Editing Cirencester (section)

==Sites of interest==
[[File:Cirencester StJohnBaptistChurch.jpg|thumb|St John Baptist parish church]]
The [[Grade I listed]] [[Church of St John the Baptist, Cirencester|Church of St. John the Baptist]] is renowned for its [[Perpendicular Gothic]] porch, [[fan vault]]s and merchants' tombs.

The town also has a [[Roman Catholic]] church dedicated to [[St Peter]]; the foundation stone was laid on 20 June 1895. Coxwell Street to the north of Market Square was the original home of the [[Baptists|Baptist]] Church that was founded in 1651, making it one of the oldest Baptist churches in England;<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cirencester-baptist.org/church-history|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150127062251/http://www.cirencester-baptist.org/church-history|url-status=dead|title=Church History|date=21 March 2016|archivedate=27 January 2015|website=Cirencester Baptist Church}}</ref> the church moved in January 2017 to a new building on Chesterton Lane. The town's [[Salvation Army]] hall in Thomas Street occupies the former Temperance Hall built by the Quaker Christopher Bowly in 1846, and is the oldest such hall in the West of England.<ref>David Grace. 'Defeating the Demon Drink' in S. Emson and M. Ball(ed.) ''Cirencester'' 2002 pp91–98</ref> The Salvation Army first met in Cirencester in 1881.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=njOIAwAAQBAJ|title=Cirencester: A History and Guide|last1=Welsford|first1=Jean|last2=Welsford|first2=Alan|date=August 2010|publisher=Amberley Publishing|isbn=978-1-4456-1124-2|page=149|orig-year=1987|access-date=25 November 2019|archive-date=4 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210504154822/https://books.google.com/books?id=njOIAwAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>

To the west of the town is [[Cirencester Park (country house)|Cirencester Park]], the seat of [[Earl Bathurst]] and the site of one of the finest [[landscape garden]]s in England, laid out by [[Allen Bathurst, 1st Earl Bathurst]] after 1714.  He inherited the estate from his father, [[Benjamin Bathurst (courtier)|Sir Benjamin Bathurst]], a Tory Member of Parliament and statesman who made his wealth from his involvement in the slave trade through the [[Royal Africa Company]] and the [[East India Company]].

[[Abbey House, Cirencester|Abbey House]] was a [[English country house|country house]] built on the site of the former Cirencester Abbey following its dissolution and demolition at the [[English Reformation|Reformation]] in the 1530s. The site was granted in 1564 to Richard Master, physician to [[Queen Elizabeth I|Elizabeth I]]. The house was rebuilt and altered at several dates by the Master family, who still own the agricultural estate. By 1897 the house was let, and it remained in the occupation of tenants until shortly after the [[Second World War]]. It was demolished in 1964.

On Cotswold Avenue is the site of a Roman [[amphitheatre]] which, while buried, retains its shape in the earthen topography of the small park setting. Cirencester was one of the most substantial cities of Roman-era Britain.

The [[Corn Hall, Cirencester|Corn Hall]] was designed by Medland, Maberly and Medland and completed in 1863.<ref>{{NHLE|desc=Corn Hall Buildings|num=1187501|access-date=30 June 2023}}</ref>