Church of St Thomas à Becket, Box

Coordinates: 51°24′54″N 2°15′21″W / 51.4151°N 2.2558°W / 51.4151; -2.2558
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Church of St Thomas à Becket
Map
51°24′54″N 2°15′21″W / 51.4151°N 2.2558°W / 51.4151; -2.2558
DenominationChurch of England
Previous denominationRoman Catholic
Websitewww.boxchurch.org/churches/stab
History
DedicationSt Thomas Becket
Architecture
Functional statusParish church
Heritage designationGrade I
Architectural typeChurch
Administration
DioceseBristol[1]
ArchdeaconryMalmesbury[1]
DeaneryChippenham[1]
ParishBox[1]
Pyramidal tombstone (right)

The Church of St. Thomas à Becket is the Church of England parish church of Box, Wiltshire, in south-west England. It is one of a number of churches named after Thomas Becket following his martyrdom. The church has 12th-century origins[2] and was substantially remodelled in the 14th, 15th, 18th and 19th centuries. It is a Grade I listed building.

History and description[edit]

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]

Churchyard and cemetery[edit]

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]

Parish[edit]

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]

Notable burials[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d "St Thomas a Becket". A Church Near You. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d Historic England. "Church of St Thomas a Becket (1180500)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
  3. ^ Historic England. "Roman villa 500m south east of Hill House Farm (1019189)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  4. ^ Lewis, Harold (1876). The Church Rambler: A Series of Articles on the Churches in the Neighborhood of Bath. Vol. 1. Hamilton Adams. p. 222. ISBN 9780666719393.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h "Church of St. Thomas a Becket, Box". Wiltshire Community History. Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  6. ^ a b c d e Orbach, Julian; Pevsner, Nikolaus; Cherry, Bridget (2021). Wiltshire. The Buildings Of England. New Haven, US and London: Yale University Press. pp. 154–155. ISBN 978-0-300-25120-3. OCLC 1201298091.
  7. ^ "St Thomas à Becket, Box". Wiltshire Historic Churches Trust. 2 November 2017. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  8. ^ "Box, Wiltshire, S Thomas à Becket". Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  9. ^ a b c d Devon, Martin and Elizabeth (September 2014). "Guided Tour and Brief History of St Thomas à Becket Church, Box". Box People and Places. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  10. ^ "Cemetery". Box Parish Council. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  11. ^ Historic England. "Box Cemetery Chapel (1022730)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  12. ^ Historic England. "The Cemetery Lodge (1363634)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  13. ^ "St Thomas à Becket". A Church Near You. The Archbishops' Council. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  14. ^ "Churches". Box Churches. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  15. ^ a b Historic England. "Box House (1363633)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  16. ^ "Box House". boxhousebath.com. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  17. ^ Historic England. "The Rectory (1363637)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  18. ^ a b George Edward Cokayne Complete Baronetage, Volume 3, 1900, pp.36–37 – via Internet Archive

External links[edit]

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

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