Bill Boaden, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
South Cerney
A large village on the River Churn south of Cirencester, with a Norman church that once hid a twelfth-century crucifix, the infilled locks of the Thames and Severn Canal and the Cotswold Lakes at the end of the street.
- Nearest station
- Kemble, about 4 miles by road, then a taxi; Stagecoach's 51 bus links the village with Cirencester and Swindon
- Parking
- The Cotswold Lakes Trust's Lakeside car park on Station Road, at the east end of the village: cashless, from £1.20 (2026)
- Best time
- Winter for the birds on the lakes; any season for the church
- When it's busy
- Summer weekends at ROX and the lakeside car parks on the Spine Road; the old village by the church and the Churn stays quiet
- Dogs
- On a lead at the Trust's car parks and lakeside sites, as the Trust asks
About South Cerney
South Cerney is a large village on the River Churn about 4 miles south of Cirencester, where the Cotswolds flatten into the gravel country of the upper Thames. The old village of stone houses gathers round All Hallows church and the river, and past its streets the land turns to water: the Cotswold Water Park, now called the Cotswold Lakes, begins at the end of Station Road.
What to see
All Hallows is the reason to stop, a Norman church listed Grade I. Its finest piece of carving is the doorway now inside the south porch, decorated with beakheads and chevrons, which J. P. St Aubyn moved there when he restored the church in 1862. The central tower keeps its Norman lancets in the lowest stage, the five-bay nave arcade is Early English, and the chancel, with its double piscina and sedilia, is fourteenth century.
The church's treasure is not here at all. In 1912 builders found a carved wooden head and foot from a figure of Christ crucified, hidden in a chamber in the nave wall beside the tower arch. The British Museum bought them from the parish in 1994 and dates the head to about 1130, and replicas are shown in the church; the South Cerney Trust says they are generally acknowledged as the earliest of their kind found in Britain. A search of the chamber between 2012 and 2016 found a fragment of lime wood that radiocarbon dating placed between 1039 and 1210, the same period as the carvings, and the Trust hopes to look further when it can raise the money.
The other remains are the canal's. The Thames and Severn Canal came through on its way to the Thames in 1789, and South Cerney had a flight of three locks and a wharf. All three locks are filled in; at the Upper Lock the old lock-keeper's house is a private home. Downstream at Cerney Wick, just over the Wiltshire border, the Round House and Lock of 1790 is listed Grade II, a three-storey round watchman's cottage that is also a private house, seen from the lane.
A morning in South Cerney
Park at the Trust's Lakeside car park on Station Road and walk west into the old village. Go first to All Hallows for the doorway and the replica crucifix, then wander the lanes by the Churn. Walk back out along Station Road to the lakes, where the car park has picnic places by the water and the Trust asks you not to feed the birds. If you have the rest of the day, ROX is on the Spine Road a few minutes' drive south, with paddleboarding, kayaking and open-water swims by booking, a lakeside café and, its own site says, ample free parking.
Walks
The flat land round the village is laced with paths, and the Cotswold Lakes Trust's free Leisure Map, from the Cotswold Lakes Visitor Centre on the Spine Road or as a download from the Trust's site, shows more than 100km of them. The best is the Old Railway Line, which runs from the Trust's Bridge car park south of the village for about 6km to Cricklade on the trackbed of the Midland and South Western Junction Railway, a popular cycle route towards Cricklade. Stretches of the old canal line run north-west towards Siddington and Cirencester; check on an Ordnance Survey map which stretches are public paths before you set out. We have not yet written up a walk of our own from the village.
Food and drink
The village has pubs round the old centre, among them the Eliot Arms on Clarks Hay, which Arkell's Brewery bought and refurbished in 2022 and which has rooms. It is open from noon, to 11pm Monday to Thursday, 10pm on Friday and Saturday and 8pm on Sunday, with lunch until 2.30pm Monday to Saturday and until 5.30pm on Sunday, and dinner until 8.30pm Monday to Saturday. We could not confirm current opening or food times for the other pubs, so check before you go hungry. The Lodge at ROX, by the lake on the Spine Road, is a lakeside café that has brought back Sunday roasts, and Cirencester, 10 minutes' drive north, has the widest choice; see Cirencester's guide for the restaurants we have checked.
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When to come
South Cerney has no season of its own; the lakes give it one. Winter brings thousands of waterbirds to the lakes south of the village, and summer brings the paddleboards and swimmers to ROX and to Cleveland Lakes near Ashton Keynes, both by booking. In mid-July, in the years it is held, the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford runs a free park and ride from South Cerney, and the roads are busy for the weekend.
Last verified 1 November 2026 by our editors
Part of
Cirencester and the Coln Valley
Cirencester, the Roman town of Corinium, and the River Coln running past Bibury, Coln St Aldwyns and Fairford to meet the Thames by Lechlade.
Things to do in South Cerney
Historic houses and heritage · Cirencester
Cirencester Roman Amphitheatre
The grassy banks of a Roman amphitheatre built early in the second century to hold about 8,000 people, free to visit in daylight on the edge of Cirencester.
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Poulton Hill Estate
Tours and experiences · Ampney Crucis
A small family vineyard at Poulton, between Cirencester and Fairford, planted in 2010, with summer vineyard tours, winter tastings and a cellar door shop.
Verified Nov 2026
Where to stay in South Cerney
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Hoburne Cotswold
Self-catering · South Cerney
A family holiday park of caravans and lodges round four lakes on Broadway Lane, South Cerney, with indoor and outdoor pools, fishing, pedalos and a restaurant, run by the Hoburne group.
Family-friendly · Dog-friendly
Verified Oct 2026
Where to eat and drink in South Cerney
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The Crown at Ampney Brook
Restaurants · Ampney Crucis
The pub and restaurant of Wild Thyme & Honey at Ampney Crucis, a sixteenth-century coaching inn by the Ampney Brook, formerly the Crown of Crucis, open from breakfast to dinner.
Dog-friendly · Wedding venues
Verified Nov 2026
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Sam & Jak
Restaurants · Cirencester
An owner-run restaurant, café and wine bar on Cricklade Street, Cirencester, open from breakfast, with dinner Wednesday to Saturday and supper clubs.
Dog-friendly · Family-friendly
Verified Oct 2026
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Igloo
Restaurants · Cirencester
A family-run restaurant on Castle Street, Cirencester, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, with coffee, wine and cocktails, and dogs welcome downstairs.
Dog-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
Walks in and around South Cerney
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Cirencester Park, Pope's Seat and Stratton
Walk · Starts in Cirencester · 2 hrs · Circular
A 5-mile (8km) circular walk from Cirencester's parish church, easy and taking one and a half to two hours: up Cecily Hill and a mile along the Broad Ride to Pope's Seat, past the polo grounds to Stratton, and back by the streams past the open-air pool.
Getting to South Cerney
- By car
- From Cirencester, south on the A419 and off at the South Cerney junction; the village is about 4 miles, 10 minutes. The Spine Road (B4696) runs south to the lakes.
- Parking
- The Cotswold Lakes Trust's Lakeside car park, Station Road, at the east end of the village: cashless, from £1.20 (2026), with disabled bays. Members park free.
- By bus
- Stagecoach West's 51 between Swindon, Cirencester and Cheltenham stops in the village and by the lakes, about hourly in the day on weekdays and every two hours on Sundays.
- By train
- Kemble, on the line from London Paddington, is about 4 miles away; take a taxi, as no bus links the station with the village.
Access
The village streets are level. The Trust's Lakeside car park on Station Road has disabled bays and picnic places by the water.
| Cotswold Water Park | 2.5 mi |
|---|---|
| Ashton Keynes | 3.1 mi |
| Kemble | 4.3 mi |
| Cirencester | 4.3 mi |
| Cricklade | 6.2 mi |
| Swindon | 13 mi |
Places near South Cerney
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The Cotswold Water ParkFlooded gravel pits south of Cirencester, now called the Cotswold Lakes: more than 170 lakes on Natural England's count across the Gloucestershire and Wiltshire border, with bird hides, booked open-water swims, the Thames Path and an old railway to cycle.
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CirencesterThe Roman town of Corinium and the market town of the southern Cotswolds, with a museum of its mosaics, a great wool church, an amphitheatre and Earl Bathurst's park.
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KembleThe village with the station for Cirencester and the south Cotswolds, about a mile and a half from the source of the Thames where the Thames Path begins, with a church spire of 1824, the old RAF airfield and the Thames Head Inn on the A433.
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Ampney CrucisA village on the Ampney Brook 4 miles east of Cirencester, with Holy Rood church, its Grade I medieval churchyard cross and its wall paintings, an old coaching inn by the water and two smaller Ampneys a mile or so away.