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.

Box

Major Settlement in the Parish of Box

Historical Forms

  • Boczam 1144 AC
  • la Boxe, Boxa 1181 P late12th BM 1242 Fees 1259 Ipm
  • la Bosse 1216 ClR
  • Boxe juxta Ferlege 1226 SarumCh
  • la Box 1340,1367 Cl
  • Box 1435 ib

Etymology

This is OE  box , 'box-tree,' cf. Box in Awre (Gl), la Boxe 1221Ass , and in Minchinhampton (ib.), la Box 1307 Custumal, and Box Hill (PN Sr 270). Box is not common here now, but “in all probability it took its name from the Box-trees which grew there naturally, but now worne-out” (Aubrey NH 55). Ferlege is Monkton Farleigh infra 120.