page_title: Box, Wiltshire
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Box, Wiltshire / History
caption_attribution_description: English: View from Box Hill with Colerne Water Tower visible on the horizon.
context_page_description: Box is a large village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about 3 miles west of Corsham and 5 miles northeast of Bath. Besides the village of Box, the parish includes the villages of Ashley and Box Hill; Hazelbury manor; and the hamlets of Alcombe, Blue Vein, Chapel Plaister, Ditteridge, Henley, Kingsdown, Middlehill and Wadswick. To the east the parish includes much of Rudloe, formerly a hamlet but now a housing estate, and the defence establishments and related businesses on the site of RAF Rudloe Manor.
  Occupation here dates back at least to Roman times. The area is known for its fine stone and for centuries Box quarries were famous for their product. Today Box is perhaps better known for its Brunel-designed Box railway tunnel.
  Box has been twinned with Sorigny, a commune in central France, since 2016.
context_section_description: Prehistoric settlements in the area were hilltop forts such as Bury Camp, 4 miles (6 km) north of present-day Box village. There is evidence in the form of numerous re-used standing stones that there may have been a stone circle on Kingsdown.
  The Romans built the Fosse Way about 2 miles (3.2 km) to the west. Near the present-day Box church is the site of a Roman country house which was excavated during the 19th century, again in 1902-1903 by Harold Brakspear, and again in 1967–1968. There was a major rebuilding in the late 3rd or early 4th century which changed it into the largest villa in the Bath area. The villa had one of the richest collections of mosaic floors of any building in Roman Britain, with remains found to date in 20 rooms, there being 42 rooms positively identified in the main villa and 15 more under investigation. Room 26 appears to be a major presence chamber in the manner of that at Trier. A villa such as this would have been the centre of a large estate and the focus of interest for at least six possible subsidiary villas or farmsteads at Ditteridge, Hazelbury and Shockerwick (near Bathford) and those further afield at Colerne, Atworth, and Bradford on Avon. In 1086 the Domesday Book recorded 25 households at Hazelbury and six at Ditteridge.
  The earliest record of Box is from 1144 when Humphrey II de Bohun was a landowner. The village is shown on a 1630 map and by this time cloth weaving was an important home-based industry, supplying clothiers in nearby towns such as Bradford on Avon.
  Springfield House was built in 1729: formerly a workhouse and a school, the three-storey building has been converted into flats.
  The Great Western Main Line railway (from London to Bristol and the South West) crosses the parish, and the Box Tunnel, 1.83 miles (2.95 km) long, was built under Box Hill. Construction took place between 1838 and 1841 with up to 4,000 men were employed. At first Box station was built close to Ashley, where the A4 crosses the line; Box Mill Lane station was built a mile closer to Box village in 1930. Both stations closed in 1965 when local services were withdrawn.
  Fogleigh House on London Road is a Grade II listed mansion, built for quarry owner C J Pictor in 1881.
caption: View from Box Hill with Colerne Water Tower visible on the horizon
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