Box

"BOX, a parish, township, and large village in the hundred and union of Chippenham, in the county of Wilts, 5 miles to the N. E. of Bath, and 102 miles from London. It is a station on the Great Western railway, which here passes through a tunnel, called the Box Tunnel, nearly 2 miles long, and which has a fall of 50 feet in a mile. The parish is situated in a fine valley, on the great road from Bath to London, and contains the hamlet of Bog Quarries and several others. Here are valuable quarries of freestone, called Bath stone, from being extensively used in that city. It is exported in large quantities to all parts of the kingdom. The existence of some mineral springs near the village led to the establishment of Middle Hill Spa; but the experiment failed, and the buildings are converted into private dwellings. There are some brewing and malting establishments. The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol, value £400, in the patronage of the Rev. H.D.C.S. Horlock, D.D. The church, dedicated to St. Thomas a Becket, is an ancient structure with spire, and contains a monument to Mrs. Bowdler. There is also a chapel of ease at Kingsdown, and a Wesleyan chapel. There is a free school, endowed by several persons with an income of £80 per annum, a large, private, girls' school, and a National school. A Roman villa is supposed to have stood at Cherry Court, in this parish, many Roman relics having been discovered there."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) - Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]