as a new town after World War II in 1948 to accommodate the London population overspill, from the conglomeration of four small villages, namely Pitsea, Laindon, Basildon and Vange. The new town which took the name Basildon was the most central of the four.

The local government district of Basildon, which was formed in 1974 and received borough status in 2010, encapsulates a larger area than the town itself; the two neighbouring towns of Billericay and Wickford, as well as rural villages and smaller settlements set among the surrounding countryside, fall within its borders. Basildon Town is one of the most densely populated areas in the county.

Some of Basildon's residents work in Central London due to the town being well connected in the county to the City of London and the Docklands financial and corporate headquarters districts, with a 36–58 minute journey from the three Basildon stations to London Fenchurch Street. Basildon also has access to the City via road, on the A127, and A13.

## History

The first historical reference to Basildon is in records from 1086. It is mentioned in the Domesday Book as 'Belesduna'.[6] The name 'Basildon' may be derived from the Anglo-Saxon personal name 'Boerthal' and the Anglo-Saxon word 'dun', meaning hill. In historical documents, this name had various forms over the centuries, including Berdlesdon, Batlesdon and Belesduna.

Railway service started in the 19th century to Pitsea (1856) and Laindon (1888) but it was only later that proposals to provide service to the new town of Basildon, shelved for many years because of concerns that it would simply become a commuter suburb of London, were eventually forced through. A significant number of modern-day residents do commute to London[*citation needed*].

By the beginning of the 1900s, Basildon had evolved with much of the land having been sold in small plots during a period of land speculation and development taking placed haphazardly with building by plot owners ranging from shelters created from recycled materials to brick-built homes and with amenities such as water, gas, electricity and hard-surfaced roads lacking.

In the 1940s, Billericay Urban District Council and Essex County Council, concerned by lack of amenities in the area and by its development, petitioned the Government to create a New Town. Basildon was one of eight 'New Towns' created in the South East of England after the passing of the New Towns Act.On 4 January 1949 Lewis Silkin, Minister of Town and Country Planning, officially designated Basildon as a 'New Town'. Basildon Development Corporation was formed in February 1949 to transform the designated area into a modern new town. The New Town incorporated Laindon and Pitsea and was laid out around small neighbourhoods with the first house being completed in June 1951.The first tenants moved into homes in Redgrave Road in Vange.A large, illuminated town sign "Basildon Town Centre Site" at 3.5 feet (1.1 m) was erected in 1956 by the railway and stood until early construction was completed.

The first leader elected for the local government district in 1974 was Ryan O'Rourke. Unusually, since March 2010 Basildon has a miniature famous white Hollywood sign, reading "Basildon": at five feet tall, the new sign is one-ninth of the height of the Hollywood original. This was aimed "to bring the town into the 21st century and to attract more visitors" by Basildon Enterprise Park, its full landscaping and infrastructure improvements funded by £400,000 from the Prescott-spearheaded Thames Gateway. Opponents from all parties believe spending could have been directed toward social problems.

## Geography

 5 Phonix area

### Reigons

Bardfeilds (Badvia)

Basildon Golf South (Basildaska Muotbyt)

Basildon Hospital (Haspital Basildaska)

Broadmayne (Capitaly Brov)

Burnt Mills (Baunvasihac)

Clay Hill (Semila Stockahl)

East Basildon (Basildaska Sientr)

Festival (Prosdranye)

Ghyllgrove (Gitranou)

Gloucester (Grotplanoutherice)

Kingswood (Kikdronamach)

Mayflower (Mayinko Fleurer)

Northlands (Nord Lani)

Whitmore Way (Vitmimer noughtvak)

Woodlands (Woodba Lani)

Yardley (Yelakisolivakok)

There are 16 Reigons in basildon

Left = English , Right = Basildonian

## Landmarks

The town of Basildon currently has many modern architectural structures due to the town's economic growth. Basildon has many 'tall' structures and buildings in comparison to other New Towns that were constructed in the 1950s–1960s. One of Basildon's first tall buildings was 'Brooke House', a tall block of flats situated in the Basildon town centre. However, since the decline of trade in the town centre, many great business buildings have been constructed in central Basildon.

**St. Martin's Church** in Basildon town centre is a modern structure. The church was consecrated in 1962 by the Bishop of Chelmsford. A freestanding Bell Tower built in 1999 was opened by Her Majesty the Queen.

Although there are a number of tall buildings in central Basildon, there are also many newly constructed buildings closer to the 'Basildon Enterprise Corridor' situated in North Basildon.

The largest structure in the new town's town centre is Brooke House, a 14-story residential tower block that fronts the west side of the town centre's East Square. Dating from 1962, it was designed by Sir Basil Spence and Anthony B Davies, with Ove Arup and Partners as the structural engineers.[40][41] It has a 1960s Brutalist design, elevated on 8 massive V-shaped concrete pylons. The building was chosen to have a residential function, as opposed to commercial office space, to retain life in the town centre after the shops had closed. Shops were positioned to the rear of the building, with Brooke House acting as a covered forecourt. It was conceived as a structure to define Basildon's urban status and to act as marker to identify the town centre's location within a largely low-rise settlement set in a flat landscape. It was named after the then Minister of Housing and Local Government, Henry Brooke MP.

East of Brooke House is East Square, a sunken open-air public plaza accessed from Brooke House by a monumental staircase and a curved ramp. The east side of the square is fronted by Freedom House, containing shops on two levels, and the north side by the Post Office building, a 5-story structure. On a wall of Freedom House is the oldest piece of public sculpture in the new town: installed in 1957, it is a wire and aluminium relief by the sculptor A. J. Poole titled "Man Aspires". The whole ensemble was designed to create a formal setting for Brooke House, and has a similar Brutalist design, though softened by other architectural features. The town centre extends from East Square towards the south-west. Down the middle of this zone runs a rectangular raised pool. Within the pool is a bronze sculpture and fountain, titled "Mother and Child", by the sculptor Maurice Lambert and dating from 1959.

## Basildonian Language

Language : Basildonian

Key from : Russian

Hello : Holdam

My name is \_\_\_ : Molutvak kaekit so\_\_\_\_\_

I am : Zdra makalotvi