Box People and Places
Latest Issue 48 Summer 2025 
  • This Issue
    • Augustus Perren
    • Church Photos
    • Box Village Photos
    • Bath Photos
    • Pictor Photos
    • Celebration Photos
    • Perren Family Photos
    • Unknown Photos
    • Box People Photos
    • VE Day Full Story
    • Memories of VE Day 1945
    • VE Daty 2025 Anniversary
    • Oral History
  • Previous
    • Issue 46 - Box Hill
    • Issue 45 - Moleyns Lordship
    • Issue 44 - Viking Hazelbury
    • Issue 43 - Late Medieval
    • Issue 42 - Beautiful Box
    • Issue 41 - Becket Plays
    • Issue 40 - Selwyn Hall
    • Issues 30-39 >
      • Issue 39 - Modern Box
      • Issue 38 - Railway Workers
      • Issue 37 - Mill Lane Halt
      • Issue 36 - Box Rec
      • Issue 35 - Inter war
      • Issue 34 - Fogleigh House
      • Issue 33 - KIngsdown Post Office
      • Issue 32 - Chapel Lane
      • Issue 31 - Saxon Box
      • Issue 30 - Georgian Rudloe
    • Issues 20-29 >
      • Issue 29 - Darkest Hour
      • Issue 28 - VE Day
      • Issue 27 - Northey
      • Issue 26 - Heritage Trail
      • Issue 25 - Slave Owners
      • Issue 24 - Highwaymen
      • Issue 23 - Georgian
      • Issue 22 - War Memorial
      • Issue 21 - Childhood 1949-59
      • Issue 20 - Box Home Guard
    • Issues 10-19 >
      • Issue 19 - Outbreak WW2
      • Issue 18 - Building Bargates
      • Issue 17 - Railway Changes
      • Issue 16 - Quarries
      • Issue 15 - Rail & Quarry
      • Issue 14 - Civil War
      • Issue 13: Box Revels
      • Issue 12 - Where You Live
      • Issue 11 - Tudor & Stuart
      • Issue 10 - End of Era 1912
    • Issues 1-9 >
      • Issue 9 - Health & Leisure
      • Issue 8 - Farming & Rural
      • Issue 7 - Manufacturing
      • Issue 6 - Celebrations
      • Issue 5 - Victorian Centre
      • Issue 4 - Slump after WW1
      • Issue 3 - Great War 1914-18
      • Issue 2 - 1950s & 1960s
      • Issue 1 - 1920s
    • Index By Author
    • Partner Sites & Book Reviews
    • Currency Converter
  • People
  • Places
  • General
  • FULL Series
  • Contact
    • Blog
    • Q&A
Marl at Middlehill     John Froud      January 2020
Picture
The eastern portal of Middlehill Tunnel (courtesy Carol Payne)
John Froud, the distinguished historian of the Box Railway Station, wrote to us about the item on Box Station Commemorated in the last issue.[1] He mentioned that the article featured one of Sean Bolan’s superb paintings and that we had used an extract from JC Bourne on the History and Description of the Great Western Railway. He was able to explain the meaning of the word Marl  in Bourne’s description of Middlehill Tunnel:
At Middle-Hill is a short tunnel through which the railway passes just before reaching the Box Station, only 210 yards long, and entirely in the Marle. The two faces of this tunnel are alike; their general character is Roman; the arch is plain, with raised quoins and a scroll key stone. It is flanked by projecting piers, panelled
John wrote: ​I hope the following clarifies. Marle in modern terminology is Marl or marlstone - a calcium carbonate or lime-rich mud or mudstone which contains variable amounts of clays and silt.  Bourne is actually referring to the construction of and geology through which Middle Hill tunnel was built.  The reference to Box Station in the full quote (given below) is slightly confusing - better read as:  At Middle Hill is a short tunnel …. only 210 yards long, and entirely in the Marle.

This is a good example of how in Bourne’s book he took the trouble to describe not only the railway, but also the geology etc.
​The preface explains:

The History and Description of the Great Western Railway; including its Geology and the Antiquities of the District through which it passes, accompanied by a Plan and Section of the Railway, a Geological Map, and by numerous Views of its principal Viaducts, Tunnels, Stations, and of the Scenery and Antiquities in its Vicinity, from Drawings taken expressly for this work, and executed in lithography by John C. Bourne. Folio, pp. 76, 34 plates
Reference
[1] John Froud, Box Station, Special GWR Edition No 2, 1986, p.131-149
Back to Issue 28