The church at Box is reputed to have originally been a Saxon foundation dedicated to the Virgin Mary, a subsequent Norman church and in the 1300s re-dedicated to St Thomas à Becket with subsequent enlargement and renovation. See Guided Tour and Brief History of St Thomas à Becket Church, Box by Martin and Elizabeth Devon which can be found online at http://www.boxpeopleandplaces.co.uk/st-thomas-agrave-becket.html which has a history of the church and its development over time as well as pictures of internal features. The church has been Grade I listed by Historic England which has a lengthy description of its form.
The Bath Chronicle of Thu 26-Aug-1830 carried an advertisement to builders for estimates for an addition to Box church. In 1884 tenders were submitted for the enlargement of the church (Bath Chronicle 8-May-1884 p7). In 1886 there was controversy over proposals to renovate the church (Wiltshire Times Sat 25-Sep-1886 p7). A letter to the editor of the Wiltshire Times published on Sat 16 Jul-1910 p7 had: “Sir: It may interest some of your readers to know which that the very fine early 17th century pillars, which once supported the organ gallery in Box Church prior to its restoration, may now be seen among our national treasures at the Victoria and Albert Museum in Room 54. Although one is glad that such fine examples of early English Oak work should be acquired by the nation, the lack of appreciation which permitted these objects of interest to leave this county is much to be regretted.” In 1933 the 733rd anniversary of Box Parish church was celebrated (Wiltshire Times Sat 8-Jul-1933 p12).
When the churchyard was closed in January 1858 and before the cemetery was opened in December of that year, burials took place at St Christopher’s, Ditteridge.
While the churchyard has many memorials, mostly altar/chest tombs and headstones, disappointingly, most do not have legible inscriptions. As a result, of the over 4,000 names in the burials register for the period 1644 to 1894, only a dozen or so names have been found and matched to register entries.
