The museum hosts meetings with visiting speakers on a wide range of topics and runs town walks focusing on specific time periods.
If you are even slightly interested in the history (and prehistory) of Cirencester, here are some resources you might like to know about. Some are really obvious, others a bit more obscure, but they are all useful. There will be more that I’m not aware of.
The Civic Society has erected blue and purple plaques around the town. The blue plaques provide details of well-known people and events. The purple plaques mark places of significance in Roman times, the city gates for example. The website offers a map of the plaque positions and a walking route to view them all.
The most obvious and outstanding of these resources is, of course, the Corinium Museum. In its original form, on Tetbury Road, it was mostly a collection of Roman artefacts. But today, in its current home on Park Street, it covers an enormous time span, from prehistoric times, practically up to the present day. This museum punches way above its weight for a town the size of Cirencester.
The museum hosts meetings with visiting speakers on a wide range of topics and runs town walks focusing on specific time periods. There’s plenty to see and do, and if this was the only resource in existence you could still learn a great deal about Cirencester’s past.
Holds a large collection of relevant documents. Viewing them will involve making an appointment and a trip to Gloucester where they are held in the Gloucestershire Archives by the county council.
Institute of Historical Research
The institute’s material on Cirencester includes drafts of publications covering several periods of the town’s history. These drafts go into considerable detail and are written by qualified experts. They’re well worth a read, you certainly wouldn’t be wasting your time if you want more background on the town.
National Library of Scotland
Despite the name, this organisation holds many historical maps covering the whole of the UK. The website provides very useful access to the maps, you may find this search for material on Cirencester helpful. The map at the top of this article shows details even inside the Parish Church, and buildings in the West Market Place that were demolished many years ago.
Wikipedia
Wikipedia has short articles on Cirencester and Corinium. Both form good introductions to the history of the town and provide useful references.
And finally…
Leave a comment with details of anything you think I should add, I’ll check out suggestions and update this article accordingly. Thanks!
I’ll just mention in passing that I’ve been posting monthly notes on my own, personal history. My friends and family enjoy reading it, but it’s not private. If you feel inclined, take a look at the index. Cirencester gets a mention here and there as I lived in the town as a child and came back in retirement.
Useful? Interesting?
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There is cause for concern, but there is also cause for hope.
The war in Ukraine (and increasingly in Russia now as well) is on everyone’s minds – or certainly should be.
Part of an image from ISW
Below, I present a quote from today’s ISW report on the Russian attempt to conquer Ukraine. ISW is the ‘Institute for the Study of War’, an independent and influential American think-tank reporting every day as events unfold. But today they began their report with an overall assessment following two years of the war. Here’s the extract, with links to today’s full article and more at the bottom. There is cause for concern, but there is also cause for hope.
Ukraine continues to defend against Russian aggression and the Kremlin’s attempt to destroy Ukrainian statehood and identity despite growing difficulties two years after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Two years ago Russia launched a full-scale war of conquest to overthrow the Ukrainian government and forcibly install a pro-Russian regime firmly under Moscow’s control. Russian forces drove on Kyiv from several directions and struck at Kharkiv, Kherson, Mariupol, and other Ukrainian cities. Russian President Vladimir Putin expected Ukrainians to welcome his forces or flee. Instead, Ukrainians fought for their freedom. They stopped the Russian drives on Kyiv and Kharkiv cities, stopped the Russian advance on Mykolayiv and Odesa cities, and fought Putin’s troops to a standstill along the rest of the line. Then, armed with experience, courage, determination, and growing Western aid, Ukraine struck back. Ukrainian forces drove the Russians from Kyiv and away from Kharkiv and liberated large swathes of territory in northeastern Ukraine. They liberated Kherson City and forced Russian forces off the west (right) bank of the Dnipro River. They ended the threat to Ukraine’s existence for the time.
But the Russians did not abandon their war aims or slacken their military operations. They remained in control of areas strategically and economically vital to Ukraine’s survival and of millions of Ukrainians whom they are subjecting to brutal Russification campaigns and deportation schemes. The Russians launched a missile and drone campaign against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and cities that continues to this day. The Russians then ground through the eastern city of Bakhmut, taking losses so devastating that they prompted an armed rebellion against Moscow. The Russians also prepared themselves for the expected Ukrainian 2023 counteroffensive. The excessive hopes for that counteroffensive were not met. The war assumed a positional character, and the expected US assistance has been held up.
The situation today is grave, but it is far from hopeless. Russian forces have regained the initiative across the theater and are attacking and making gains. Those gains thus far are very limited and extremely costly. More Russian soldiers have likely died to seize Avdiivka than died in the entire Soviet-Afghan war. Ukrainians are weary and worried that American military assistance will cease, but they continue to fight with determination, ingenuity, and skill. Ukraine’s air defenders are dropping Russian planes from the sky while Ukrainian drone-and missile operators sink Russian ships. And Ukrainian soldiers are fighting for their positions against Russian “meat assaults” using drones in novel ways as well as the artillery, tanks, and traditional weapons of war available to them. The Ukrainian Air Force will receive its first F-16s in the coming months, and Ukraine’s European allies are racing to make good deficiencies in other war materiel. American military assistance remains essential—only the United States has the resources to give Ukraine right now what Ukraine most needs. If the United States, in the end, withholds that aid, then the situation can become very grave indeed.
But the war is far from over. Ukraine has not lost and there is no reason for Ukraine to lose. Russians are adapting for a long war effort in Ukraine, but they are not the Red Army hordes wrapped in the triumphant banners of World War II victories that Putin and his propagandists pretend them to be. The Russian military suffers from many flaws that Ukraine has learned to exploit. And the combined economic power of Ukraine’s allies is many times that of Russia.
Putin remains a deadly threat to NATO as well as to Ukraine, however. The Kremlin has been setting conditions to conduct hybrid warfare operations in the Baltic States and Finland for months and is currently engaged in such operations against Moldova. Putin’s aims remain the destruction of NATO as an effective alliance, the breaking of the tie between the United States and Europe, and the construction of a new global order in which Russia’s voice and power are dominant. The interests of America, Europe, and America’s allies in Asia and around the world are inextricably tied with helping Ukraine defeat Russia.
I hope those words from ISW encourage you, they certainly should. Ukraine had done astonishingly well in this horrible war so far, and will continue to do well providing she continues to receive sufficient help from her allies.
Tomorrow I plan to post again, this time with some of my own thoughts about the state of affairs in the war and the likely outcome. Meanwhile, here are some links to ISW and relevant pages.
Institute for the Study of War (ISW) – Web homepage
We enjoyed every aspect of the house … and we plan to return in the summer to view the garden as well.
We visited Chastleton House recently, it’s a Jacobean country house in the Cotswolds, between Stow-on-the-Wold and Chipping Norton. Amongst other features it has the wonderful Long Gallery with a curved, plasterwork ceiling and panelled walls. Amazing!
The Long Gallery on the top floor
The house is in the care of the National Trust and was open to the public for the period leading up to Christmas. They’d decked it out with Christmas decorations as they might have been in the 1960’s – wrapped gifts, paper chain decorations, Christmas tree lights of the period, everything.
1960s decorations
But the real gem, and what I especially wanted to see, was the Long Gallery. It was certainly not a disappointment!
We enjoyed every aspect of the house, of course, and we plan to return in the summer to view the garden as well. Living, as we do, in Cirencester it’s not a long journey so we can also visit in spring and autumn too if we wish.
I can recommend a visit to Chastleton. It’s a gem of a place.
Notes from bygone years – December after December, Christmas after Christmas… Hint: Click on the thumbnails for larger images.
December 2022 (1 year before publishing this article)
A fine stack of cats
In December 2022 I posted my first attempt at ‘Blast from the past’. It was brief, covering just 1, 2, 5, 10 and 20 years; I only mentioned earlier JHM blog posts, nothing about my personal history or memories, and no images. It’s changed beyond recognition in 12 months!
On 17th December we drove up to York to visit my daughters and our grandchildren. On the way, the snowy fields and trees were really lovely to see. On the 18th we walked into the centre of York together and looked around Fairfax House, a fabulous and fascinating place – well worth a visit if you’re in York and haven’t seen it before. On 19th, back at home, I built a stack of cats! These were a present, a game where players take turns to add one cat – until the stack collapses.
Also in December 2022, I published an article about order and disorder, destruction and abundance, restrictions and freedom. I called it My Father is a farmer.
In December 2021 the young Moon and Venus made for a lovely sky in the evening twilight. I took this photo, only noticing later that a passing bird had photobombed the scene!
My friend, Nick Henderson invited me to write an article on why I left the Anglican church. You can read it here on my blog, and and on his website, Anglicanism.org.
In December 2018 I took a photo of the clock on Cirencester’s Parish Church tower. The honey coloured Cotswold limestone of the tower glows gloriously in the orange light of the setting sun. What a combination! Studying the photo later, I realised for the first time that the clock face is painted onto the stone of the tower. I had always imagined it was a large wooden or metal panel.
I posted an online card for Christmas and New Year, hoar frost on red berries.
In December 2013 I was at a Newforms Gathering in Nottingham. It was great to be amongst other people doing their best to follow Jesus and represent him in what is often a very broken world.
On JHM I wrote about food banks and why they were needed in Britain. Sadly they are still needed a decade later.
In December 2008 we visited Donna’s parents and walked along the coast near Bournemouth. It looked lovely with some strong sunshine, but my word it was cold!
I wrote an article on JHM the same month on the topics of science and technology.
In December 2003 I was working for Unilever Research; and the department had a couple of working away days as a planning and learning exercise. These were always daytime effort and evening fun.
In December 1998 we were living in Tilbrook, a tiny village near Kimbolton, Bedfordshire. I received my replacement driving licence for the new address. There was no plastic card, this document folded up and fitted into a flexible plastic sleeve.
In December 1993 we were living in Yatton and visited Judy’s parents in Cheltenham for Christmas and my parents in Cirencester for New Year. Here are Cindy, Rachael, Neil and Tom in the dining room at Churnside, playing Buccaneer. It’s a 1938 game of pirates, treasure, shipwreck and rum – great fun.
In December 1988 we visited my parents in Cirencester. Dad still had his African land snail in the glass tank and everyone was interested to take a closer look at it. Beth is unfortunately hidden behind Debbie in this shot. The glass tank was originally for a lead-acid radio battery.
In December 1983, my department at Long Ashton was beginning the process of working out how proposed budget cuts would effect staff. Some would be redeployed in other research centres. Others would be made redundant.
In December 1978 Debbie was three and three quarters and Beth was 7 months old. We’d been in our 1960s mid-terrace house in Yatton for some time but there still seemed to be enough room for us. In Iran, two million people demonstrated in the streets against the Shah.
In December 1973, we were trying to save enough money for a deposit on a mortgage. We’d saved quite a lot, but house prices were rising faster than we could manage.
The Pioneer 10 spacecraft was the first probe to fly past Jupiter. The images were fuzzy by modern standards, but far better than any telescope could achieve at the time. I remember sitting in the library at work in my lunch break, reading about it in Science, Nature, and at home in New Scientist.
December 1968 was a significant month. As far as I can recall, on 31st December both families were in the same room in Cheltenham when I asked Judy’s Dad if I might marry his daughter. He said, ‘Yes’, right away so all was well. It’s possible this was very early January, but I think it was New Year’s Eve. Of course, Judy and I had decided this well in advance but it was fun to make the move with everyone present!
In December 1963 I was in the Fifth Form at Cirencester Grammar School. Mum made the usual stonkingly large Christmas cake (we always managed to eat it all in a week or so). Even Chloe, the dog has a small slice on her own plate in the photo. And, of course, it goes without saying that there’s Marmite on the table.
In December 1958 I was in my 6th and final year at Querns School. One of my friends from before we started school, Robert Kneale, wrote a Christmas poem for our teacher, Miss Taylor. We were both ten at the time, I wonder if he had a little help from his Dad, George? It’s a great effort – click on the image to read it.
At the end of December 1948 I was five months old and turned over by myself for the first time on 2nd. Dad had a 10/- raise in his wages and was busy lifting Christmas trees for sale.
In December 1943 Dad travelled by train to Paddington Station and on to Euston House where he went through a series of subject exams and aptitude tests. He was enlisted as a Radar Operator in the RAF Volunteer Reserve, received 10/6d pay, and was deferred for six months. He was very disappointed to have been turned down as a pilot.
Notes from bygone years – Novembers one and all Hint: Click on the thumbnails for larger images.
November 2022
In November 2022 our friends Jim and Kevin drove over from St Neots to visit us for a day. Jim’s wife, Pam, couldn’t make it this time. We took them to see the Corinium Museum, and Jim was very impressed by some of the mosaic floors on display. Kevin, being an engineer by trade, was interested in the Roman iron tools on display.
A jigsaw map of Cirencester
A few days later we had a visit from Sean and Tania, friends from Bedford. So lots of ‘easterners’ visiting us during November!
And some friends lent us a lovely jigsaw made from an old map of Cirencester as it was in the late 19th century; we enjoyed fitting the pieces together and noticing the many changes that have taken place here over the years.
This month I published an article about Clifford’s Tower in York.
In November 2021 we visited Batsford Arboretum near Moreton-in-Marsh. This is an informal collection of trees, planted in the grounds of a lovely old house. It’s as much a large garden as it is a botanical collection. A great day out (and a good garden centre and restaurant into the bargain).
In November 2018 my sister, Cindy, launched a new book. Cindy is wearing the red hat in the photo; the new book was The Outrageous Fortune of Abel Morgan. You can find it in bookshops as well as on Google Play Books and Amazon.
I wrote about murmurations in November; if you don’t know what these are, you will be amazed. Play the video in the article for a grandstand view (with music).
In November 2013 our kitchen was being modified. Walls had to come down to incorporate a corridor, pantry and old coal bunkers into the main space followed by the addition of a steel beam, replastering and installing a full new kitchen. For a while it was a real mess!
In November 2008, Donna’s cat, Truffles, was getting on in years and had developed one white whisker, she looked lop-sided and it was very amusing. She developed more later, and looked far more dignified.
In November 2003 Nominet confirmed that I held the registration for the internet domain name scilla.org.uk, Donna and I have been using it now for a little over twenty years.
November 1998 saw us living in Tilly Cottage in the village of Tilbrook near Kimbolton. Donna went for a weekend visit to Eurodisney in Paris with a group of friends.
In November 1993 we had a visit from our German friends Gunter and Heidi Klauss. Judy and I met Gunter when he was in Cirencester on a school exchange. He stayed with several families during his time at Cirencester Grammar School, including a spell with my parents; so he and I knew one another rather well.
In November 1988 we took the train to Weston-super-Mare to view the Bridgwater Carnival. It was cold but a lot of fun. I took some video of the various floats as they passed. These images of Judy, Debbie and Beth are stills from the video.
In November 1983, discussions were ongoing about moving research on nursery stock from Long Ashton near Bristol to East Malling in Kent. Long Ashton was to focus on arable crop research and the team I was part of, working on fruit tree pollination, would be moved or closed down. With school age children, this was an anxious time.
In November 1978 Debbie was three and Beth was just 6 months. We were living in Yatton, near Bristol; at the time both were within the county of Avon. We lived in a 1960s mid-terrace house with three bedrooms and a tiny kitchen.
In November 1973, we were living in Belmont Road, Bristol. We had rented a first floor, unfurnished flat; this enabled us to buy some second hand furniture, save towards a house deposit, and raise a mortgage. The photo shows a sunset from our living room window.
In November 1968 I was in my third year at the University of Bath, studying for a BSc in Horticulture; Judy was in her second year at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, studying Biochemistry. Naturally we wrote to one another frequently. In November we discussed a possible trip to see the 1970 Oberammergau Passion play, but as Judy rightly pointed out, we were already too late to find travel and accomodation for an event that is always massively oversubscribed.
In November 1963 I was living in Victoria Road, Cirencester, and I was in the Fifth Form at Cirencester Grammar School, also in Victoria Road. There could be no excuse for late arrival at school!
In November 1958 we were living in Queen Anne’s Road on Cirencester’s Beeches Estate; I was in my 6th and final year at Querns School. I achieved my toy master’s badge at Cubs.
In November 1953 we had fireworks in the back garden. I don’t think there were big public displays in those days, families bought a few rockets, a Roman candle or two, and a Catherine wheel. I remember Bengal matches that burned in pretty colours, and sparklers to wave around to make light patterns. Jumping Jacks used to leap about on the ground and frighten people, they were banned when I was a bit older.
At the end of November 1948 I was four months old. I would have been growing bigger and stronger, interacting more with Mum and Dad and other adults, beginning to vocalise more, and showing some interest in my surroundings.
In November 1943 Dad went to the RAF Recruiting Office in Gloucester for a medical; everything was good except his eyesight, but they passed him for aircrew. The following day (1st December) he was to go to London for further tests and to face the Selection Board.
