Church of St Thomas à Becket, Box

The church is adjacent to a ruined Roman villa.[3] There was evidence of St Aldhelm working in the area and an Anglo-Saxon church was built, then replaced with a Norman church. There it was given the parish name of Ditchridge. Following the Norman Conquest, King William I gave the land and church to William De Ow.[4] It was rebuilt in 1158–1169 using stone from the nearby Hazelbury quarry.[5]

The church was at first dedicated to the Virgin Mary but following the martyrdom of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, a small chapel dedicated to him was constructed in 1190.[5] As Box was on the pilgrims' route to the shrine of Becket at Canterbury Cathedral, by the end of the 13th century, the church had been rededicated to him.[5] The chapel was renamed Hazelbury Chapel following the church's re-dedication.[5]

The tower arches and north arcade are 14th-century, as are the two-storey vestry (which was perhaps a priest's house)[6] and the rib vaulted chapel roof. In the 15th century, the tower was heightened and a bell installed; restoration in 1713 included the rebuilding of the chancel.[6]

In 1831, due to the church being too small to meet demand, the Victorians enlarged it;[5] the Bath architect John Pinch the Younger designed the south aisle.[6] In 1896–7 Harold Brakspear carried out a renovation. A porch was added to the vestry, and inside the high pews were removed and lowered, along with the floor. Plaster was removed to reveal hidden memorials and 14th-century encaustic tiles in the chancel, which were also restored.[5][7] Brakspear designed the reredos and installed the stone pulpit.[2] The restoration cost £3,500[5] (£430,000 in 2021). The Hazelbury Chapel was restored in 1926.[5] In 1960, English Heritage granted the Church of St Thomas à Becket Grade I listed status.[2]

Julian Orbach, extending Nikolaus Pevsner's description of the church, calls the north-east Hazelbury Chapel "highly unusual". He places the reredos in the east wall of the nave in the 13th century, comparing it to that of c.1240 at Salisbury Cathedral.[6]

The octagonal font is 15th-century.[2] The tower has four bells, one from the same century and another from the 16th. Ellacombe apparatus is fitted to allow them to be rung without a team of bell-ringers.[8] The royal arms of Queen Anne are dated 1714. Monuments include a large garlanded urn and obelisk to Margaret Blow (died 1755), which Orbach calls "exceedingly charming" and states is attributed to the renowned sculptor Henry Cheere.[6]

Grave markers in the churchyard date to the seventeenth century.[9] There are numerous mounds in which bodies were buried one atop the other; in keeping with medieval custom, these double burials were always on the south side of a church "as no-one wanted the shadow of the Church to fall on his grave".[9] According to legend, a pyramidal tombstone in the churchyard was contrived to prevent the deceased's wife from dancing on his grave.[9]

Burials in the churchyard slowed to a trickle after the opening of the Box cemetery in 1858.[9][10] The 1857 cemetery chapel, rectangular in plan with a north-west needle spire, is described as "unusually elaborate Gothic" by Historic England; it has stonework in contrasting colours and highly carved window tracery.[11] The lodge at the entrance to the cemetery is of the same date and in similar style.[12]

At some point the benefice was united with Hazlebury and Ditteridge, although the parishes remain distinct.[13] Today the parish is part of the Lidbrook Group, which also covers St John's church at Colerne.[14]

Rev. I. W. W. Horlock, vicar, built Box House c.1810–1820 for his own use: a substantial three-storey house with a pair of Ionic columns in front of an arched front door, surrounded by gardens.[15] His son Rev. H Horlock continued to use it as the vicarage until his retirement in 1874;[15] the house and later extensions are now used as offices.[16] A mid-19th century house on Church Lane, also with three storeys, was then bought and continues in use as the vicarage.[17]

• Sir Hugh Speke, 1st Baronet (1661)[18]
• Sir George Speke, 2nd Baronet (1683)[18]

Media related to Church of St Thomas a Becket, Box at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website