Cirencester
| Cirencester | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Country | England |
| Shire county | Gloucestershire |
| Population | 17,734 (2021 Census)[1] |
Cirencester is a historic Cotswold market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire. As of 2021, it had a population of 17,734[1] making it the 9th-largest settlement in Gloucestershire (7th largest in the Gloucestershire County Council area).
The earliest recorded settlement at the site is Corinium Dobunnorum, the tribal capital of the Brittonic Celtic Dobunni people, a 1st century Roman fort and 4th century provincial capital of Britannia Prima.[2] The town, sometimes known as the "capital" of the Cotswolds,[3] is famed for the Cotswolds stone-built Church of St John the Baptist, whose oldest parts date from before 1180 AD and is colloquially dubbed the "cathedral of the Cotswolds".[4] Cirencester has been home to the Royal Agricultural University (RAU), the first of its kind in the Anglosphere, since 1845.
Geography
Cirencester is in south-eastern Gloucestershire, not far from the border with Wiltshire. It is sometimes considered a part of the Crowthorne and Minety hundred of Gloucestershire, although some sources consider Cirencester town a hundred in itself. Conversely, Crowthorne and Minety was known in 11th-14th century sources such as the Domesday Book (1086) as "Cirencester Hundred"[5]
Cirencester lies on the lower dip slopes of the limestone Cotswold Hills. The River Churn flows through the town, to the north-west of the city centre. The Churn is a tribute of the River Thames, which it meets at Cricklade (around 9 miles to the SE); the source of the Thames itself is under 5 miles to the SW, between the villages of Coates and Kemble (both within the Cirencester post town).
