Baughurst is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England. It is located west of the town of Tadley, north of Basingstoke. In the 2001 census it had a population of 2,473. The village is known for its feud with Tadley in the manufacture of besom brooms. History A number of tumuli are in the parish, suggesting that a settlement may have been in the Baughurst area in the Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Roman times. Portway, the Roman road between London (Londinium) and Dorchester (Durnovaria) via nearby Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum), ran through the parish. The recorded history of Baughurst traces to Anglo Saxon Britain. In 885, the area was given to the Bishop of Winchester, and became part of Hurstbourne Priors near Andover. Baughurst was not mentioned in the Domesday Survey of 1086; it was probably still part of Hurstbourne Priors. During the late 13th century, a number of tithings within Baughurst were held by the Coudray family on behalf of Edward I. In 1440, Baughurst became part of the Manor of Manydown near Basingstoke. In the mid-16th century, Baughurst's tithings were bought by the Palmes family. Around the same time, the Dissolution of the Monasteries occurred and Aldermaston returned to Winchester Cathedral in 1541. It later swapped to Manydown once more, before being sold in 1649 and returned to Winchester in 1660. After the Civil War, the area became one of the wealthiest Quaker centres in the south of England. After George Fox's visit to Basingstoke in 1657, a dissident – James Potter – was imprisoned for standing up in church and reading from a Quaker paper which conflicted with standard church beliefs. After his release, Potter established a Friends meeting house in the village. After the Act of Toleration 1689, Baughurst became less valuable to the Quakers – many joined the Anglicans. The majority, however, began following the Methodist movement of John and Charles Wesley, who regularly visited Baughurst. The Wesleys' friend, George Whitefield, lived in Baughurst around 1736. In the late 18th century, Jane Austen (who lived in nearby Steventon) visited Baughurst Priory. She wrote about her visit in a letter to her sister Cassandra. In 1847, Baughurst became part of the Duke of Wellington's Stratfield Saye estate. The subsequent dukes were the main land owners of Baughurst until 1943. In 1942, land was cleared to build RAF Aldermaston. One of the RAF base's