Box, Wiltshire
Encyclopedia
Box is a village
located in Wiltshire
, England
, about 8 km (5 mi) east of Bath and 11 km (6.8 mi) west of Chippenham
. It is quite a large parish
with several settlements, apart from the village of Box, within its boundaries.
According to the 2001 census
, the village had a population
of 3,439.
It is in an area known for its fine stone and Box quarries were famous for their stone for centuries. Today Box is best-known for its Brunel
-designed Box railway tunnel
. But this is modern history from around 1840 to the present day and occupation here dates back at least to Roman
times.
is bisected diagonally by the steep-sided Bybrook
Valley with settlements on the higher ground on either side. Although the Bybrook
would have been an early communication route, later main routes by-passed the village of Box until 1761. Until then the Chippenham
to Bath road followed a route to the south of the town, leaving Pickwick, near Corsham
, passing through Chapel Plaister
to the crossroads, now known as Box Five Ways. From there it took the route through Blue Vein and through Kingsdown
to Bathford
. In 1761 the road through Box was turnpiked
under the Bricker's Barn Roads Trust, creating a more direct route (the present A4).
It was not until around 1830 that another main road was built into Box. This left the crossroads
to the south of Chapel Plaister
, thus turning it into Box Five Ways, and descended the steep into the older part of the village. This new road provided access from Bradford
and Melksham
.
Much of the parish
consists of limestone
with the good-quality beds of oolitic limestone
, now known as Bath stone
, topped with shelly limestone
to the south. Further north is clay
and beds of inferior limestones while the lower part of the Bybrook
Valley is covered in alluvium
.
flint tool working site here and there is certainly some evidence of early Neolithic
settlement. By the 2nd century A.D. a Roman villa
with the associated buildings of a Romano-British
agricultural estate existed. This villa was probably a courtyard
building having both mosaic
s and window glass. There was a major rebuilding in the late 3rd or early 4th century which changed it into the large villa of a wealthy person. The villa had one of the richest collections of mosaic
floors of any building in Roman Britain
with remains found in 20 of the 41 rooms. A villa
such as this would have been the centre of a large estate and the focus of interest for possible subsidiary villas at Ditteridge
and Hazelbury
and for those further afield such as Colerne
and Atworth
.
After the Romans left, the early history of Box is shrouded in mystery and it is Hazelbury
that seems to be the important place. We do not really know what Saxon
settlements there were in the area although there were definitely ones at Hazelbury
and Ditteridge
, which are mentioned in the Domesday Book
.
Towards the end of the 7th century St. Aldhelm is said to have thrown down his glove at Hazelbury
and told men to dig and they would find treasure – the excellent building stone that had already been used by the Romans. St. Aldhelm is said to have used stone from here to build the original church at Bradford
and also for Malmesbury Abbey
. Later stone was used for Bradenstoke
, Stanley
and Lacock Abbey
s.
There were Saxon churches at both Hazelbury
and Ditteridge
and by 1086 Hazelbury
had a reasonable population. There would appear to have been between 90 and 120 people at Hazelbury
at the time of the Domesday Book
and there were also 2 mills. These latter must have been in the valley of the Bybrook
and it is tempting to think that Hazelbury
, which could have covered Box Hill
, also included Box, which is not mentioned at Domesday, but the area of land given for Hazelbury
is insufficient for this. Ditteridge
was much smaller with a population of around 30. Whether there was a settlement at the place we now know as Box is unknown but there must have been some people living in that part of the valley.
The earliest mention of Box is in 1144 when land there was confirmed as belonging to Humphrey II de Bohun
. There was certainly a Norman
church here and it is possible that there was a Saxon predecessor. The church was built near to the Roman villa and it is likely that dressed stone from the villa was used for part of the early church fabric. The village itself seems to have developed to the east of the church - probably because the land falls away to the west and south, and rises to the north. A market place existed here and Box would have been a small medieval market town
for the surrounding area. Although called the 'town of La Boxe' in a land transaction of 1283 it is likely to have been only of village size and the community of Hazelbury
, situated mainly on Hazelbury
Hill was probably larger.
In the late 12th and early 13th centuries quarries of stone were given to Stanley Abbey
(by Walter Croc, or Croke, of Hazelbury
and Samuel Bigod of Box) and Lacock Abbey
by Sir Henry Croc. It is likely that small settlements based on farms, such as Wormcliffe and Alcomb, were scattered throughout the modern parish
by the mid 14th century when the population had expanded considerably. Many of these will have been affected by the loss of people during the outbreak of the Black Death
and it is possible that the settlement at Hazelbury
began a terminal decline at this point, with little demand for stone.
It is probably fair to say that until the 18th century there was no real concentration of settlement in Box parish
, with most people living outside the village itself. In a taxation list of 1545 the wealthier people of Box paid £4.8.0d
(£4.40p) in taxes while those of Corsham
paid £5.15.0d
(£5.75p).
Box would have included Ditteridge
and Hazelbury
while the large parish
of Corsham
also included many settlements. A later taxation list of 1576 also seems to indicate that the parish
of Box was reasonably well-populated. Quarrying, other than for purely local use, seems to have been resurrected, with stone being used for Great Chalfield Manor
and Longleat House in the 15th century and 16th centuries.
The powerful Hungerford family were one of the main landowners in Box by the mid 15th century, while the landed estate of Hazelbury Manor
had passed from the Croc, or Croke, family to the Bonhams by marriage. In the 17th century Box is recorded on several maps including one of 1630 by Francis Allen.
Unfortunately, this does not record the ordinary houses and cottages of the village but only the church, a few large houses and the mills. From quarter session records we do know that there were a variety of trades present in Box including butchers, masons
and alehouse keepers. Weaving
was a major home industry by this time with cloth woven in small workshops attached to people's homes, for the clothiers of the nearby towns.
Along with the increase in importance of weaving
in the 17th century came Non-conformism and there were Quakers here from the early 17th century. Later in the century a private asylum
, known as Box Mad House, was established at Kingsdown
.
and spinning
continued and there seem to have been connections with the clothiers of Bradford
more than other towns. Certainly boys from the poor house, established in 1727, were apprenticed to weavers in Bradford
. The industry declined in the latter part of the 18th century as increasing mechanisation concentrated activity in the towns. A charity school began in 1708 and from 1728 used a large room in the poor house (now Springfield). Quarrying continued and received a boost in 1727 when the River Avon
was made navigable between Bath and Bristol
. Box stone was then carted to Bath from where it could be transported by water to London
and other towns.
. A short haul overland and the stone could then be transported via canal and the River Thames
by barge directly to London
where the price was reduced to 1/11d (about 10 pence) a cubic foot. The canal age was succeeded by the railway age, which brought fame, employment and easy transport to Box.
line between London
and Bristol
to be completed was between Bath and Chippenham
. This presented the greatest difficulty in the cutting of the 1¾ mile long (2,937 m) Box Tunnel
. Many people said it could not be done or that passengers would be deafened in the tunnel. Work began in early 1836 and there were early problems with flooding. Men worked both day and night with 1,500 men and over 100 horses used. During the final six months before completion there were 4,000 men and 300 horses working. The work took five years with nearly 100 men killed whilst working. The tunnel was completed in spring 1841 and the line officially opened on 30 June 1841. There is a very grand portal at the western (Box) end of the tunnel but a somewhat plainer one at the eastern (Corsham
) end.
Work on the tunnel changed the nature of Box completely. Shanty town
s for labourers were built and were swiftly followed by the arrival of all the camp followers associated with the temporary camps of men. New beer houses and public house
s were set up, including one with the name Railroad Tavern. The effect on the established population of this mainly agricultural parish
was immense with fears of drunkenness and violence common but a few entrepreneurs were able to make money out of the railway railway navvies
.
One big advantage of the tunnel construction was the discovery of vast beds of fine stone to the north and south of the railway line. Extensive underground stone mines were excavated between Box Hill
and Corsham
and stone was brought out by trucks pulled along narrow-gauge lines to a track running parallel with Box Tunnel
, emerging through a separate arch
at the Corsham
end. The effect of navvies remaining in the area, and a rise in numbers of quarrymen and stonemasons
, led to an increase in population of nearly 47% between 1831 and 1841 – from 1,550 to 2,274. With transport by rail stone could now be sold in the chief southern towns and cities for between 9d (4 pence) and 1/8d (8½ pence) per cubic foot. Box stone was being used by Oxford University colleges by the mid 19th century.
The development of the community now known as Box Hill
dates from this time and public houses with names such as the Quarrymen's Arms and The Tunnel begin to appear. The peak period for quarrying activity was between 1880 and 1909 when millions of tons of stone was cut. The quarries continued working until 1969. Obviously the village itself expanded considerably in the 19th century, growing eastwards from the church and market place along the road to Corsham
and up Quarry Hill. Apart from quarrying local industries included milling
, brewing
and malting and soap and candle manufacture but farming was still the mainstay of the parish
. The chief crops were wheat
, barley
and oats
.
Methodist chapels were opened at Kingsdown
and Box Hill
to complement the one in the village. In 1858 a cemetery was created on the A4 to the west of the church and the churchyard closed for burials. After a fall in population between the years of 1841 and 1851, numbers in the parish
rose steadily. In the early years of the 19th century Kingsdown
Lunatic Asylum was housing 300 patients in fairly wretched conditions. Conditions improved only slowly but by the beginning of the 20th century it was a well-run asylum for 43 patients, who paid between 2 and 5 guineas a week (£2.10 to £5.25). By this time football teams had been formed in Box and Box Hill
and in 1870 the Box Cricket Club was founded at The Chequers Inn.
It was demolished in 1970 and its function is now fulfilled by the Selwyn Hall (built in 1969), which also houses the village library. After the First World War the village war memorial was erected on Bear Green in 1923 and in 1926 the Recreation Ground was built.
Box has been well served with public house
s and until the 1920s the village had its own brewer, Pinchins, at Box Brewery, opposite the school. It is also interesting to note that the 17th century Manor House in the High Street was still a working farm early in the 20th century and a herd of cows was frequently to be seen in the main road.
After the Second World War there was an urgent need for more housing and the 'Fete Field' was used for the building of Bargates Estate, while Waverley Park was built off Henley Lane. These were followed by more areas of housing in all other decades of the 20th century. Despite the increase in houses the public houses declined with The Lamb closing in the 1960s. Before that, in 1957, in a tragic accident, the Rising Sun was demolished in an explosion and the licensee and his family were killed - apart from their baby who was thrown up into the tree next to the pub.
in August 2004. Beginning in 2007, Neston Park
hosted a major outdoor film set at Hatt Farm, at the south-eastern margin of the parish. This set represented Lark Rise for the 2008 BBC television adaption
of Lark Rise to Candleford
.
primary school, a playgroup and a pre-school nursery. There is a pharmacy, doctors surgery, and library. The parish has three Christian churches – the St Thomas A Becket and St Christopher Church of England
churches, and a Methodist
church.
The village has numerous sporting facilities including a lawn bowling green, two tennis
courts, a cricket
pitch, a football pitch and even a small basketball
area. These are all located in or around the Recreation Ground.
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
located in Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, about 8 km (5 mi) east of Bath and 11 km (6.8 mi) west of Chippenham
Chippenham, Wiltshire
Chippenham is a market town in Wiltshire, England, located east of Bath and west of London. In the 2001 census the population of the town was recorded as 28,065....
. It is quite a large parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
with several settlements, apart from the village of Box, within its boundaries.
According to the 2001 census
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
, the village had a population
Population
A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...
of 3,439.
It is in an area known for its fine stone and Box quarries were famous for their stone for centuries. Today Box is best-known for its Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, FRS , was a British civil engineer who built bridges and dockyards including the construction of the first major British railway, the Great Western Railway; a series of steamships, including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship; and numerous important bridges...
-designed Box railway tunnel
Box Tunnel
Box Tunnel is a railway tunnel in Western England, between Bath and Chippenham, dug through Box Hill, and is one of the most significant structures on the Great Western Main Line...
. But this is modern history from around 1840 to the present day and occupation here dates back at least to Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
times.
Geography
The parishParish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
is bisected diagonally by the steep-sided Bybrook
Bybrook River
The Bybrook, also known as the By Brook is a tributary of the Bristol Avon, some long. The sources are the Burton Brook and the Broadmead Brook, which rise in South Gloucestershire at Tormarton and Cold Ashton respectively. They join just north of Castle Combe in Wiltshire. The river has a mean...
Valley with settlements on the higher ground on either side. Although the Bybrook
Bybrook River
The Bybrook, also known as the By Brook is a tributary of the Bristol Avon, some long. The sources are the Burton Brook and the Broadmead Brook, which rise in South Gloucestershire at Tormarton and Cold Ashton respectively. They join just north of Castle Combe in Wiltshire. The river has a mean...
would have been an early communication route, later main routes by-passed the village of Box until 1761. Until then the Chippenham
Chippenham
Chippenham may be:* Chippenham, Wiltshire* Chippenham * Chippenham, Cambridgeshire-See also:* Virginia State Route 150, also known as Chippenham Parkway, USA* Cippenham, Berkshire, UK...
to Bath road followed a route to the south of the town, leaving Pickwick, near Corsham
Corsham
Corsham is a historic market town and civil parish in north west Wiltshire, England. It is at the south western extreme of the Cotswolds, just off the A4 which was formerly the main turnpike road from London to Bristol, between Bath and Chippenham ....
, passing through Chapel Plaister
Chapel Plaister
Chapel Plaister is a hamlet in Wiltshire, England....
to the crossroads, now known as Box Five Ways. From there it took the route through Blue Vein and through Kingsdown
Kingsdown, Box
Kingsdown is a hamlet in the civil parish of Box, Wiltshire....
to Bathford
Bathford
Bathford is a village and civil parish east of Bath, England. The parish, which includes Warleigh has a population of 1,753, and extends over .-History:...
. In 1761 the road through Box was turnpiked
Turnpike trust
Turnpike trusts in the United Kingdom were bodies set up by individual Acts of Parliament, with powers to collect road tolls for maintaining the principal highways in Britain from the 17th but especially during the 18th and 19th centuries...
under the Bricker's Barn Roads Trust, creating a more direct route (the present A4).
It was not until around 1830 that another main road was built into Box. This left the crossroads
Crossroads (culture)
In folk magic and mythology, crossroads may represent a location "between the worlds" and, as such, a site where supernatural spirits can be contacted and paranormal events can take place...
to the south of Chapel Plaister
Chapel Plaister
Chapel Plaister is a hamlet in Wiltshire, England....
, thus turning it into Box Five Ways, and descended the steep into the older part of the village. This new road provided access from Bradford
Bradford on Avon
Bradford on Avon is a town in west Wiltshire, England with a population of about 9,326. The town's canal, historic buildings, shops, pubs and restaurants make it popular with tourists....
and Melksham
Melksham
Melksham is a medium-sized English town, lying on the River Avon. It lies in the county of Wiltshire.It is situated southeast of the city of Bath, south of Chippenham, west of Devizes and north of Warminster on the A350 national route. The 2001 UK census cited Melksham as having 20,000...
.
Much of the parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
consists of limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
with the good-quality beds of oolitic limestone
Oolite
Oolite is a sedimentary rock formed from ooids, spherical grains composed of concentric layers. The name derives from the Hellenic word òoion for egg. Strictly, oolites consist of ooids of diameter 0.25–2 mm; rocks composed of ooids larger than 2 mm are called pisolites...
, now known as Bath stone
Bath Stone
Bath Stone is an Oolitic Limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate. Originally obtained from the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England, its warm, honey colouring gives the World Heritage City of Bath, England its distinctive appearance...
, topped with shelly limestone
Shelly limestone
Shelly limestone is a highly fossiliferous limestone, composed of a number of fossilized organisms such as brachiopods, bryozoans, crinoids, sponges, corals and mollusks. It varies in color, texture and hardness...
to the south. Further north is clay
Clay
Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...
and beds of inferior limestones while the lower part of the Bybrook
Bybrook River
The Bybrook, also known as the By Brook is a tributary of the Bristol Avon, some long. The sources are the Burton Brook and the Broadmead Brook, which rise in South Gloucestershire at Tormarton and Cold Ashton respectively. They join just north of Castle Combe in Wiltshire. The river has a mean...
Valley is covered in alluvium
Alluvium
Alluvium is loose, unconsolidated soil or sediments, eroded, deposited, and reshaped by water in some form in a non-marine setting. Alluvium is typically made up of a variety of materials, including fine particles of silt and clay and larger particles of sand and gravel...
.
Early history
It is possible that there was a MesolithicMesolithic
The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....
flint tool working site here and there is certainly some evidence of early Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
settlement. By the 2nd century A.D. a Roman villa
Roman villa
A Roman villa is a villa that was built or lived in during the Roman republic and the Roman Empire. A villa was originally a Roman country house built for the upper class...
with the associated buildings of a Romano-British
Romano-British
Romano-British culture describes the culture that arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest of AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, a people of Celtic language and...
agricultural estate existed. This villa was probably a courtyard
Courtyard
A court or courtyard is an enclosed area, often a space enclosed by a building that is open to the sky. These areas in inns and public buildings were often the primary meeting places for some purposes, leading to the other meanings of court....
building having both mosaic
Mosaic
Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral...
s and window glass. There was a major rebuilding in the late 3rd or early 4th century which changed it into the large villa of a wealthy person. The villa had one of the richest collections of mosaic
Mosaic
Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral...
floors of any building in Roman Britain
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
with remains found in 20 of the 41 rooms. A villa
Villa
A villa was originally an ancient Roman upper-class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became small farming compounds, which were increasingly fortified in Late Antiquity,...
such as this would have been the centre of a large estate and the focus of interest for possible subsidiary villas at Ditteridge
Ditteridge, Wiltshire
Ditteridge is a hamlet in the parish of Box, Wiltshire, in England.It had a population of 101 in the 1881 census....
and Hazelbury
Hazelbury, Wiltshire
Hazelbury is a hamlet in the parish of Box in Wiltshire, England. It is home to Hazelbury Manor, a 14th century building in grounds of , of which are landscaped gardens.- References :* http://www.information-britain.co.uk/showPlace.cfm?Place_ID=7857...
and for those further afield such as Colerne
Colerne
Colerne is a village and civil parish in the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, midway between Bath and Chippenham in Wiltshire, England. It has an elevated position above sea level and overlooks the Box Valley to the south...
and Atworth
Atworth
Atworth is a village and a Civil Parish in Wiltshire, England. According to the 2001 census, it had a population of 1,280. The village is about three miles northwest of Melksham and nine miles east from Bath.-Film industry:...
.
After the Romans left, the early history of Box is shrouded in mystery and it is Hazelbury
Hazelbury, Wiltshire
Hazelbury is a hamlet in the parish of Box in Wiltshire, England. It is home to Hazelbury Manor, a 14th century building in grounds of , of which are landscaped gardens.- References :* http://www.information-britain.co.uk/showPlace.cfm?Place_ID=7857...
that seems to be the important place. We do not really know what Saxon
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
settlements there were in the area although there were definitely ones at Hazelbury
Hazelbury, Wiltshire
Hazelbury is a hamlet in the parish of Box in Wiltshire, England. It is home to Hazelbury Manor, a 14th century building in grounds of , of which are landscaped gardens.- References :* http://www.information-britain.co.uk/showPlace.cfm?Place_ID=7857...
and Ditteridge
Ditteridge, Wiltshire
Ditteridge is a hamlet in the parish of Box, Wiltshire, in England.It had a population of 101 in the 1881 census....
, which are mentioned in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
.
Hazelbury, Wiltshire
Hazelbury is a hamlet in the parish of Box in Wiltshire, England. It is home to Hazelbury Manor, a 14th century building in grounds of , of which are landscaped gardens.- References :* http://www.information-britain.co.uk/showPlace.cfm?Place_ID=7857...
and told men to dig and they would find treasure – the excellent building stone that had already been used by the Romans. St. Aldhelm is said to have used stone from here to build the original church at Bradford
Bradford on Avon
Bradford on Avon is a town in west Wiltshire, England with a population of about 9,326. The town's canal, historic buildings, shops, pubs and restaurants make it popular with tourists....
and also for Malmesbury Abbey
Malmesbury Abbey
Malmesbury Abbey, at Malmesbury in Wiltshire, England, was founded as a Benedictine monastery around 676 by the scholar-poet Aldhelm, a nephew of King Ine of Wessex. In 941 AD, King Athelstan was buried in the Abbey. By the 11th century it contained the second largest library in Europe and was...
. Later stone was used for Bradenstoke
Bradenstoke Abbey
Bradenstoke Priory is a medieval priory in the village of Bradenstoke, Wiltshire, England. It is noted today for its structures having been used by William Randolph Hearst for the renovation of St Donat's Castle, near Llantwit Major, Wales, in the 1930s....
, Stanley
Stanley Abbey
Stanley Abbey was a medieval abbey near Chippenham, Wiltshire in England which flourished between 1151 and 1536.- Foundation :The abbey was given by Empress Matilda in 1151 to monks from Quarr Abbey on the Isle of Wight. Originally at Loxwell, to the east of Chippenham, it moved to nearby Stanley...
and Lacock Abbey
Lacock Abbey
Lacock Abbey in the village of Lacock, Wiltshire, England, was founded in the early 13th century by Ela, Countess of Salisbury, as a nunnery of the Augustinian order.- History :...
s.
There were Saxon churches at both Hazelbury
Hazelbury, Wiltshire
Hazelbury is a hamlet in the parish of Box in Wiltshire, England. It is home to Hazelbury Manor, a 14th century building in grounds of , of which are landscaped gardens.- References :* http://www.information-britain.co.uk/showPlace.cfm?Place_ID=7857...
and Ditteridge
Ditteridge, Wiltshire
Ditteridge is a hamlet in the parish of Box, Wiltshire, in England.It had a population of 101 in the 1881 census....
and by 1086 Hazelbury
Hazelbury, Wiltshire
Hazelbury is a hamlet in the parish of Box in Wiltshire, England. It is home to Hazelbury Manor, a 14th century building in grounds of , of which are landscaped gardens.- References :* http://www.information-britain.co.uk/showPlace.cfm?Place_ID=7857...
had a reasonable population. There would appear to have been between 90 and 120 people at Hazelbury
Hazelbury, Wiltshire
Hazelbury is a hamlet in the parish of Box in Wiltshire, England. It is home to Hazelbury Manor, a 14th century building in grounds of , of which are landscaped gardens.- References :* http://www.information-britain.co.uk/showPlace.cfm?Place_ID=7857...
at the time of the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
and there were also 2 mills. These latter must have been in the valley of the Bybrook
Bybrook River
The Bybrook, also known as the By Brook is a tributary of the Bristol Avon, some long. The sources are the Burton Brook and the Broadmead Brook, which rise in South Gloucestershire at Tormarton and Cold Ashton respectively. They join just north of Castle Combe in Wiltshire. The river has a mean...
and it is tempting to think that Hazelbury
Hazelbury, Wiltshire
Hazelbury is a hamlet in the parish of Box in Wiltshire, England. It is home to Hazelbury Manor, a 14th century building in grounds of , of which are landscaped gardens.- References :* http://www.information-britain.co.uk/showPlace.cfm?Place_ID=7857...
, which could have covered Box Hill
Box Hill, Wiltshire
Box Hill, Wiltshire is a village in Wiltshire, England. It is most notable for its position above Brunel's famous Box Tunnel and the popular Quarryman's Arms pub is a partial museum to its building....
, also included Box, which is not mentioned at Domesday, but the area of land given for Hazelbury
Hazelbury, Wiltshire
Hazelbury is a hamlet in the parish of Box in Wiltshire, England. It is home to Hazelbury Manor, a 14th century building in grounds of , of which are landscaped gardens.- References :* http://www.information-britain.co.uk/showPlace.cfm?Place_ID=7857...
is insufficient for this. Ditteridge
Ditteridge, Wiltshire
Ditteridge is a hamlet in the parish of Box, Wiltshire, in England.It had a population of 101 in the 1881 census....
was much smaller with a population of around 30. Whether there was a settlement at the place we now know as Box is unknown but there must have been some people living in that part of the valley.
The earliest mention of Box is in 1144 when land there was confirmed as belonging to Humphrey II de Bohun
Humphrey II de Bohun
Humphrey II de Bohun was an Anglo-Norman aristocrat, the third of his family after the Norman Conquest. He was the son and heir of Humphrey I and Maud, a daughter of Edward of Salisbury, an Anglo-Saxon landholder in Wiltshire...
. There was certainly a Norman
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
church here and it is possible that there was a Saxon predecessor. The church was built near to the Roman villa and it is likely that dressed stone from the villa was used for part of the early church fabric. The village itself seems to have developed to the east of the church - probably because the land falls away to the west and south, and rises to the north. A market place existed here and Box would have been a small medieval market town
Market town
Market town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing it from a village and city...
for the surrounding area. Although called the 'town of La Boxe' in a land transaction of 1283 it is likely to have been only of village size and the community of Hazelbury
Hazelbury, Wiltshire
Hazelbury is a hamlet in the parish of Box in Wiltshire, England. It is home to Hazelbury Manor, a 14th century building in grounds of , of which are landscaped gardens.- References :* http://www.information-britain.co.uk/showPlace.cfm?Place_ID=7857...
, situated mainly on Hazelbury
Hazelbury, Wiltshire
Hazelbury is a hamlet in the parish of Box in Wiltshire, England. It is home to Hazelbury Manor, a 14th century building in grounds of , of which are landscaped gardens.- References :* http://www.information-britain.co.uk/showPlace.cfm?Place_ID=7857...
Hill was probably larger.
In the late 12th and early 13th centuries quarries of stone were given to Stanley Abbey
Stanley Abbey
Stanley Abbey was a medieval abbey near Chippenham, Wiltshire in England which flourished between 1151 and 1536.- Foundation :The abbey was given by Empress Matilda in 1151 to monks from Quarr Abbey on the Isle of Wight. Originally at Loxwell, to the east of Chippenham, it moved to nearby Stanley...
(by Walter Croc, or Croke, of Hazelbury
Hazelbury, Wiltshire
Hazelbury is a hamlet in the parish of Box in Wiltshire, England. It is home to Hazelbury Manor, a 14th century building in grounds of , of which are landscaped gardens.- References :* http://www.information-britain.co.uk/showPlace.cfm?Place_ID=7857...
and Samuel Bigod of Box) and Lacock Abbey
Lacock Abbey
Lacock Abbey in the village of Lacock, Wiltshire, England, was founded in the early 13th century by Ela, Countess of Salisbury, as a nunnery of the Augustinian order.- History :...
by Sir Henry Croc. It is likely that small settlements based on farms, such as Wormcliffe and Alcomb, were scattered throughout the modern parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
by the mid 14th century when the population had expanded considerably. Many of these will have been affected by the loss of people during the outbreak of the Black Death
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
and it is possible that the settlement at Hazelbury
Hazelbury, Wiltshire
Hazelbury is a hamlet in the parish of Box in Wiltshire, England. It is home to Hazelbury Manor, a 14th century building in grounds of , of which are landscaped gardens.- References :* http://www.information-britain.co.uk/showPlace.cfm?Place_ID=7857...
began a terminal decline at this point, with little demand for stone.
It is probably fair to say that until the 18th century there was no real concentration of settlement in Box parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
, with most people living outside the village itself. In a taxation list of 1545 the wealthier people of Box paid £4.8.0d
Penny
A penny is a coin or a type of currency used in several English-speaking countries. It is often the smallest denomination within a currency system.-Etymology:...
(£4.40p) in taxes while those of Corsham
Corsham
Corsham is a historic market town and civil parish in north west Wiltshire, England. It is at the south western extreme of the Cotswolds, just off the A4 which was formerly the main turnpike road from London to Bristol, between Bath and Chippenham ....
paid £5.15.0d
Penny
A penny is a coin or a type of currency used in several English-speaking countries. It is often the smallest denomination within a currency system.-Etymology:...
(£5.75p).
Ditteridge, Wiltshire
Ditteridge is a hamlet in the parish of Box, Wiltshire, in England.It had a population of 101 in the 1881 census....
and Hazelbury
Hazelbury, Wiltshire
Hazelbury is a hamlet in the parish of Box in Wiltshire, England. It is home to Hazelbury Manor, a 14th century building in grounds of , of which are landscaped gardens.- References :* http://www.information-britain.co.uk/showPlace.cfm?Place_ID=7857...
while the large parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
of Corsham
Corsham
Corsham is a historic market town and civil parish in north west Wiltshire, England. It is at the south western extreme of the Cotswolds, just off the A4 which was formerly the main turnpike road from London to Bristol, between Bath and Chippenham ....
also included many settlements. A later taxation list of 1576 also seems to indicate that the parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
of Box was reasonably well-populated. Quarrying, other than for purely local use, seems to have been resurrected, with stone being used for Great Chalfield Manor
Great Chalfield Manor
Great Chalfield Manor is an English country house at Great Chalfield, near Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire.The house is a moated manor house built around 1465–1480 for Thomas Tropenell, a modest member of the landed gentry who made a fortune as a clothier...
and Longleat House in the 15th century and 16th centuries.
The powerful Hungerford family were one of the main landowners in Box by the mid 15th century, while the landed estate of Hazelbury Manor
Hazelbury Manor
Hazelbury Manor is a Grade I listed manor house, parts of which date back to the 14th century, in the hamlet of Hazelbury in Wiltshire, England.- Manor :...
had passed from the Croc, or Croke, family to the Bonhams by marriage. In the 17th century Box is recorded on several maps including one of 1630 by Francis Allen.
Unfortunately, this does not record the ordinary houses and cottages of the village but only the church, a few large houses and the mills. From quarter session records we do know that there were a variety of trades present in Box including butchers, masons
Masonry
Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar; the term masonry can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are brick, stone, marble, granite, travertine, limestone; concrete block, glass block, stucco, and...
and alehouse keepers. Weaving
Weaving
Weaving is a method of fabric production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. The other methods are knitting, lace making and felting. The longitudinal threads are called the warp and the lateral threads are the weft or filling...
was a major home industry by this time with cloth woven in small workshops attached to people's homes, for the clothiers of the nearby towns.
Along with the increase in importance of weaving
Weaving
Weaving is a method of fabric production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. The other methods are knitting, lace making and felting. The longitudinal threads are called the warp and the lateral threads are the weft or filling...
in the 17th century came Non-conformism and there were Quakers here from the early 17th century. Later in the century a private asylum
Psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...
, known as Box Mad House, was established at Kingsdown
Kingsdown, Box
Kingsdown is a hamlet in the civil parish of Box, Wiltshire....
.
18th century
In the 18th century weavingWeaving
Weaving is a method of fabric production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. The other methods are knitting, lace making and felting. The longitudinal threads are called the warp and the lateral threads are the weft or filling...
and spinning
Spinning (textiles)
Spinning is a major industry. It is part of the textile manufacturing process where three types of fibre are converted into yarn, then fabric, then textiles. The textiles are then fabricated into clothes or other artifacts. There are three industrial processes available to spin yarn, and a...
continued and there seem to have been connections with the clothiers of Bradford
Bradford on Avon
Bradford on Avon is a town in west Wiltshire, England with a population of about 9,326. The town's canal, historic buildings, shops, pubs and restaurants make it popular with tourists....
more than other towns. Certainly boys from the poor house, established in 1727, were apprenticed to weavers in Bradford
Bradford on Avon
Bradford on Avon is a town in west Wiltshire, England with a population of about 9,326. The town's canal, historic buildings, shops, pubs and restaurants make it popular with tourists....
. The industry declined in the latter part of the 18th century as increasing mechanisation concentrated activity in the towns. A charity school began in 1708 and from 1728 used a large room in the poor house (now Springfield). Quarrying continued and received a boost in 1727 when the River Avon
River Avon, Bristol
The River Avon is an English river in the south west of the country. To distinguish it from a number of other River Avons in Britain, this river is often also known as the Lower Avon or Bristol Avon...
was made navigable between Bath and Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
. Box stone was then carted to Bath from where it could be transported by water to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and other towns.
19th century
The greatest boost for Box stone was provided in 1810 by the opening of the Kennet and Avon CanalKennet and Avon Canal
The Kennet and Avon Canal is a waterway in southern England with an overall length of , made up of two lengths of navigable river linked by a canal. The name is commonly used to refer to the entire length of the navigation rather than solely to the central canal section...
. A short haul overland and the stone could then be transported via canal and the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
by barge directly to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
where the price was reduced to 1/11d (about 10 pence) a cubic foot. The canal age was succeeded by the railway age, which brought fame, employment and easy transport to Box.
Box Tunnel
The last portion of Brunel's Great Western RailwayGreat Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
line between London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
to be completed was between Bath and Chippenham
Chippenham
Chippenham may be:* Chippenham, Wiltshire* Chippenham * Chippenham, Cambridgeshire-See also:* Virginia State Route 150, also known as Chippenham Parkway, USA* Cippenham, Berkshire, UK...
. This presented the greatest difficulty in the cutting of the 1¾ mile long (2,937 m) Box Tunnel
Box Tunnel
Box Tunnel is a railway tunnel in Western England, between Bath and Chippenham, dug through Box Hill, and is one of the most significant structures on the Great Western Main Line...
. Many people said it could not be done or that passengers would be deafened in the tunnel. Work began in early 1836 and there were early problems with flooding. Men worked both day and night with 1,500 men and over 100 horses used. During the final six months before completion there were 4,000 men and 300 horses working. The work took five years with nearly 100 men killed whilst working. The tunnel was completed in spring 1841 and the line officially opened on 30 June 1841. There is a very grand portal at the western (Box) end of the tunnel but a somewhat plainer one at the eastern (Corsham
Corsham
Corsham is a historic market town and civil parish in north west Wiltshire, England. It is at the south western extreme of the Cotswolds, just off the A4 which was formerly the main turnpike road from London to Bristol, between Bath and Chippenham ....
) end.
Work on the tunnel changed the nature of Box completely. Shanty town
Shanty town
A shanty town is a slum settlement of impoverished people who live in improvised dwellings made from scrap materials: often plywood, corrugated metal and sheets of plastic...
s for labourers were built and were swiftly followed by the arrival of all the camp followers associated with the temporary camps of men. New beer houses and public house
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
s were set up, including one with the name Railroad Tavern. The effect on the established population of this mainly agricultural parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
was immense with fears of drunkenness and violence common but a few entrepreneurs were able to make money out of the railway railway navvies
Navvy
Navvy is a shorter form of navigator or navigational engineer and is particularly applied to describe the manual labourers working on major civil engineering projects...
.
One big advantage of the tunnel construction was the discovery of vast beds of fine stone to the north and south of the railway line. Extensive underground stone mines were excavated between Box Hill
Box Hill, Wiltshire
Box Hill, Wiltshire is a village in Wiltshire, England. It is most notable for its position above Brunel's famous Box Tunnel and the popular Quarryman's Arms pub is a partial museum to its building....
and Corsham
Corsham
Corsham is a historic market town and civil parish in north west Wiltshire, England. It is at the south western extreme of the Cotswolds, just off the A4 which was formerly the main turnpike road from London to Bristol, between Bath and Chippenham ....
and stone was brought out by trucks pulled along narrow-gauge lines to a track running parallel with Box Tunnel
Box Tunnel
Box Tunnel is a railway tunnel in Western England, between Bath and Chippenham, dug through Box Hill, and is one of the most significant structures on the Great Western Main Line...
, emerging through a separate arch
Arch
An arch is a structure that spans a space and supports a load. Arches appeared as early as the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamian brick architecture and their systematic use started with the Ancient Romans who were the first to apply the technique to a wide range of structures.-Technical aspects:The...
at the Corsham
Corsham
Corsham is a historic market town and civil parish in north west Wiltshire, England. It is at the south western extreme of the Cotswolds, just off the A4 which was formerly the main turnpike road from London to Bristol, between Bath and Chippenham ....
end. The effect of navvies remaining in the area, and a rise in numbers of quarrymen and stonemasons
Stonemasonry
The craft of stonemasonry has existed since the dawn of civilization - creating buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone from the earth. These materials have been used to construct many of the long-lasting, ancient monuments, artifacts, cathedrals, and cities in a wide variety of cultures...
, led to an increase in population of nearly 47% between 1831 and 1841 – from 1,550 to 2,274. With transport by rail stone could now be sold in the chief southern towns and cities for between 9d (4 pence) and 1/8d (8½ pence) per cubic foot. Box stone was being used by Oxford University colleges by the mid 19th century.
The development of the community now known as Box Hill
Box Hill, Wiltshire
Box Hill, Wiltshire is a village in Wiltshire, England. It is most notable for its position above Brunel's famous Box Tunnel and the popular Quarryman's Arms pub is a partial museum to its building....
dates from this time and public houses with names such as the Quarrymen's Arms and The Tunnel begin to appear. The peak period for quarrying activity was between 1880 and 1909 when millions of tons of stone was cut. The quarries continued working until 1969. Obviously the village itself expanded considerably in the 19th century, growing eastwards from the church and market place along the road to Corsham
Corsham
Corsham is a historic market town and civil parish in north west Wiltshire, England. It is at the south western extreme of the Cotswolds, just off the A4 which was formerly the main turnpike road from London to Bristol, between Bath and Chippenham ....
and up Quarry Hill. Apart from quarrying local industries included milling
Mill (grinding)
A grinding mill is a unit operation designed to break a solid material into smaller pieces. There are many different types of grinding mills and many types of materials processed in them. Historically mills were powered by hand , working animal , wind or water...
, brewing
Brewing
Brewing is the production of beer through steeping a starch source in water and then fermenting with yeast. Brewing has taken place since around the 6th millennium BCE, and archeological evidence suggests that this technique was used in ancient Egypt...
and malting and soap and candle manufacture but farming was still the mainstay of the parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
. The chief crops were wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
, barley
Barley
Barley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...
and oats
OATS
OATS - Open Source Assistive Technology Software - is a source code repository or "forge" for assistive technology software. It was launched in 2006 with the goal to provide a one-stop “shop” for end users, clinicians and open-source developers to promote and develop open source assistive...
.
Methodist chapels were opened at Kingsdown
Kingsdown, Box
Kingsdown is a hamlet in the civil parish of Box, Wiltshire....
and Box Hill
Box Hill, Wiltshire
Box Hill, Wiltshire is a village in Wiltshire, England. It is most notable for its position above Brunel's famous Box Tunnel and the popular Quarryman's Arms pub is a partial museum to its building....
to complement the one in the village. In 1858 a cemetery was created on the A4 to the west of the church and the churchyard closed for burials. After a fall in population between the years of 1841 and 1851, numbers in the parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
rose steadily. In the early years of the 19th century Kingsdown
Kingsdown, Box
Kingsdown is a hamlet in the civil parish of Box, Wiltshire....
Lunatic Asylum was housing 300 patients in fairly wretched conditions. Conditions improved only slowly but by the beginning of the 20th century it was a well-run asylum for 43 patients, who paid between 2 and 5 guineas a week (£2.10 to £5.25). By this time football teams had been formed in Box and Box Hill
Box Hill, Wiltshire
Box Hill, Wiltshire is a village in Wiltshire, England. It is most notable for its position above Brunel's famous Box Tunnel and the popular Quarryman's Arms pub is a partial museum to its building....
and in 1870 the Box Cricket Club was founded at The Chequers Inn.
20th century
For many years all outdoor social activities and events had taken place on the 'Fete Field' and indoor events were catered for by the building of the Bingham Hall at a cost of £600, provided by Daniel George Bingham.Box has been well served with public house
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
s and until the 1920s the village had its own brewer, Pinchins, at Box Brewery, opposite the school. It is also interesting to note that the 17th century Manor House in the High Street was still a working farm early in the 20th century and a herd of cows was frequently to be seen in the main road.
After the Second World War there was an urgent need for more housing and the 'Fete Field' was used for the building of Bargates Estate, while Waverley Park was built off Henley Lane. These were followed by more areas of housing in all other decades of the 20th century. Despite the increase in houses the public houses declined with The Lamb closing in the 1960s. Before that, in 1957, in a tragic accident, the Rising Sun was demolished in an explosion and the licensee and his family were killed - apart from their baby who was thrown up into the tree next to the pub.
21st century
Box residents were finally able to get broadband Internet accessBroadband Internet access
Broadband Internet access, often shortened to just "broadband", is a high data rate, low-latency connection to the Internet— typically contrasted with dial-up access using a 56 kbit/s modem or satellite Internet with inherently high latency....
in August 2004. Beginning in 2007, Neston Park
Neston Park
Neston Park is an English country house and estate, 2 miles south of Corsham, Wiltshire, in the village of Neston. The name of the village comes from the name of the house.The house was built just after 1790....
hosted a major outdoor film set at Hatt Farm, at the south-eastern margin of the parish. This set represented Lark Rise for the 2008 BBC television adaption
Lark Rise to Candleford (TV series)
Lark Rise to Candleford is a British television costume drama series, adapted by the BBC from Flora Thompson's trilogy of semi-autobiographical novels about the English countryside, published between 1939 and 1943. The first episode aired on 13 January 2008 on BBC One and BBC HD in the UK. In the...
of Lark Rise to Candleford
Lark Rise to Candleford
Lark Rise to Candleford is a trilogy of semi-autobiographical novels about the countryside of north-east Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, England, at the end of the 19th century. They were written by Flora Thompson and first published together in 1945...
.
Facilities
The village has a Church of EnglandChurch of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
primary school, a playgroup and a pre-school nursery. There is a pharmacy, doctors surgery, and library. The parish has three Christian churches – the St Thomas A Becket and St Christopher Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
churches, and a Methodist
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
church.
The village has numerous sporting facilities including a lawn bowling green, two tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
courts, a cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
pitch, a football pitch and even a small basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
area. These are all located in or around the Recreation Ground.
Notable residents
- Rev.The ReverendThe Reverend is a style most often used as a prefix to the names of Christian clergy and ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and church traditions. The Reverend is correctly called a style but is often and in some dictionaries called a...
W.V. Awdry (1911–1997), the creator of Thomas the Tank EngineThomas the Tank EngineThomas the Tank Engine is a fictional steam locomotive in The Railway Series books by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry and his son, Christopher. He became the most popular character in the series, and the accompanying television spin-off series, Thomas and Friends.Thomas is a tank engine, painted blue...
, lived there as a boy at Lorne House on London Road, now a bed and breakfastBed and breakfastA bed and breakfast is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast, but usually does not offer other meals. Since the 1980s, the meaning of the term has also extended to include accommodations that are also known as "self-catering" establishments...
. - Arthur BradfieldArthur BradfieldArthur Bradfield was an English cricketer. Bradfield was a right-handed batsman who fielded as a wicket-keeper. He was born at Box, Wiltshire....
(1892-1978), cricketer - Peter GabrielPeter GabrielPeter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
(born 1950), singer, and his Real World StudiosReal World StudiosReal World Studios is a residential recording studio in Box, Wiltshire, England associated with the Real World Records Ltd. record label founded by rock musician Peter Gabriel...
. - David Hempleman-AdamsDavid Hempleman-AdamsDavid Kim Hempleman-Adams, LVO, OBE, CStJ, DL is a British adventurer.He is the first person in history to reach the Geographic and Magnetic North and South Poles as well as climb the highest peaks in all seven continents; the Adventurers' Grand Slam...
(born 1956), adventurer. - Clive MantleClive Mantle-Early life and education:Mantle was born in Barnet, Hertfordshire. He was a pupil at Kimbolton School, Cambridgeshire and a chorister in St John's College Choir for four years...
(born 1957), actor. - Midge UreMidge UreJames "Midge" Ure, OBE is a Scottish guitarist, singer, keyboard player, and songwriter...
(born 1953), musician, one of the Band AidBand Aid (band)Band Aid was a charity supergroup featuring British and Irish musicians and recording artists. It was founded in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia by releasing the song "Do They Know It's Christmas?" for the Christmas market that year. The single...
/Live AidLive AidLive Aid was a dual-venue concert that was held on 13 July 1985. The event was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the "global jukebox", the event was held simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom ...
organisers, former lead singer of UltravoxUltravoxUltravox is a British New Wave rock band. They were one of the primary exponents of the British electronic pop music movement of the late 1970s/early 1980s. The band was particularly associated with the New Romantic and New Wave movements....
and solo artist.
Further reading
- McCamley, Nick (2000) Secret Underground City, Pen & Sword Books Ltd, ISBN 0-85052-733-3