Town in Gloucestershire, England
Cirencester
A Cotswold market town with a Roman amphitheatre in a field, a giant yew hedge hiding a mansion, and a legend about sparrows carrying fire to take it.
Key information
- County
- Gloucestershire
- Nation
- England
- Population
- about 19,000 (2011 Census)
- Known for
- Roman Corinium, the 'Capital of the Cotswolds', a vast wool church, polo and the first agricultural college in the English-speaking world
- What locals are called
- Cirencestrians
- Famous people
- Allen Bathurst, 1st Earl Bathurst; Alexander Pope (frequent visitor); Jonathan Swift (frequent visitor)
- Football clubs
- Cirencester Town
About Cirencester
The Roman metropolis in the middle of the Cotswolds
Before it was a pretty market town, Cirencester was Corinium Dobunnorum, and only London was bigger in Roman Britain. Four major routes met here, including the Fosse Way, Ermin Street and Akeman Street, so everyone passing through the south-west came through its gates. When Britain was carved into provinces in the late Roman period, Corinium is generally thought to have become the capital of Britannia Prima. Its townhouses were floored with some of the finest mosaics in the country, and many of them now sit in the Corinium Museum, including the famous Hunting Dogs and Seasons pavements. The Roman amphitheatre survives on the edge of town as a great grassy bowl. It once held crowds for spectacles and now holds dog walkers, which is one of Britain's more peaceful reuses of a Roman arena.
The legend of the fire-carrying sparrows
In 577, after the Battle of Dyrham, Cirencester fell to the West Saxons along with Gloucester and Bath. The town then drifted into a long post-Roman quiet. Local legend has a more colourful account of the capture. A besieging army, the story goes, struck a bargain with the townspeople for a payment of sparrows. They tied burning material to the birds' legs and set them free. The sparrows flew home to the thatched roofs of the town, which went up in flames. Nobody can prove it, but the tale has stuck so well that Cirencester has long been linked with sparrows.
A church built on wool money
Cirencester's skyline is dominated by the Church of St John the Baptist, so big it looks more like a cathedral than a parish church. Its tower rises above the Market Place, and its three-storey south porch was originally built as an office for the abbey and later used as a town hall. The money came from wool. Medieval Cotswold sheep produced some of the most prized fleeces in Europe, and Cirencester was one of the towns that sold them. Merchants showed off their wealth in the church, adding chapels, fan vaulting and fine details. The town's other great medieval institution, the Augustinian abbey founded by Henry I in 1117, did not last. It was dissolved and demolished in the sixteenth century, and little remains of it.
The hedge that hides a mansion
Along Park Street stands a clipped yew hedge so tall and so long that it hides the house behind it. The house is Cirencester House, at the heart of Cirencester Park, the estate of the Bathurst family, and the hedge is among the tallest of its kind anywhere. The top of Cecily Hill leads to the pedestrian entrance to the park. Allen Bathurst, later the 1st Earl Bathurst, laid out the park in the early eighteenth century with help and encouragement from his friend Alexander Pope, who wrote about the project. Jonathan Swift was another visitor. The great Broad Avenue runs for about five miles across the landscape, and the grounds are open to walkers. The estate is also home to Cirencester Park Polo Club, founded in 1894, which has made the town a name in English polo.
Farming's first university
In 1845 the Royal Agricultural College opened in Cirencester, and it is credited as the first agricultural college in the English-speaking world. It now carries the title of Royal Agricultural University, and generations of land managers, farmers and estate agents have studied here. That explains the confident, countrified feel of the town. Tweed and wellies are normal dress, and the Market Place still hosts regular markets beneath the church tower. In sport, Cirencester Town play football at the Corinium Stadium, and the rugby club is a big part of local weekends.
Siege, sieges and sleepy streets
Cirencester has a long record of being fought over. In February 1643, during the Civil War, Prince Rupert's Royalist forces stormed the town, which was held for Parliament, and took hundreds of prisoners. After the wool trade faded, the town settled into a calmer life as a market centre. Its Georgian and older stone buildings stayed largely unspoilt, and the narrow lanes around the Market Place still make a good circuit. Locals are called Cirencestrians, and the name of the town itself trips up visitors: the usual pronunciation today is 'Siren-sester'.