The subsidence form of many sedimentary basins consist of two discrete phases of basin development: a rapid subsidence phase related to riftinq of the crust and thinninq of the sub-crustal lithosphere followed by a thermal or flexural subsidence phase. In marked contrast to this simple models prediction, some basins exhibit a complicated subsidence history consisting of one or more phases of extension and thermal recovery (construction phase). These phases may in turn be followed by phases of destruction (inversion) which could introduce an additional drivinq subsidence. The Wessex Basin is such an example. PolyPhase reactivation of basement thrusts and wrench (or transfer) faults tended to compartmentalize the basement, thereby leading to the initiation of discrete (Permian-Cretaceous) pull-apart deoocentres openinq alonq northwest-southeast faults. On the basis of structural and subsidence data, the Wessex Basin has been interpreted as the result of thin skinned crustal extension above an intracrustal late Variscan listric detachment surface, with significantly reduced ~xtension of the subcrustal lithosphere and is not the result of simple lithospheric stretching as described previously. The same detachment surface facilitated inversion and hence the destruction of the basin, beginning in the late Cretaceous-early Tertiary. The structural development of the Wessex Basin, both during extension and compression, was ultimately controlled by the plate motion of Africa relative to Europe. Such plate motions successfully predict the observed northwest-southeast sinistral motion in the Stephanian- Aptian, east-west sinistral motion durinq the Aptian-Cenomanian, and northwest-southeast dextral motion and inversion from the Cenomanian -to the Present day.