The Slightly Spooky Story of Sherborne’s Box Bushes.

Box bushes have been a favourite of gardeners for about 400 years or so. These native evergreen shrubs or small trees have a lot going for them. From a gardener’s perspective, they provide a dense evergreen screen that provides clear structure and privacy throughout the year. They can be pruned into decorative shapes to suit many different positions.

Box bushes (Buxus species) offer several attractive qualities for garden designs:

1. Evergreen structure - They provide year-round greenery and form, giving gardens permanent structure even in winter.
2. Versatility - Box can be grown as individual specimens, hedging, or shaped into topiary forms from simple balls to elaborate designs.
3. Formal elegance - Their dense, small leaves create clean, crisp lines perfect for formal gardens, parterres, and knot gardens.
4. Low maintenance - Once established, box requires just occasional trimming to maintain shape and is relatively drought-tolerant.
5. Shade tolerance - Box grows well in partial shade, making it useful for areas where other plants struggle.
6. Longevity - These plants can live for decades or even centuries, becoming more characterful with age.
7. Scent - When trimmed, box releases a distinctive aroma that many gardeners appreciate as part of the sensory experience of their garden.

The use of box bushes is very prevalent in the village of Sherborne, notably at the entrance to Sherborne House where with yew it probably formed a formal parterre, but it is also found in many other positions and also dotted around the woodland of the local estate, especially near boundaries and near gates. A good proportion of Sherborne houses have a box bush near their gate, their front door, or their back door - perhaps you have too. I would post photos, but I’m very conscious of preserving and respecting the privacy of residents. Here beside the village phonebook and the entrance to Sherborne House is a large box bush just inside the gateway.

Now, I’m going to suggest another reason for their prevalence, a reason partly lost in the mists of time and folklore. Across the country there is a superstition, or tradition, associated with box bushes, and it’s similar to the presence in our village of many “witch marks” carved into the stone of windows and doors to ward off or dissuade evil spirits or witches from entering a house. Don’t panic , it’s something on a level similar to hanging the traditional horseshoe above a door to ward off evil spirits. As a reminder here is a “daisy wheel” witch mark from the derelict and sadly tumbledown Barn in Lodge Park, a couple of double Vs on a window in the derelict and tumbledown Sheafhouses and a cross symbol by the back door of a village house:

Now, it is said that a box bush has similar properties, in the following manner:

Witches are obsessive creatures and are interested in the minutiae of detail. If they approach a house with a view to entering, they can be dissuaded by the presence of the Double V sign, which represents a prayer to the Virgin Mary, or a cross by a door. The daisy wheel I have reported on the barn in Lodge Park entices them to follow the pattern and they get dizzy and lost as a result. Box bushes, with their thousands of tiny leaves, supposedly entice the witch to stop and count the leaves, a task which takes forever, thus distracting them from their original nefarious intent.

By my very informal reckoning, there are dozens of houses in Sherborne and several other key places in the village where box has been planted in places relevant to superstition. I’m not a superstitious person myself, but I think we should perhaps recognise the importance of this folklore to village heritage. Or am I imagining it? Is it just a useful garden shrub? ( it can fulfil both purposes, I suggest). Please let me know what you think in the comments below or share with me the presence of box or witch marks or old horseshoes near doorways or boundaries at your house.

In a number of places, box is seen adjacent to a yew tree. I wonder if there is a tradition associated with it - do you have a yew near a box in your garden? Let me know and send me a photo if you can. I can anonymise and share, if you wish.

Sherborne continues to reveal more fascinating heritage . You scratch, gently, at the surface of this quiet Cotswold village, and ancient history and folklore is suddenly very apparent. What a special place. I think that embracing our heritage makes us stronger as a community.