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| Cirencester | |
|---|---|
| Market town | |
 | |
  Cirencester Location within theUnited Kingdom | |
| Population | 20,229 (2021 Census)[1] |
| OS grid reference | SP022021 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | CIRENCESTER |
| Postcode district | GL7 |
| Dialling code | 01285 |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | Town Council |
| 51°43′00″N1°58′00″W / 51.71667°N 1.96667°W /51.71667; -1.96667 | |
Cirencester (/ˈsaɪ(ə)rənˌsɛstə/ ⓘSY-rən-SEST-ə,occasionally/ˈsɪsɪtə/ ⓘSIS-it-ə)[2][3] is amarket town andcivil parish in theCotswold District ofGloucestershire, England. It lies on theRiver Churn, a tributary of theRiver Thames. Cirencester is theeighth largest settlement in Gloucestershire and the largest town within theCotswolds. It is the home of theRoyal Agricultural University, the oldestagricultural college in theEnglish-speaking world, founded in 1840. The town had a population of 20,229 in 2021.[1] The town is 18 miles (29 km) north-west ofSwindon, 18 miles (29 km) south-east ofGloucester, 37 miles (60 km) west ofOxford and 39 miles (63 km) north-east ofBristol.
The Roman name for the town wasCorinium, which is thought to have been associated with the ancient British tribe of theDobunni, having the same root word as the River Churn.[4] The earliest known reference to the town was byPtolemy in AD 150. The town'sCorinium Museum has an extensiveRoman collection.
Cirencester istwinned with the town ofItzehoe, in theSteinburg region of Germany.[5]
Cirencester's name is first attested byPtolemy in around 150 AD, though the earliest surviving manuscripts are from the thirteenth century. These give various slightly different spellings, of which the original seems to have beenΚορίνιον (Corinium). The etymology of this name is, however, unknown.[6] The same name is found inRiver Churn, which passes through the town (and which, with the addition of the Old English wordēa ('river') in turn gave its name toNorth Cerney,South Cerney, andCerney Wick).[7]
As the Celtic languages changed, this name becameProto-WelshCerin. This proto-Welsh name was adopted into English in the course ofCeltic language-death in England with the addition of the Old English wordceaster ('Roman fortification'), and is first attested in this form asCirenceaster in theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle (a text which took its present form in the later ninth century). The name also persisted in Welsh, also first being attested in the ninth century, in writings ofAsser, in the formCair Ceri.[7]
The name stemCorin is cognate withChurn (the modern name of the river on which the town is built) and with the stemCerne in the nearby villages of North Cerney,South Cerney, and Cerney Wick; also on the River Churn. The modern nameCirencester is derived from the cognate rootCiren and the standard-cester ending indicating a Roman fortress or encampment. It seems certain that this name root goes back topre-Roman times and is similar to the originalBrythonic name for the river, and perhaps the settlement. An earlyWelsh language ecclesiastical list fromSt David's gives another form of the nameCaerceri whereCaer is the Welsh for fortress andCeri is cognate with the other forms of the name.
In ninth-centuryOld Welsh, the city was known asCair Ceri (literally "Fort Ceri"), translatedCirrenceaster,Cirneceaster orCyrneceaster (dativeCirrenceastre,Cirneceastre,Cyrneceastre) in theOld English of theAnglo-Saxons, whereceaster means "fort" or "fortress".[8] The Old Englishc was pronounced/tʃ/. TheNormans mispronounced the/tʃ/ sound as[ts],[9] resulting in the modern nameCirencester (/ˈsaɪrənsɛstər/). The form/ˈsɪsɪtər/, spelledCirencester orCiceter, was once used locally. This pronunciation is humorously highlighted in a 1928limerick fromPunch:
There was a young lady of Cirencester
Whose fiancé went down to virencester
By theGreat Western line,
Which he swore was divine,
And he couldn't have been much explirencester.[10]
Sometimes the formCicester (/ˈsɪsɪstər/) was heard instead. These forms are now very rarely used, while many local people abbreviate the name toCiren (/ˈsaɪrən/).[citation needed]
Today, it is usually/ˈsaɪrənsɛstər/ (as it is spelt) or/ˈsaɪrənstər/, although occasionally it is/ˈsɪsɪstər/,/ˈsɪsɪtər/ or/ˈsɪstər/.[citation needed]
Cirencester is known to have been an important earlyRoman area, along withSt Albans andColchester, and the town includes evidence of significant area roadworks. The Romans built acastra (fort) where theFosse Way crossed the Churn, to hold two quingenary (i.e. 500 men)alae tasked with helping to defend the provincial frontier around AD 49, and nativeDobunni were drawn fromBagendon, a settlement 3 miles (5 km) to the north, to create a civil settlement near the fort. When the frontier moved to the north after the conquest of Wales, this fort was closed and its fortifications levelled around the year 70, but the town persisted and flourished under the name Corinium.[citation needed]
Even in Roman times, there was a thriving wool trade and industry, which contributed to the growth of Corinium.[citation needed] A largeforum andbasilica were built over the site of the fort, and archaeological evidence shows signs of further civic growth. There are many Roman remains in the surrounding area, including severalRoman villas near the villages ofChedworth andWithington. When a defensive wall was built around the Roman city in the late 2nd century, it enclosed 240 acres (1.0 km2), making Corinium the second-largest city by area in Roman Britain. The details of the provinces of Britain following theDiocletian Reforms around 296 remain unclear, but Corinium is now generally thought to have been the capital ofBritannia Prima. Some historians[who?] would date to this period the pillar erected by thegovernorLucius Septimus to thegodJupiter, a local sign of the pagan reaction against Christianity during the principate ofJulian the Apostate.[citation needed]
Cirencester Amphitheatre still exists in an area known as theQuerns to the south-west of the town, but has only been partiallyexcavated.[citation needed] Investigations in the town show that it was fortified in the 5th or 6th centuries.[citation needed]
LinguistAndrew Breeze claims thatGildas received his later education in Cirencester in the early 6th century, showing that it was still able to provide an education in Latin rhetoric and law at that time.[11] Possibly this was the palace of one of the British kings defeated byCeawlin in 577.[citation needed]
In the 7th century, Cirencester was the site of theBattle of Cirencester, this time between theMercian kingPenda and theWest Saxon kingsCynegils andCwichelm in 628.[12]
Theminster church of Cirencester, founded in the 9th or 10th century, was probably a royal foundation.[citation needed] It was made over to Augustinian canons in the 12th century and replaced by the greatabbey church.
At theNorman Conquest in 1066, the royalmanor of Cirencester was granted to theEarl of Hereford,William Fitz-Osbern, but by 1075 it had reverted to the Crown.[citation needed] The manor was granted toCirencester Abbey, founded byHenry I in 1117, and following half a century of building work during which the minster church was demolished, the abbey church was finally dedicated in 1176. The manor was granted to the Abbey in 1189, although aroyal charter dated 1133 speaks ofburgesses in the town.[citation needed] The abbots obtained charters in 1215 and 1253 for fairs during the octaves of All Saints and St Thomas the Martyr, and the significant wool trade gave these great importance.[13]
The struggle of the townsmen to gain the rights and privileges of aborough for Cirencester probably began with the grant of 1189, when they wereamerced for a false presentment, meaning that they had presented false information. Four inquisitions during the 13th century supported the abbot's claims, yet the townspeople remained unwavering in their quest for borough status: in 1342, they lodged a Bill of complaint inChancery.[13] Twenty townspeople were ordered toWestminster, where they declared under oath that successive abbots had bought up manyburgage tenements, and made the borough into an appendage of the manor, depriving it of its separate court. They claimed that the royal charter that conferred on the men of Cirencester the liberties of Winchester had been destroyed 50 years earlier, when the abbot had bribed the burgess who held the charter to give it to him, whereupon the abbot had had it burned. In reply, the abbot refuted these claims, and the case passed on to theKing's Bench. When ordered to produce the foundation charter of his abbey the abbot refused, apparently because that document would be fatal to his case, and instead played a winning card. In return for a fine of £300, he obtained a new royal charter confirming his privileges and a writ ofsupersedeas.
The townspeople continued in their fight; in return for their aid to the Crown against the earls of Kent and Salisbury,Henry IV in 1403 gave the townsmen aMerchant's Guild, although two inquisitions reiterated the abbot's rights. The struggle between the abbot and the townspeople continued, with the abbot's privileges confirmed in 1408–1409 and 1413; in 1418 the abbot finally removed this thorn in his side when theguild merchant was annulled. In 1477, parliament declared that Cirencester was not corporate. After several unsuccessful attempts to re-establish the guild merchant, the government of the town was vested in thebailiff of theLord of the manor in 1592.[13]
As part of theDissolution of the Monasteries in 1539,Henry VIII ordered the total demolition of the Abbey buildings. Today only theNorman Arch and parts of the precinct wall remain above ground, forming the perimeter of a public park in the middle of town. Despite this, the freedom of a borough continued to elude the townspeople, and they only saw the old lord of the manor replaced by a new lord of the manor as the king acquired the abbey's title. Cirencester became aparliamentary borough in 1572, returning two members, although this was deprived of representation in 1885.[13]
Sheep rearing, wool sales, weaving and woollenbroadcloth and cloth-making were the main strengths of England's trade in theMiddle Ages, and not only the abbey but many of Cirencester's merchants[who?] and clothiers gained wealth and prosperity from the national and international trade.[citation needed] The tombs of these merchants[which?] can be seen in theparish church, while their fine houses ofCotswold stone still stand in and around Coxwell Street and Dollar Street. Their wealth funded the rebuilding of the nave of the parish church in 1515–1530, to create the large building sometimes referred to as the "Cathedral of the Cotswolds".[citation needed] Otherwool churches can be seen in neighbouringNorthleach andChipping Campden.
TheCivil War came to Cirencester in February 1643 whenRoyalists andParliamentarians came to blows in the streets. Over 300 were killed, and 1,200 prisoners were held captive in the church. The townsfolk supported the Parliamentarians butgentry and clergy were for the old order, so that whenCharles I of England was executed in 1649 the minister, Alexander Gregory, wrote on behalf of the gentry in the parish register, "O England what did'st thou do, the 30th of this month".
At the end of the war, KingCharles II spent the night of 11 September 1651 in Cirencester, duringhis escape after theBattle of Worcester on his way to France.
At the end of the 18th century, Cirencester was a thrivingmarket town, at the centre of a network ofturnpike roads with easy access to markets for its produce of grain and wool. From 1461,Cirencester Grammar School provided agrammar school education for those who could afford it, and businesses thrived in the town, which was themarket town for the surrounding area.[citation needed]
In 1789, the opening of the Cirencester branch (or "arm") of theThames and Severn Canal provided access to markets further afield, by way of a link through the River Thames. In 1841, a branch railway line was opened toKemble to provide a link to the Great Western Railway at Swindon. TheMidland and South Western Junction Railway opened a station atWatermoor in 1883. Cirencester thus was served by two railway lines until the 1960s.
The loss of the canal and the direct rail link encouraged dependency on road transport. An inner ring road system was completed in 1975, in an attempt to reduce congestion in the town centre, which has since been augmented by an outer bypass with the expansion of the A417 road. Coaches depart from London Road forVictoria Bus Station in central London andHeathrow Airport, taking advantage of theM4 Motorway.Kemble station, which lies to the west of the town, is served by fast trains fromLondon Paddington viaSwindon.
The passing of theLocal Government Act 1894 at last brought into existence the town's first independent elected body, the Cirencester Urban District Council. A reorganisation of local government in 1974 replaced the Urban District Council with the present two-tiers ofCotswold District Council and CirencesterTown Council, sitting belowGloucestershire County Council.
Under the patronage of the Bathurst family, the Cirencester area, notablySapperton, became a major centre for theArts and Crafts movement in the Cotswolds. This was when the furniture designer and architect-craftsmanErnest Gimson opened workshops in the early 20th century, andNorman Jewson, his foremost student, practised in the town.[citation needed]
A 3,500-year-oldBronze Agespear was found in 2022 during landscaping at aThames Water sewage works. Archaeologists also uncovered prehistoric pottery fragments, flint tools, and animal bones from the Bronze Age,Iron Age, andRoman period.[14][15]
Cirencester lies on the lowerdip slopes of theCotswold Hills, an outcrop ofooliticlimestone. Natural drainage is into the River Churn, which flows roughly north to south through the eastern side of the town and joins the River Thames nearCricklade, a little to the south. The Thames itself rises just a few miles west of Cirencester.
The town is split into five main areas: the town centre, the village ofStratton, the suburb of Chesterton (originally a village outside the town), Watermoor and The Beeches. The village ofSiddington to the south of the town is now almost contiguous with Watermoor. Other suburbs include Bowling Green and New Mills. The area and population of these five electoral wards are identical to that quoted above. The town serves as a centre for surrounding villages, providing employment, amenities, shops, commerce and education; it is a commuter town for larger centres such asCheltenham, Gloucester,Swindon andStroud.
| Climate data for Cirencester (1991–2020, extremes 1959–2023) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 14.8 (58.6) | 18.4 (65.1) | 21.6 (70.9) | 25.7 (78.3) | 26.8 (80.2) | 32.0 (89.6) | 37.8 (100.0) | 34.0 (93.2) | 31.1 (88.0) | 27.5 (81.5) | 17.1 (62.8) | 14.9 (58.8) | 37.8 (100.0) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 7.4 (45.3) | 8.0 (46.4) | 10.7 (51.3) | 13.7 (56.7) | 16.8 (62.2) | 19.8 (67.6) | 22.3 (72.1) | 21.8 (71.2) | 18.9 (66.0) | 14.5 (58.1) | 10.3 (50.5) | 7.7 (45.9) | 14.3 (57.7) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 4.3 (39.7) | 4.7 (40.5) | 6.7 (44.1) | 9.0 (48.2) | 11.9 (53.4) | 14.8 (58.6) | 17.0 (62.6) | 16.7 (62.1) | 14.3 (57.7) | 10.8 (51.4) | 7.1 (44.8) | 4.7 (40.5) | 10.2 (50.3) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 1.2 (34.2) | 1.3 (34.3) | 2.6 (36.7) | 4.2 (39.6) | 7.0 (44.6) | 9.7 (49.5) | 11.7 (53.1) | 11.6 (52.9) | 9.6 (49.3) | 7.0 (44.6) | 3.8 (38.8) | 1.6 (34.9) | 6.0 (42.8) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −14.1 (6.6) | −11.1 (12.0) | −10.0 (14.0) | −5.6 (21.9) | −3.9 (25.0) | 0.0 (32.0) | 3.1 (37.6) | 2.8 (37.0) | −0.6 (30.9) | −4.0 (24.8) | −9.4 (15.1) | −12.0 (10.4) | −14.1 (6.6) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 82.9 (3.26) | 58.1 (2.29) | 55.5 (2.19) | 55.6 (2.19) | 64.1 (2.52) | 59.1 (2.33) | 59.0 (2.32) | 67.3 (2.65) | 58.4 (2.30) | 84.1 (3.31) | 88.8 (3.50) | 89.8 (3.54) | 822.6 (32.39) |
| Average precipitation days(≥ 1.0 mm) | 13.1 | 10.6 | 10.3 | 10.3 | 10.2 | 9.2 | 8.9 | 10.6 | 9.5 | 12.4 | 13.5 | 13.3 | 131.8 |
| Mean monthlysunshine hours | 57.3 | 76.0 | 114.6 | 162.9 | 191.7 | 186.9 | 199.0 | 173.0 | 139.4 | 102.5 | 65.2 | 55.1 | 1,523.5 |
| Source 1:Met Office[16] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: Starlings Roost Weather[17] | |||||||||||||
TheGrade I listedChurch of St. John the Baptist is renowned for itsPerpendicular Gothic porch,fan vaults and merchants' tombs.
The town also has aRoman Catholic church dedicated toSt Peter; the foundation stone was laid on 20 June 1895. Coxwell Street to the north of Market Square was the original home of theBaptist Church that was founded in 1651, making it one of the oldest Baptist churches in England;[18] the church moved in January 2017 to a new building on Chesterton Lane. The town'sSalvation Army hall in Thomas Street occupies the former Temperance Hall built by the Quaker Christopher Bowly in 1846; it is the oldest such hall in the West of England.[19] The Salvation Army first met in Cirencester in 1881.[20]
To the west of the town isCirencester Park, the seat ofEarl Bathurst and the site of one of the finestlandscape gardens in England; it was laid out byAllen Bathurst, 1st Earl Bathurst after 1714. He inherited the estate from his father,Sir Benjamin Bathurst, a ToryMP and statesman; he made his wealth from his involvement in the slave trade through theRoyal Africa Company and theEast India Company.
Abbey House was acountry house built on the site of the former Cirencester Abbey following its dissolution and demolition at theReformation in the 1530s. The site was granted in 1564 to Richard Master, physician toElizabeth I. The house was rebuilt and altered at several dates by the Master family, who still own the agricultural estate. By 1897, the house was let and it remained in the occupation of tenants until shortly after theSecond World War. It was demolished in 1964.
On Cotswold Avenue is the site of a Romanamphitheatre which, while buried, retains its shape in the earthen topography of the small park setting. Cirencester was one of the most substantial cities of Roman-era Britain.
TheCorn Hall was designed by Medland, Maberly and Medland and completed in 1863.[21]
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Before 1974, the town was administered by Cirencester Urban District Council, which was initially based in the upper floors of the south porch of the Church of St. John the Baptist. The council moved to offices in Castle Street in 1897 and to offices in Gosditch Street in 1932.[22][23] In the 1974 reorganisation of local government, the urban district council was replaced by the newCotswold District Council andCirencester Town Council was created as the first tier of local government.[24]
TheLiberal Democrats won all of the eight available Cirencester seats on Cotswold District Council in May 2013.[25]
Liberal Democrat candidate Joe Harris, aged 18, was elected to the district council for Cirencester Park Ward in May 2011, and became the youngest councillor in the country.[26] Harris was also elected to the county council in the 2013 elections, winning the Cirencester Park Division.[27]
Cirencester is the hub of a road network with routes to Gloucester (A417), Cheltenham (A417/A435),Warwick (A429),Oxford (A40 via theB4425 road),Wantage (A417), Swindon (A419),Chippenham (A429),Bath (A433) and Stroud (A419). The A417 also connects Cirencester to theM5 motorway at junction 11A, whilst the A419 connects the town to theM4 motorway at junction 15 east of Swindon. It is also signed from the M4 at junction 17 with the A429.
Bus operators serving Cirencester include:[28]
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SinceCirencester Watermoor station was closed in 1961 and theKemble to Cirencester branch line toCirencester Town station was closed to passengers in 1964, the town has been without its own station. The nearest station is now atKemble, 3.7 miles (6 km) away. It is served by regularGreat Western Railway trains betweenLondon Paddington andGloucester.[29]
There is an active campaign to restore the line from Kemble to Cirencester.[30]
The nearest international airport isBristol.Cotswold Airport, forgeneral aviation, is around 5 miles (8 km) to the south-west, near Kemble.
The town and the surrounding area have severalprimary schools and twosecondary schools,Cirencester Deer Park School on Stroud Road andCirencester Kingshill School on Kingshill Lane. It also has an independent school,Rendcomb College, catering for 3 to 18-year-olds. The town used to have a 500-year-oldgrammar school, which in 1966 joined with thesecondary modern to formCirencester Deer Park School. In 1991,Cirencester College was created, taking over the joint sixth form of Cirencester Deer Park and Cirencester Kingshill schools and the Cirencester site ofStroud College; it is adjacent to Deer Park School on Stroud Road.
Until 1994, the town had a private preparatory school, Oakley Hall. Run in its later years by the Letts family, it closed in 1994 shortly after the retirement of R. F. B. Letts who had led the school since 1962. The grounds of the school are now occupied by housing.
TheRoyal Agricultural University campus is between the Stroud and Tetbury Roads.
The Sundial Theatre atCirencester College, the Bingham Hall[31] and the Barn Theatre[32] host drama and musical events by community groups and professional companies.
TinkCo[33] (formerly Cirencester Operatic Society and Theatre Ink), Cirencester Philharmonia Orchestra,[34] Cirencester Band,[35] Cirencester Male Voice Choir[36] and Cirencester Creative Dance Academy[37] are also based in the town.
Local news and television programmes are provided byBBC West andITV West from theMendip TV transmitter and the local relay transmitter.[38] The town's local radio stations areBBC Radio Gloucestershire on 95.8 FM,Heart West on 97.2, 102.2 and 102.4 FM, andCorinium Radio which is an online community radio station. The local newspaper is TheWilts & Gloucestershire Standard.[39]
Cirencester Town F.C. plays in theSouthern League Premier Division. The team, known asThe Centurions, moved in 2002 from their former ground at Smithsfield on Tetbury Road to the purpose-built Corinium Stadium. It is designated by The Football Association as a Community Club. As well as the main pitch, there are six additional football pitches, mainly used by the junior football teams. The club has also developed a full-size indoor training area, known asThe Arena, which is used for training, for social events and for five-a-side leagues throughout the year.[40]
Cirencester has two athletics clubs:Cirencester Athletics & Triathlon Club andRunning Somewhere Else.
Cirencester LadiesNetball Club has three squads: the A team play in the 1st division of the Gloucestershire League, the B team in the 3rd division and the C team in the 5th division.
TheRugby Club are based at the Whiteway; they have four main teams, a colts, a Youth and Mini sections.
Cirencester Park Polo Club, founded in 1896, is the oldestpolo club in the UK.[41] Its main grounds are located inEarl Bathurst'sCirencester Park. It was used byThe Prince of Wales and his sonsThe Duke of Cambridge andDuke of Sussex.[42]
Asser in his life of Alfred A.D. 879, speaks of 'Cirrenceaster, § which is called in theBritish languageCair Ceri, which is in the southern part of theWiccii.'(In Latin:Cirrenceastre adiit, qui Britannice Cairceri nominatur, quae est in meridiana parte Huicciorum.)
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Cirencester".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 391–392.
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