Cirencester
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).
| Cirencester | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Country | England |
| Shire county | Gloucestershire |
| Population | 17,734 (2021 Census)[1] |
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).