Juniperus

Highclere, Kingsclere and Basingstoke Light Railway
Legend
Didcot, Newbury & Southampton Rly Highclere Ecchinswell Kingsclere Wolverton Ramsdell Monk Sherborne Sherborne St John Basingstoke London & South Western Rly

The Highclere, Kingsclere and Basingstoke Light Railway was a proposed light railway in Hampshire, England, connecting the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway (DNSR) with the London and South Western Railway (LSWR).^[1][2] Despite public support of the railway proposal, sufficient funding was never obtained and the proposals were abandoned.

The passing of the Light Railways Act 1896 (59 & 60 Vict. c. 48) led to the proposal of two light railways in Hampshire—the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway and the Highclere, Kingsclere and Basingstoke Light Railway.^[1] The former was begun in 1898, and in 1900 a proposal for the Highclere—Basingstoke line was issued.^[3] The proposal called for public subscription, and sufficient interest was gathered to allow an amount of land in Kingsclere (at the present-day Wellmans Meadow, 51°19′46″N 1°15′06″W / 51.3294°N 1.2518°W / 51.3294; -1.2518) to be purchased for Kingsclere Station.^[1][4] Other methods of acquiring land included offering landowners shares in the railway in return for access to their land.^[1]

There was much public interest in Kingsclere about the railway,^[1] though sufficient funds—in either cash or shares—were never raised and the proposal was dropped in the early 20th century.^[1]

The proposed railway would have diverged from the DNSR south of Highclere near the village of Burghclere.^[1] From there it would have headed south-east through the villages of Ecchinswell, Kingsclere, Wolverton, Ramsdell, Monk Sherborne and Sherborne St John.^[1] Each of these villages would have been served by its own station.^[1]