St John the Baptist, Cirencester

St John the Baptist fills the north side of the Market Place in Cirencester, its three-storey porch facing the square and its tower rising behind. It is one of the greatest of the Cotswold wool churches, begun in the early twelfth century and largely rebuilt in the fifteenth and early sixteenth, and it is free to visit. It is listed Grade I.

History

St John the Baptist grew over four centuries beside a great abbey. The chancel was begun in about 1115, and the abbey of St Mary was founded beside the church two years later, covering much of the north-east of the town until it was dissolved in 1539. Cirencester traded in wool from the thirteenth century, with the abbey itself a major dealer, and the town's wool money paid for most of what you see.

Building the church

The listing traces the chancel to about 1115, enlarged in about 1180 and 1240. The west tower followed in the early fifteenth century, and a run of chapels grew around the chancel: the Trinity Chapel from 1430, and St Catherine's Chapel, whose fan vault is dated 1508. The nave was rebuilt from 1515 to 1530, tall and light, with large clerestory windows.

The porch and the town hall

The great south porch was enlarged in about 1490 to 1500 from a smaller one, and townspeople left money for it in their wills from 1453 to 1501. Tradition says the abbey built it to do its business with the town. After the abbey was dissolved, the porch became the town hall, and the parish describes it as having been an office building for the abbey before it became the church's entrance.

Restoration

Sir George Gilbert Scott restored the church from 1865 to 1867, taking out the eighteenth-century galleries and box pews.

What to look for

Outside, stand back on the Market Place to see the porch: three storeys of traceried panels, with canted oriel windows on the upper floors, and a fan vault inside. Then look up at the tower, of the early fifteenth century. Inside, look for:

• The Boleyn Cup, a gilt silver cup in a recess at the east end of the south aisle. The parish says Anne Boleyn gave it to Dr Richard Masters, who had cared for her daughter, the future Elizabeth I, and that he gave it to the church in 1561
• The tulip-shaped pulpit of the fifteenth century
• The fourteenth-century octagonal font, found in the abbey grounds and brought back into the church in the nineteenth century
• The fan vault of St Catherine's Chapel, dated 1508
• The Trinity Chapel of 1430, the Lady Chapel and the Chapel of St John the Baptist round the chancel
• Medieval and Victorian stained glass, and a fifteenth-century cope
• The nave's six four-light clerestory windows on each side, under openwork parapets with crocketed finials

The tower is open to climb on selected Saturdays, with stewards on hand; you can visit the bell chamber and see the town from the top.

Visiting

St John the Baptist is open throughout the year, Monday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm and on Sundays from 11.30am to 4pm, and free to enter, with donations welcome; allow for services, especially on Sunday mornings. Free guided tours, about six a week, run at 10.30am or 2.30pm from mid-March to the end of October, with no booking needed, though a service can cancel them; groups can book a tour through the parish office. The tower opens for climbs on selected Saturdays outside the winter, never in the wet, for a fee; it closed for the winter in October 2026 and the parish will publish the 2027 dates later. Under-12s are not allowed, the top holds eight people at a time, and the climb takes about 30 minutes up and back.

There is level access through the North Door, where the shop sells guides and souvenirs, and assistance dogs are welcome. The Charter Market fills the square outside on Mondays and Fridays.

Getting there

The church is on the Market Place (GL7 2NH). Several council car parks are a few minutes' walk away, all paid by card or phone, among them Abbey Grounds (GL7 2DA), close to the church, and Sheep Street (GL7 1QW). Stagecoach 51 runs about hourly from Swindon station and Cheltenham, Monday to Saturday, and Stagecoach's 882 links Gloucester with Cirencester and Kemble station, the nearest railway station, five times a day each way from Monday to Saturday, with no Sunday service.

On foot, Cirencester Park, Pope's Seat and Stratton, a 5-mile (8km) circular walk, starts at the west door, follows the Broad Ride into Cirencester Park to Pope's Seat and comes back down Dollar Street to the church.

Nearby

The Corinium Museum, with the town's Roman finds, is a few minutes' walk away. Around the Market Place are the King's Head, the Fleece, the Gilbertine and Sam and Jak, with the Black Horse close by. The Broad Ride of Cirencester Park begins at the church. Our story on the wool churches of the Cotswolds sets St John the Baptist beside St James's, Chipping Campden and St Mary's, Fairford, and our guide to Cirencester covers the town.