a brief history .....

The earliest settlement dates from well before the arrival of the Romans during the 1st Century AD. They stayed until the 5th to 7th centuries.  Whilst here, they built a magnificent villa complex around the abundant fresh water springs.

Stone was quarried here in the 8th Century and by the end of the 19th century, the Box stone quarries were among the most productive in the world.
 

Although Box is not mentioned in the Doomsday Book of 1086, Ditteridge is and it is here that the oldest building in the Parish is situated - St. Christopher’s Church. Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s railway tunnel at Box was completed in 1841 and is rightly famous. The railway line that so affected the development of the village still carries heavy through traffic from London to Bath and beyond. Regrettably, trains no longer stop in Box.
 

Box nestles on the southern slope of the ByBrook valley. In the photograph above, (taken from the A4 road on the eastern boundary of the Parish), the village itself is just out of the picture on the left.
 

Much of Box Village and the surrounding area

is a Conservation Area and falls within the

Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
 

Visitors to this site should be warned that we

are not the only BOX in England.

It is not unknown for people to end up in

BOX, Gloucestershire instead; spending many hours

searching for friends and relatives at non-existent addresses!
 

Box still has a collection of small businesses,

but these are rapidly closing down as owners sell up

and the properties are converted to, or sold for, housing.

House values are high.

In contrast, more and more residents are working from home,

especially in the entertainment business.

For those who wish to know more about our history, start with this LINK