Cirencester Information
Cirencester is a popular Cotswold market town which lies on the lower dip-slopes of the Cotswold Hills. The town was once an important Roman town, second only in importance to London. Today, Cirencester serves as a centre for the surrounding area and provides a mix of housing, employment, amenities and education.
Cirencester is split into five main areas: The town centre itself, the suburbs of Chesterton, Stratton, and Watermoor (originally villages outside the town) and the Beeches Estate (a housing development dating back to the 1950s).
In addition, the village of Siddington to the south-west of the town is now almost connected to the Watermoor district.
Cirencester it located at the hub of a significant road network with important routes to Gloucester (A417), Cheltenham (A435), Warwick (A429 Fosseway), Oxford (A40 via the B4425), Swindon (A419), Chippenham (A429), Bristol and Bath (A433), and Stroud (A419).
The nearest railway station is a few miles away at Kemble which is on on the main line to London (Paddington).
The nearest airports are at Bristol, Cardiff and Birmingham, all more than an hour away by road.
Roman Cirencester
When the Romans built a fort where the Fosse Way crossed the Churn, to hold two quingenary alae tasked with helping to defend the provincial frontier c. AD 49, native Dobunni were drawn from Bagendon, a settlement of the Dobunni situated 3 miles (5 km) to the north, to create a civil settlement near the fort. When the frontier moved to the north following the conquest of Wales, this fort was closed and its fortifications levelled c. 70, but the town persisted and flourished under the name Corinium Dobunnorum.
Even in Roman times, there was a thriving wool trade and industry, which contributed to the growth of Corinium. A large forum and basilica was built over the site of the fort, and archeological evidence shows signs of further civic growth. When a wall was erected around the Roman city in the late second century, it enclosed 240 acres (1 kmē), making Corinium, in area, the second-largest city in Britain. It was made the seat of the province Britannia Prima in the fourth century, and some historians would date the pillar the governor L. Septimus erected to the god Jovian to this period, providing evidence of a sign of pagan reaction under the Roman Emperor Julian.
The amphitheatre still exists in an area known as the Querns to the SW of the city, but has not been fully excavated. Investigations in the town show that it was fortified in the fifth or sixth centuries. Possibly this was the palace of one of the British kings defeated by Ceawlin in 577. It was later the scene of a battle again, this time between the Mercian king Penda and the West Saxon kings Cynegils and Cwichelm in 628.
There are many Roman remains in the surrounding area, including several Roman villas near the villages of Chedworth and Withington. (Roman text reproduced from an original article on Wikipedia. Click here to view the license agreement)
Cirencester is split into five main areas: The town centre itself, the suburbs of Chesterton, Stratton, and Watermoor (originally villages outside the town) and the Beeches Estate (a housing development dating back to the 1950s).
In addition, the village of Siddington to the south-west of the town is now almost connected to the Watermoor district.
Cirencester it located at the hub of a significant road network with important routes to Gloucester (A417), Cheltenham (A435), Warwick (A429 Fosseway), Oxford (A40 via the B4425), Swindon (A419), Chippenham (A429), Bristol and Bath (A433), and Stroud (A419).
The nearest railway station is a few miles away at Kemble which is on on the main line to London (Paddington).
The nearest airports are at Bristol, Cardiff and Birmingham, all more than an hour away by road.
Roman Cirencester
When the Romans built a fort where the Fosse Way crossed the Churn, to hold two quingenary alae tasked with helping to defend the provincial frontier c. AD 49, native Dobunni were drawn from Bagendon, a settlement of the Dobunni situated 3 miles (5 km) to the north, to create a civil settlement near the fort. When the frontier moved to the north following the conquest of Wales, this fort was closed and its fortifications levelled c. 70, but the town persisted and flourished under the name Corinium Dobunnorum.
Even in Roman times, there was a thriving wool trade and industry, which contributed to the growth of Corinium. A large forum and basilica was built over the site of the fort, and archeological evidence shows signs of further civic growth. When a wall was erected around the Roman city in the late second century, it enclosed 240 acres (1 kmē), making Corinium, in area, the second-largest city in Britain. It was made the seat of the province Britannia Prima in the fourth century, and some historians would date the pillar the governor L. Septimus erected to the god Jovian to this period, providing evidence of a sign of pagan reaction under the Roman Emperor Julian.
The amphitheatre still exists in an area known as the Querns to the SW of the city, but has not been fully excavated. Investigations in the town show that it was fortified in the fifth or sixth centuries. Possibly this was the palace of one of the British kings defeated by Ceawlin in 577. It was later the scene of a battle again, this time between the Mercian king Penda and the West Saxon kings Cynegils and Cwichelm in 628.
There are many Roman remains in the surrounding area, including several Roman villas near the villages of Chedworth and Withington. (Roman text reproduced from an original article on Wikipedia. Click here to view the license agreement)