Cirencester, Gloucestershire, is one of England’s most ancient towns. It was known to the Romans as Corinium and was at the time the second largest city in Britain after London. The town was destroyed by Saxon invaders in the 6th century, but regained importance as a centre of the wool trade during the Middle Ages. An Augustinian abbey was founded in 1117 by Henry I, and sometime later a parish church was added. Remains of what appears to be the longest Saxon church in England have been uncovered in the grounds of the former abbey.

Dominating the market place of Cirencester is the 15th century Church of St John the Baptist, built when the town was the most important wool market in England. The Cotswolds area of Gloucestershire is dotted with huge Perpendicular (late-period) Gothic churches built in the 14th and 15th centuries when wool was king. The merchant families whom the wool trade had made wealthy paid for construction of these magnificent and well-appointed church buildings, which are accordingly known as ‘wool churches’. Their architectural style was characterized by high towers, lavish porches, and rich fittings. Many of them are made from Cotswold limestone. This and the next three churches in my series of British churches are wool churches.

Cirencester Parish Church of St John the Baptist is sometimes known as the cathedral of ‘woolgothic’–a masterpiece of Gothic art. The present church was founded in the 12th century, and the chancel dates from the 13th-14th centuries, but rebuilding began in the 15th century and was not complete for a hundred years.

Cirencester is most celebrated for its unique south porch, shown at right, the largest and most complex in England. The exterior is most elaborate Perpendicular Gothic with fan-vaulted ceilings inside. Built by the abbey in 1490, it was designed to serve as a public meeting place as well as the main entrance to the church. Such medieval porches were of great importance, for both secular and ecclesiastical business was conducted here. Cirencester’s porch is exceptionally grand, three bays wide, three deep, and three storeys tall. Local guilds occupied the first two storeys; after the Reformation, it served as the Town Hall. It might be considered Britain’s first office block.

(Click on all photos for larger views.)

The pulpit is a rare example of a pre-Reformation pulpit made entirely out of stone and is known as a wineglass pulpit because of its shape. It dates from c. 1440 and is one of the few items to survive the Reformation. Its open stonework is unique.

At right, the altar and reredos of St Catherine’s Chapel, just to the north of the chancel. One of the oldest parts of the church, the walls here date back to to c. 1150. The chapel is dedicated to St Catherine who was martyred in Alexandria in the early 4th century. (For more about her, scroll near the bottom of this page.)

(The guide book for this church was rather short, so I don't have nearly as much information on the church and furnishings as I'd like.)

For more photos of Cirencester Parish Church of St John the Baptist, click here.

Cirencester (pronounced SY-ren-SES-tur) is about 30 miles north-east of Bath. Here’s a map.

Links to all my blog posts about British churches and Christian sites can be accessed through the box located at the top of the page.