Cirencester

Cirencester lies on the lower dip slopes of the Cotswold Hills, an outcrop of oolitic limestone. 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 near Cricklade, 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 of Stratton, the suburb of Chesterton (originally a village outside the town), Watermoor and The Beeches. The village of Siddington 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 as Cheltenham, Gloucester, Swindon and Stroud.

File:Cirencester1.JPG

{{Weather box

| width = auto

| metric first = yes

| single line = yes

|collapsed = Y

| location = Cirencester (1991–2020, extremes 1959–2023)

|Jan record high C = 14.8

|Feb record high C = 18.4

|Mar record high C = 21.6

|Apr record high C = 25.7

|May record high C = 26.8

|Jun record high C = 32.0

|Jul record high C = 37.8

|Aug record high C = 34.0

|Sep record high C = 31.1

|Oct record high C = 27.5

|Nov record high C = 17.1

|Dec record high C = 14.9

|Jan record low C = -14.1

|Feb record low C = -11.1

|Mar record low C = -10.0

|Apr record low C = -5.6

|May record low C = -3.9

|Jun record low C = 0.0

|Jul record low C = 3.1

|Aug record low C = 2.8

|Sep record low C = -0.6

|Oct record low C = -4.0

|Nov record low C = -9.4

|Dec record low C = -12.0

| Jan high C = 7.4

| Feb high C = 8.0

| Mar high C = 10.7

| Apr high C = 13.7

| May high C = 16.8

| Jun high C = 19.8

| Jul high C = 22.3

| Aug high C = 21.8

| Sep high C = 18.9

| Oct high C = 14.5

| Nov high C = 10.3

| Dec high C = 7.7

| year high C = 14.3

|Jan mean C = 4.3

|Feb mean C = 4.7

|Mar mean C = 6.7

|Apr mean C = 9.0

|May mean C = 11.9

|Jun mean C = 14.8

|Jul mean C = 17.0

|Aug mean C = 16.7

|Sep mean C = 14.3

|Oct mean C = 10.8

|Nov mean C = 7.1

|Dec mean C = 4.7

| year mean C =

| Jan low C = 1.2

| Feb low C = 1.3

| Mar low C = 2.6

| Apr low C = 4.2

| May low C = 7.0

| Jun low C = 9.7

| Jul low C = 11.7

| Aug low C = 11.6

| Sep low C = 9.6

| Oct low C = 7.0

| Nov low C = 3.8

| Dec low C = 1.6

| year low C = 6.0

|precipitation colour = green

|Jan precipitation mm = 82.9

|Feb precipitation mm = 58.1

|Mar precipitation mm = 55.5

|Apr precipitation mm = 55.6

|May precipitation mm = 64.1

|Jun precipitation mm = 59.1

|Jul precipitation mm = 59.0

|Aug precipitation mm = 67.3

|Sep precipitation mm = 58.4

|Oct precipitation mm = 84.1

|Nov precipitation mm = 88.8

|Dec precipitation mm = 89.8

|year precipitation mm = 822.6

|unit precipitation days = 1.0 mm

| Jan precipitation days = 13.1

| Feb precipitation days = 10.6

| Mar precipitation days = 10.3

| Apr precipitation days = 10.3

| May precipitation days = 10.2

| Jun precipitation days = 9.2

| Jul precipitation days = 8.9

| Aug precipitation days = 10.6

| Sep precipitation days = 9.5

| Oct precipitation days = 12.4

| Nov precipitation days = 13.5

| Dec precipitation days = 13.3

| year precipitation days =131.8

| Jan sun = 57.3

| Feb sun = 76.0

| Mar sun = 114.6

| Apr sun = 162.9

| May sun = 191.7

| Jun sun = 186.9

| Jul sun = 199.0

| Aug sun = 173.0

| Sep sun = 139.4

| Oct sun = 102.5

| Nov sun = 65.2

| Dec sun = 55.1

| year sun = 1523.5

| source 1 = Met Office{{cite web

|url = https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/maps-and-data/uk-climate-averages/gcnw5nzzf

|title = Cirencester (Gloucestershire) UK climate averages - Met Office

|publisher = Met Office

|access-date = July 6, 2024}}

| source 2 = Starlings Roost Weather{{cite web |url=http://starlingsroost.ddns.net/weather/ukobs/temp_month_record_tmax_map.php

|title= Monthly Extreme Maximum Temperature, Monthly Extreme Minimum Temperature

|publisher=Starlings Roost Weather

|access-date= 16 December 2024

}}

}}

Cirencester's name is first attested by Ptolemy around 150 CE, though the earliest surviving manuscripts are from the thirteenth century. These give various slightly different spellings, of which the original seems to have been {{lang|grc|Κορίνιον}} ({{lang|la|Corinium}}). The etymology of this name is, however, unknown.The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names Based on the Collections of the English Place-Name Society, ed. by Victor Watts (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), s.v. CORINIUM; {{ISBN|9780521168557}}. The same name is found in River Churn, which passes through the town (and which, with the addition of the Old English word {{lang|ang|ēa}} ('river') in turn gave its name to North Cerney, South Cerney, and Cerney Wick).The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names Based on the Collections of the English Place-Name Society, ed. by Victor Watts (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), s.v. CIRENCESTER; {{ISBN|9780521168557}}.

As the Celtic languages changed, this name became Proto-Welsh Cerin. This proto-Welsh name was adopted into English in the course of Celtic language-death in England with the addition of the Old English word {{lang|ang|ceaster}} ('Roman fortification'), and is first attested in this form as Cirenceaster in the Anglo-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 of Asser, in the form Cair Ceri.

File:Roman Amphitheatre Cirencester.jpg

{{main|Corinium Dobunnorum}}

Cirencester is known to have been an important early Roman area, along with St Albans and Colchester, and the town includes evidence of significant area roadworks. The Romans built a castra (fort) where the Fosse 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 native Dobunni were drawn from Bagendon, a settlement {{Convert|3|mi|4=0}} 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.{{cn|date=March 2025}}

Even in Roman times, there was a thriving wool trade and industry, which contributed to the growth of Corinium.{{cn|date=March 2025}} A large forum and basilica 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 several Roman villas near the villages of Chedworth and Withington. When a defensive wall was built around the Roman city in the late 2nd century, it enclosed {{Convert|240|acre|km2|1}}, making Corinium the second-largest city by area in Roman Britain. The details of the provinces of Britain following the Diocletian Reforms around 296 remain unclear, but Corinium is now generally thought to have been the capital of Britannia Prima. Some historians{{who?|date=March 2025}} would date to this period the pillar erected by the governor Lucius Septimus to the god Jupiter, a local sign of the pagan reaction against Christianity during the principate of Julian the Apostate.{{cn|date=March 2025}}

Cirencester Amphitheatre still exists in an area known as the Querns to the south-west of the town, but has only been partially excavated.{{cn|date=March 2025}} Investigations in the town show that it was fortified in the 5th or 6th centuries.{{cn|date=March 2025}}

Linguist Andrew Breeze claims that Gildas 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.Andrew Breeze, 'Gildas and the Schools of Cirencester', The Antiquaries Journal, 90 (2010), p. 135 Possibly this was the palace of one of the British kings defeated by Ceawlin in 577.{{cn|date=March 2025}}

In the 7th century, Cirencester was the site of the Battle of Cirencester, this time between the Mercian king Penda and the West Saxon kings Cynegils and Cwichelm in 628.Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, sub anno 628.

The minster church of Cirencester, founded in the 9th or 10th century, was probably a royal foundation.{{cn|date=March 2025}} It was made over to Augustinian canons in the 12th century and replaced by the great abbey church.

At the Norman Conquest the royal manor of Cirencester was granted to the Earl of Hereford, William Fitz-Osbern, but by 1075 it had reverted to the Crown.{{cn|date=March 2025}} The manor was granted to Cirencester Abbey, founded by Henry 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 a royal charter dated 1133 speaks of burgesses in the town.{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}} 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.{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Cirencester|volume=6|pages=391–392}}

The struggle of the townsmen to gain the rights and privileges of a borough for Cirencester probably began with the grant of 1189, when they were amerced 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 in Chancery. Twenty townspeople were ordered to Westminster, where they declared under oath that successive abbots had bought up many burgage 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 the King'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 of supersedeas.

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 a Merchant'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, and in 1418 the abbot finally removed this thorn in his side when the guild merchant was annulled. In 1477 parliament declared that Cirencester was not corporate. After several unsuccessful attempts to re-establish the guild merchant, in 1592 the government of the town was vested in the bailiff of the Lord of the manor.

As part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539, Henry VIII ordered the total demolition of the Abbey buildings. Today only the Norman 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 a parliamentary borough in 1572, returning two members, although this was deprived of representation in 1885.

Sheep rearing, wool sales, weaving and woollen broadcloth and cloth-making were the main strengths of England's trade in the Middle Ages, and not only the abbey but many of Cirencester's merchants{{who?|date=March 2025}} and clothiers gained wealth and prosperity from the national and international trade.{{cn|date=March 2025}} The tombs of these merchants{{which?|date=March 2025}} can be seen in the parish church, while their fine houses of Cotswold 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".{{cn|date=March 2025}} Other wool churches can be seen in neighbouring Northleach and Chipping Campden.

The Civil War came to Cirencester in February 1643 when Royalists and Parliamentarians 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 but gentry and clergy were for the old order, so that when Charles 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, King Charles II spent the night of 11 September 1651 in Cirencester, during his escape after the Battle of Worcester on his way to France.

At the end of the 18th century, Cirencester was a thriving market town, at the centre of a network of turnpike roads with easy access to markets for its produce of grain and wool. From 1461, Cirencester Grammar School provided a grammar school education for those who could afford it, and businesses thrived in the town, which was the market town for the surrounding area.{{cn|date=March 2025}}

File:Castle Street Cirencester 30th Aug 2001.jpg

In 1789, the opening of the Cirencester branch (or "arm") of the Thames 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 to Kemble to provide a link to the Great Western Railway at Swindon. The Midland and South Western Junction Railway opened a station at Watermoor 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 for Victoria Bus Station in central London and Heathrow Airport, taking advantage of the M4 Motorway. Kemble Station to the west of the town, distinguished by a sheltered garden, is served by fast trains from Paddington station via Swindon.

The passing of the Local 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 of Cotswold District Council and Cirencester Town Council, sitting below Gloucestershire County Council.

Under the patronage of the Bathurst family, the Cirencester area, notably Sapperton, became a major centre for the Arts and Crafts movement in the Cotswolds, when the furniture designer and architect-craftsman Ernest Gimson opened workshops in the early 20th century, and Norman Jewson, his foremost student, practised in the town.{{cn|date=March 2025}}

A 3,500-year-old Bronze Age spear was found in 2022 during landscaping at a Thames Water sewage works. Archaeologists also uncovered prehistoric pottery fragments, flint tools, and animal bones from the Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Roman period.{{Cite web |date=18 May 2022 |title=Ancient spear unearthed |url=https://www.thameswater.co.uk/about-us/newsroom/latest-news/2022/may/cirencester-archaeology |access-date=2022-08-11 |website=Thames Water |language=en |archive-date=19 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230519025431/https://www.thameswater.co.uk/about-us/newsroom/latest-news/2022/may/cirencester-archaeology |url-status=dead }}{{Cite news |date=2022-05-18 |title=Bronze Age spearhead found at Cirencester sewage works |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-61476377 |access-date=2022-08-11}}

The name stem Corin is cognate with Churn (the modern name of the river on which the town is built) and with the stem Cerne in the nearby villages of North Cerney, South Cerney, and Cerney Wick; also on the River Churn. The modern name Cirencester is derived from the cognate root Ciren and the standard -cester ending indicating a Roman fortress or encampment. It seems certain that this name root goes back to pre-Roman times and is similar to the original Brythonic name for the river, and perhaps the settlement. An early Welsh language ecclesiastical list from St David's gives another form of the name Caerceri where Caer is the Welsh for fortress and Ceri is cognate with the other forms of the name.

File:FleeceCirencester.jpg

In ninth-century Old Welsh the city was known as Cair Ceri (literally "Fort Ceri"), translated Cirrenceaster, Cirneceaster, or Cyrneceaster (dative Cirrenceastre, Cirneceastre, Cyrneceastre) in the Old English of the Anglo-Saxons, where ceaster means "fort" or "fortress".{{cite book |last=Seyer |first=Samuel |date=1821 |title=Memoirs Historical and Topographical of Bristol and Its Neighborhood |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6TQQAAAAYAAJ |volume=1 |location=Bristol |page=229 |chapter=The Saxon Period |author-link=Samuel Seyer |quote=Asser in his life of Alfred A.D. 879, speaks of 'Cirrenceaster, § which is called in the British language Cair Ceri, which is in the southern part of the Wiccii.' |access-date=14 July 2017 |archive-date=24 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924050131/https://books.google.com/books?id=6TQQAAAAYAAJ |url-status=live }} (In Latin: Cirrenceastre adiit, qui Britannice Cairceri nominatur, quae est in meridiana parte Huicciorum.) The Old English c was pronounced {{IPA|/tʃ/}}. The Normans mispronounced the {{IPA|/tʃ/}} sound as {{IPA|[ts]}},{{cite book|last=Ekwall|first=Eilert|author-link=Eilert Ekwall|title=The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place Names|year=1960|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-869103-7|page=108}} resulting in the modern name Cirencester ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|aɪ|r|ə|n|s|ɛ|s|t|ər}}). The form {{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|ɪ|s|ᵻ|t|ər}}, spelled Cirencester or Ciceter, was once used locally. This pronunciation is humorously highlighted in a 1928 limerick from Punch:

{{blockquote|

There was a young lady of Cirencester

Whose fiancé went down to virencester

::By the Great Western line,

::Which he swore was divine,

And he couldn't have been much explirencester.{{cite book |last=Reed |first=Langford |date=1934 |title=Mr. Punch's Limerick Book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oHA4AAAAIAAJ |location=London |publisher=R. Cobden–Sanderson Ltd |pages=65–66 |chapter=Irreverent Radios }}

}}

Sometimes the form Cicester ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|ɪ|s|ᵻ|s|t|ər}}) was heard instead. These forms are now very rarely used, while many local people abbreviate the name to Ciren ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|aɪ|r|ə|n}}).{{CN|date=November 2024}}

Today it is usually {{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|aɪ|r|ə|n|s|ɛ|s|t|ər}} (as it is spelt) or {{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|aɪ|r|ə|n|s|t|ər}}, although occasionally it is {{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|ɪ|s|ᵻ|s|t|ər}}, {{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|ɪ|s|ᵻ|t|ər}} or {{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|ɪ|s|t|ər}}.{{CN|date=November 2024}}

File:Cirencester StJohnBaptistChurch.jpg

The Grade I listed Church of St. John the Baptist is renowned for its Perpendicular Gothic porch, fan vaults and merchants' tombs.

The town also has a Roman Catholic church dedicated to St Peter; the foundation stone was laid on 20 June 1895. Coxwell Street to the north of Market Square was the original home of the Baptist Church that was founded in 1651, making it one of the oldest Baptist churches in England;{{Cite web|url=https://www.cirencester-baptist.org/church-history|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150127062251/http://www.cirencester-baptist.org/church-history|url-status=dead|title=Church History|date=21 March 2016|archivedate=27 January 2015|website=Cirencester Baptist Church}} the church moved in January 2017 to a new building on Chesterton Lane. The town's Salvation Army hall in Thomas Street occupies the former Temperance Hall built by the Quaker Christopher Bowly in 1846, and is the oldest such hall in the West of England.David Grace. 'Defeating the Demon Drink' in S. Emson and M. Ball(ed.) Cirencester 2002 pp91–98 The Salvation Army first met in Cirencester in 1881.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=njOIAwAAQBAJ|title=Cirencester: A History and Guide|last1=Welsford|first1=Jean|last2=Welsford|first2=Alan|date=August 2010|publisher=Amberley Publishing|isbn=978-1-4456-1124-2|page=149|orig-year=1987|access-date=25 November 2019|archive-date=4 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210504154822/https://books.google.com/books?id=njOIAwAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}

To the west of the town is Cirencester Park, the seat of Earl Bathurst and the site of one of the finest landscape gardens in England, laid out by Allen Bathurst, 1st Earl Bathurst after 1714. He inherited the estate from his father, Sir Benjamin Bathurst, a Tory Member of Parliament and statesman who made his wealth from his involvement in the slave trade through the Royal Africa Company and the East India Company.

Abbey House was a country house built on the site of the former Cirencester Abbey following its dissolution and demolition at the Reformation in the 1530s. The site was granted in 1564 to Richard Master, physician to Elizabeth 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 the Second World War. It was demolished in 1964.

On Cotswold Avenue is the site of a Roman amphitheatre 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.

The Corn Hall was designed by Medland, Maberly and Medland and completed in 1863.{{NHLE|desc=Corn Hall Buildings|num=1187501|access-date=30 June 2023}}

File:Grade II listed number 15, Gosditch Street, Cirencester (geograph 4840858).jpg

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.{{London Gazette|issue=42142|page=6249|date=13 September 1960|supp=y}}{{NHLE|desc=15, Gosditch Street|num=1187490| access-date=15 July 2021}} In the 1974 reorganisation of local government, the urban district council was replaced by the new Cotswold District Council and Cirencester Town Council was created as the first tier of local government.{{cite web|url=https://cirencester.gov.uk/19th-century-to-the-present-day|title=19th Century to the present day|publisher=Cirencester Town Council|access-date=15 July 2021|archive-date=15 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210715113428/https://cirencester.gov.uk/19th-century-to-the-present-day|url-status=dead}}

The Liberal Democrats won all of the eight available Cirencester seats on Cotswold District Council in May 2013.{{cite web|url=https://meetings.cotswold.gov.uk/mgElectionResults.aspx?ID=11&V=1&RPID=960547|title=Cotswold District Elections|date=4 May 2023|publisher=Cotswold District Council|access-date=1 July 2023}}

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.{{cite web|date=6 May 2011|title=Gloucestershire local council election results: Conservatives forge ahead|url=http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/Gloucestershire-local-council-election-results-Conservatives-forge-ahead/story-11924788-detail/story.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120115123613/http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/Gloucestershire-local-council-election-results-Conservatives-forge-ahead/story-11924788-detail/story.html|archive-date=15 January 2012|access-date=31 January 2012|website=This is Gloucestershire}} Harris was also elected to the county council in the 2013 elections, winning the Cirencester Park Division.{{cite web|last=Bowen|first=Anna|date=3 May 2013|title=Conservatives beat UKIP into second place or worse in the Cotswolds|url=http://www.wiltsglosstandard.co.uk/news/10399594.Liberal_Democrats_claim_major_step_forward_in_Cotswold_elections/?ref=mr|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921060909/http://www.wiltsglosstandard.co.uk/news/10399594.Liberal_Democrats_claim_major_step_forward_in_Cotswold_elections/?ref=mr|archive-date=21 September 2013|access-date=31 January 2012|website=Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard}}

Cirencester is the hub of a road network with routes to Gloucester (A417), Cheltenham (A417/A435), Warwick (A429), Oxford (A40 via the B4425 road), Wantage (A417), Swindon (A419), Chippenham (A429), Bath (A433) and Stroud (A419). Cirencester is connected to the M5 motorway at junction 11A and to the M4 motorway at junctions 15, 17 and 18.

Bus operators serving Cirencester include Stagecoach West and Cotswold Green. The latter operates the hourly route 58 circular bus service within Cirencester, connecting the town centre and Stratton.{{Cite web |last=Norris |first=Phil |date=2019-07-15 |title=All we know about Stagecoach bus service changes |url=https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/gloucester-news/wheres-bus-stagecoach-reveals-major-3051813 |access-date=2022-11-21 |website=GloucestershireLive |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Knight |first=Alice |date=2022-10-18 |title=Outrage after vital Cirencester bus route axed |url=https://www.wiltsglosstandard.co.uk/news/23057434.outrage-vital-cirencester-bus-route-withdrawn/ |access-date=2022-11-21 |website=Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Knight |first=Alice |date=2022-11-21 |title=Joy after vital Cirencester bus route saved |url=https://www.wiltsglosstandard.co.uk/news/23138818.joy-vital-cirencester-bus-route-saved/ |access-date=2022-11-21 |website=Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard |language=en}}

File:The former Cirencester Town station (geograph 4017870).jpg

Since Cirencester Watermoor station was closed in 1961 and the Kemble to Cirencester branch line to Cirencester Town station was closed to passengers in 1964, the town has been without its own station. The nearest station is now at Kemble, {{convert|3.7|mi|0}} away. It is served by regular Great Western Railway trains between London Paddington and {{stnlnk|Gloucester}}.[https://www.gwr.com/travel-information/train-times/ B7 London and Swindon to Gloucester and Cheltenham Spa timetable] Great Western Railway

There is an active campaign to restore the line from Kemble to Cirencester.{{Cite news |date=2023-01-19 |title=Plans for Cirencester to Kemble railway line move ahead |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-64318647 |access-date=2023-02-26}}

The nearest international airport is Bristol. A general aviation airport, Cotswold Airport, is around {{Convert|5|mi|4=0}} to the south-west, near Kemble.

The town and the surrounding area have several primary schools and two secondary schools, Cirencester Deer Park School on Stroud Road and Cirencester 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-old grammar school, which in 1966 joined with the secondary modern to form Cirencester 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 of Stroud 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.

The Royal Agricultural University campus is between the Stroud and Tetbury Roads.

The Sundial Theatre at Cirencester College, the Bingham Hall{{cite web |url=http://www.binghamhall.co.uk |title=Bingham Hall |publisher=binghamhall.co.uk |date=24 April 2013 |access-date=24 April 2013 |archive-date=18 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130518021011/http://binghamhall.co.uk/ |url-status=live }} and the Barn Theatre{{cite web |url=http://barntheatre.org.uk |title=Barn Theatre |publisher=barntheatre.org.uk |date=30 June 2019 |access-date=30 June 2019 |archive-date=29 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190629233655/https://barntheatre.org.uk/ |url-status=live }} host drama and musical events by community groups and professional companies.

TinkCo{{Cite web |title=TinkCo |url=https://www.tinkco.co.uk/ |access-date=2024-06-19 |website=TINKCO |language=en}} (formerly Cirencester Operatic Society and Theatre Ink), Cirencester Philharmonia Orchestra,{{cite web |url=http://www.cirencesterphil.co.uk |title=Cirencester Philharmonia |publisher=www.cirencesterphil.co.uk |access-date=3 March 2011 |archive-date=22 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110222023836/http://www.cirencesterphil.co.uk/ |url-status=live }} Cirencester Band,{{cite web |url=http://www.cirencesterband.org.uk |title=Cirencester Band |publisher=www.cirencesterband.org.uk |access-date=24 April 2013 |archive-date=4 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210504154830/https://synergydataservices.com/ |url-status=live }} Cirencester Male Voice Choir{{cite web |url=http://www.cirencestermvc.co.uk/ |title=Cirencester Male Voice Choir |publisher=www.cirencestermvc.co.uk |access-date=9 December 2016 |archive-date=5 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170305001424/http://www.cirencestermvc.co.uk/ |url-status=live }} and Cirencester Creative Dance Academy{{cite web |url=http://www.ccda.co.uk |title=Cirencester Creative Dance Academy |publisher=www.ccda.co.uk |access-date=24 April 2013 |archive-date=20 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130520232740/http://ccda.co.uk/ |url-status=live }} are also based in the town.

Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC West and ITV West from the Mendip TV transmitter and the local relay transmitter.{{cite web | url=https://ukfree.tv/transmitters/tv/CIRENCESTER_UHF | title=Cirencester (Gloucestershire, England) Freeview Light transmitter | date=May 2004 }} BBC South and ITV Meridian can also be received, from the Oxford transmitter. The town's local radio stations are BBC Radio Gloucestershire on 95.8 FM, Heart West on 102.4 FM, and Corinium Radio which is an online community radio station. The local newspaper is The Wilts & Gloucestershire Standard.[https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/media/2101604/gloucestershire-newspapers-october-2020.pdf Gloucestershire Newspapers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230821033534/https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/media/2101604/gloucestershire-newspapers-october-2020.pdf |date=21 August 2023 }} gloucestershire.gov.uk

Cirencester Town F.C. play in the Southern League Premier Division. The team, known as The Centurions, moved in 2002 from their former ground at Smithsfield on Tetbury Road to the purpose-built Corinium Stadium. The club 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 as The Arena, which is used for training, for social events and for five-a-side leagues throughout the year.{{cite web |title=Cirencester Arena |url=http://www.cirentownfc.com/corinium-facilities/cirencesterarena/ |website=Cirencester Town F.C. |access-date=4 August 2019 |archive-date=4 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190804123303/http://www.cirentownfc.com/corinium-facilities/cirencesterarena/ |url-status=live }}

Cirencester has two athletics clubs: Cirencester Athletics & Triathlon Club and Running Somewhere Else.

Cirencester Ladies Netball 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.

The Rugby 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 oldest polo club in the UK.[http://www.debretts.com/social-season/warwickshire-cup.aspx Social Season – Warwickshire Cup] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110418053456/http://www.debretts.com/social-season/warwickshire-cup.aspx |date=18 April 2011 }}, Debrett's, accessed 31 January 2012 Its main grounds are located in Earl Bathurst's Cirencester Park. It was used by The Prince of Wales and his sons The Duke of Cambridge and Duke of Sussex.{{cite web |author=The young royals: Prince William |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/content/articles/2005/05/03/prince_william_feature.shtml |title=BBC Prince William Article |publisher=Bbc.co.uk |date=21 June 1982 |access-date=3 March 2011 |archive-date=23 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023022042/http://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/content/articles/2005/05/03/prince_william_feature.shtml |url-status=live }}

• Pam Ayres, poet, actor, broadcaster
• Elizabeth Brown, astronomer
• Willie Carson, retired jockey, television commentator
• Rev. Dr. John Clinch, clergyman-physician, the first man to practice vaccination in North America
• Charlie Cooper, actor, writer
• Daisy May Cooper, actor, writer
• Frank Cadogan Cowper, the 'Last Pre-Raphaelite Artist'
• Jacquie de Creed, stuntwoman
• Peter Maxwell Davies, composer, director of music at Cirencester Grammar School from 1959 to 1962{{Cite web|url=http://www.maxopus.com/life_career.aspx|title=Life & Career - Sir Peter Maxwell Davies|last=Dunnett|first=Roderic|date=August 2009|website=maxopus.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171217210430/http://www.maxopus.com/index.aspx|archive-date=17 December 2017}}
• Dom Joly, comedian, journalist, broadcaster
• Autumn Kelly (formerly Phillips), former wife of minor royal Peter Phillips{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2022/06/04/peter-phillips-steps-public-new-girlfriend-lindsay-wallace-epsom/|title=Peter Phillips steps out in public with his new girlfriend Lindsay Wallace at the Epsom Derby|work=The Telegraph|first=Camilla|last=Tominey|date=4 June 2022|accessdate=14 June 2022}}
• William Sinclair Marris, civil servant, colonial administrator, classical scholar
• Mike Patto, musician
• Cozy Powell, drummer
• Lewis Charles Powles, artist
• Michael Sleggs, actorhttps://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-48934731
• Theophila Townsend, Quaker writer and activist
• John Woolrich, composer{{cite web |url=http://www.fabermusic.com/composers/john-woolrich/biography |title=John Woolrich - Biography |publisher=Fabermusic.com |access-date=2018-12-02 |archive-date=24 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924021247/http://www.fabermusic.com/composers/john-woolrich/biography |url-status=live }}

{{Reflist}}

• H. P. R. Finberg. "The Origin of Gloucestershire Towns" in Gloucestershire Studies, edited by H.P.R. Finberg. Leicester: University Press, 1957

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{{Wikivoyage|Cirencester}}

• [https://cirencester.gov.uk/ Town Council]
• [http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=1089343 Detailed historical record about Cirencester Roman Amphitheatre]
• [https://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/content/articles/2008/09/08/dayout_cirencester_video_feature.shtml BBC archive film of Cirencester from 1979]

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Category:Towns in Gloucestershire

Category:Cotswolds

Category:Cotswold District

Category:Gloucestershire places with etymologically Brittonic names