A Visit to Corinium - aka Cirencester
The largest town in the Cotswolds
Almost two thousand years ago, this town was more populated than it is today. Roman soldiers mixed with the townspeople, and it was a hive of activity. I have driven around the Cirencester bypass many times and never explored this Cotswold town. Today, I have a small window of time to make the trip to this Cotswold town and explore.
This is not my usual prepared exploration; I must do that on another occasion. I had read that the Corinium Museum was good, and so that topped my priorities today. The museum is named after the Roman name Corinium which is now Cirencester. The population of Corinium was several thousand larger than present-day Cirencester.
Walking around the town, it is good to see that it still has many shops, many of them being independently owned. The Cotswolds is a wealthy area, and so you will find shops that sell higher-quality items. It’s good to have the option to buy something of better quality when you can afford it.
It’s quite noticeable to the casual visitor that the buildings here are old. Many of the houses must be over 400 years old. The building material of choice is stone, quarried from the Cotswold hills, and Cotwold Stone is a highly sought-after stone today.
I parked the car in The Beeches car park, and in the museum, I discovered that Roman homes had been unearthed here. With the sun beating down this afternoon, it was good to quickly locate Corinium Museum in Park Street. The museum is well laid out with a modern way of displaying the exhibits and telling the story. The Roman period features a great deal, as that is a major part of the town’s history. Entry fees are very reasonable, and the route to explore begins with Cirencester’s pre-history. There are plenty of display cases and other exhibits before starting the Roman period.
There are several examples of Roman mosaics, something the Romans took great pride in as flooring in their homes. Imagine who used to walk on these tiles all those years ago. What stories they could tell!
I hope you enjoy viewing the photos and videos to give you a taste of this fine museum. Click on the photos to see the full views.
Facts About Cirencester
The town is 18 miles (29 km) north-west of Swindon, 18 miles (29 km) south-east of Gloucester, 37 miles (60 km) west of Oxford and 39 miles (63 km) north-east of Bristol.
It’s the largest town within the Cotswolds
It’s the home of the Royal Agricultural University, the oldest agricultural college in the English-speaking world, founded in 1840.
The earliest known reference to the town was by Ptolemy in AD 150.
Walking around the town after leaving the museum was interesting, and I look forward to researching more history and the story of many of the houses and other buildings. There are many little courtyards and alleyways that contain shops and cafés. You won’t go hungry or thirsty with the amount of choice available.
Reminder: Click on each photo to see it in full size.
Thank you for reading. I do intend to return to Cirencester and write much more about it and delve into the rich history to be found there.
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Much enjoyed this Roland and it reminded me that in my working days the company I was then a director of bought another that had a wonderful Tudor period office in Cirencester. Well wonderful until we needed to do anything to it. Grade 1 listed buildings don't lend themselves to today's IT heavy enterprises. After a couple of years we made the sad but sensible decision to move to a more purpose built building. However it was always with a little regret that we left what was a wonderfully atmospheric building. What history it must have witnessed....