English Place-name Society

Survey of English Place-Names

A county-by-county guide to the linguistic origins of England’s place-names – a project of the English Place-Name Society, founded 1923.

Boxmoor

Early-attested site in the Parish of Hemel Hempstead

Historical Forms

  • Boxmoore 1638 Halsey
  • Boxemore 1650 ParlSurv

Etymology

Boxmoor is Boxmoore 1638Halsey , Boxemore 1650ParlSurv .Cf. also Box comon , peice , Boxcroft 1623LRMB , showing that the box tree must have been common in this district. Professor Salisbury notes that there are very few box-trees here now.Box on the hills near Tring was exploited for supplying the London block-makers and it may be that the trees near Boxmoor were similarly used (cf. Salisbury in HNHS (1924), p. 54).