Box

What to see

Box Tunnel opened on 30 June 1841 on the Great Western Railway, built under Isambard Kingdom Brunel from 1836. At 2,964m it was the longest railway tunnel of its day when it was finished, by Network Rail's account. Its west portal of about 1840, a classical arch of dressed stone, is listed Grade II*. The best view is from the parish council's viewing platform beside the A4 on London Road, and the parish council pairs the tunnel with Brunel's road bridge and the Middle Hill Tunnel as one of the finest views of a historic railway in the country. The story goes that Brunel aligned the tunnel so the sun shines through it at sunrise on his birthday, 9 April. Network Rail repeats it as something that is said; nobody has shown that he planned it.

St Thomas a Becket church, in the middle of the village, is listed Grade I. It has twelfth-century origins, a fourteenth-century crossing tower and a fifteenth-century bell stage and octagonal spire, and Harold Brakspear restored it in 1897. Under the churchyard and the houses beside it lie the remains of a Roman villa, a scheduled monument whose floors had mosaics in at least 20 rooms; there is nothing of it to see. On the main street, the Blind House is an eighteenth-century lock-up with no windows, listed Grade II, beside the Queen's Head; the parish council opens it on certain days in summer so visitors can look inside.

The stone mines under Box Hill are not a sight you can visit. Natural England protects 56.6 hectares of the old workings as Box Mine, a Site of Special Scientific Interest, because up to 10% of Britain's greater horseshoe bats use them, hibernating there from October to May. The tunnels are private and gated, and the owner, Hanson, has warned of falling rock and collapsing chambers and allows no access; do not try. Above ground, Box Common at the top of the hill is the viewpoint over the valley.

A morning in Box

Start at the viewing platform on the A4 for the tunnel, then walk into the village along the main road to the Blind House and down to St Thomas a Becket. Climb Box Hill to the common for the view across the By Brook valley, and finish at the Quarryman's Arms, the old quarrymen's pub on the hill, for lunch with the same view from its garden.

Walks

The parish has more than 100 public rights of way, and the parish council publishes a free walking map, which local businesses hand out. Its Box Heritage Trail is a 4.5-mile circular walk, and the Macmillan Way and the Cross Cotswolds Path both cross the parish. A heritage trail links Box with Corsham, about 3.5 miles east, in the series made for the Corsham Walking Festival, and the Biddestone heritage trail, in the same series, follows the By Brook further up the valley past Slaughterford.

Food and drink

The Quarryman's Arms on Box Hill is a Butcombe pub open from 8am every day. The kitchen serves breakfast from 8am to 11am, then food from noon to 8.30pm on Monday and Tuesday, 9pm from Wednesday to Saturday and 6pm on Sunday. It welcomes dogs and children, has four bedrooms, and its garden and covered, heated terrace look over the By Brook valley. The Queen's Head on the main street is a listed inn, but we could not find a current website of its own to confirm its hours in October 2026. For more choice, Corsham is about 3.5 miles east and Bath 6 miles west.

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When to come

Any time; Box is a working village, not a show village. Come on a clear day for the tunnel, and in spring for the valley walks, which are muddy after winter rain. Colerne, on its hill 2.5 miles north, and Corsham to the east make a day of it, with Biddestone, Castle Combe and Lacock within half an hour. Children may know the village from the parish's claim that the Rev W. V. Awdry dreamed up Thomas the Tank Engine while living here.