Basingstoke is the largest town in Hampshire, England, and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon at the far eastern edge of Salisbury Plain 30 miles northeast of Southampton, 48 miles southwest of London, 27 miles west of Guildford and 20 miles northeast of the county town Winchester. In 2016, it had a population of 113,776. It is part of the borough of Basingstoke and Deane and parliamentary constituency of Basingstoke.
Basingstoke market was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, and it remained a small market town until the early 1960s. At the start of World War II, the population was little more than 13,000. It expanded rapidly after the Second World War to accommodate London overspill.
Basingstoke became an important economic centre in the second half of the 20th century, and houses
the UK headquarters of Motorola, The Automobile Association, De La Rue, Sun Life Financial, ST Ericsson, GAME, Barracuda Networks, Eli Lilly and Company, FCB Halesway, BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions, and Sony Professional Solutions and European headquarters of the TaylorMade Golf Company. Other industries include IT, telecommunications, insurance and electronics.