Cirencester

Corinium and the museum

The Romans built a fort here around AD 43 or 44, where their roads met, and the town of Corinium grew up beside it. Its walls ran for more than two miles and enclosed 240 acres, the second largest walled area in Roman Britain after London; a stretch survives in the Abbey Grounds. Our guide to the Roman Cotswolds goes on to Chedworth and the Fosse Way.

The Corinium Museum holds what the town left behind, including its Roman mosaics: more than 90 are known from the town and the country round it, the largest concentration outside London. It also covers the Anglo-Saxons and the Middle Ages. It opens every day from 10am to 4pm; in 2026 an adult ticket was £8.70 and a family ticket £23.10. Allow at least an hour. The town's visitor information centre is at the museum. It is the morning stop on the last day of three days in the Cotswolds, after Bibury.

The amphitheatre

On the edge of the town, off Cotswold Avenue, are the grassy banks of the Roman amphitheatre, built early in the second century AD to hold about 8,000 people. English Heritage looks after it with the town council. It is free and open in daylight, with a free car park at the end of Cotswold Avenue. The ground is uneven and there are steps at the entrance, so it is not suitable for wheelchairs. Dogs on leads are welcome.

St John the Baptist

The parish church is listed Grade I. Its chancel dates from about 1115, its west tower from the early fifteenth century, and its nave was rebuilt between 1515 and 1530; St Catherine's Chapel has a fan vault dated 1508. The great porch facing the Market Place was enlarged around 1490 to 1500 with money left by the townspeople, and after the abbey was dissolved it served as the town hall.

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The abbey and Cirencester Park

St Mary's Abbey was founded in 1117 and covered much of the north-east of the town until it was dissolved in 1539. Only a gatehouse, the Spyringate, survives, and a stretch of the Roman wall can be seen in the Abbey Grounds.

West of the church is Cirencester Park, laid out from the 1710s by the first Earl Bathurst with guidance from the poet Alexander Pope. Its Broad Avenue runs about six miles to Sapperton, and in the woods is Alfred's Hall of 1721, a sham Gothic ruin the estate believes the earliest of its style in England; it is closed to visitors while it is stabilised. The house is private. To walk in the park you need a pass: in 2026 a day pass was £4 for an adult, £2 for a child and £10 for a family, with entry from 10am (last entry 4.30pm) to 5pm. Polo is played here at summer weekends, with finals on Sunday afternoons.

Markets and shopping

The Charter Market fills the Market Place every Monday and Friday from 9am to 3pm, and a farmers' market is held on the second and fourth Saturdays of the month. Our guide to food and drink in the Cotswolds covers the markets and farm shops round about. In the old brewery buildings, New Brewery Arts has free exhibitions of contemporary craft, a shop of British makers' work and a café.

When to come

Any time of year: most of what Cirencester offers is indoors or open all year. Come on a Monday or Friday for the market, and on a summer weekend for polo in the park. For a bed, see where to stay in Cirencester. On the first weekend of July the Cotswold Show fills Cirencester Park with arena displays, animals and a food festival (3 and 4 July in 2027). For a summer day on the water, ROX has paddleboarding, kayaking, sailing and open-water swimming on a lake in the Cotswold Lakes. The Cotswolds in January covers the quietest month of the year.