What goes inside the little side compartment?

People call that the till. It was meant for small writing tools. You kept your ink block, a quill or maybe sealing wax in there. It stopped them rolling around and getting crushed by a heavy book.

My grandmother has a flat topped oak box with some carving on the front but we are not sure what kind of hinges it should have?

Early ones used snipe hinges. These are iron rings looped through each other. You see them bent over and hammered flat on the inside of the lid and back board. Later pieces tend to have flat iron strap hinges. Sometimes you find butterfly shapes too. Many have had their hinges swapped out at some point over the centuries.

Why do some have a slanted top?

The slanted lid turned the box into a reading slope. Printed books were heavy and awkward to hold for long periods. You could rest the volume on the incline to read it comfortably. Some also have a small lip at the bottom edge to stop papers sliding off while writing.

I was looking at one with a date carved into the front panel but I do not know if that means it was made in that exact year or if someone added it later on?

Joiners carved dates to mark an important event. Most celebrate a marriage or a move to a new house. They usually reflect the year the box was commissioned. Sometimes a later generation added their own initials or date to an inherited piece. It shows the item staying in the same family. Either way, the date tells a story about the people who used it. It forms part of the history.

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Antique Bible Boxes

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These small wooden chests feature flat or sloping hinged lids, built during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to store and protect the heavy family Bible.