Cirencester

The amphitheatre at Cirencester stood outside the Roman town.  The town itself, which was known as 'Corinium' was the tribal capital of the Dobunni (who were based in what is now Gloucestershire, North Wiltshire and southern Warwickshire - in the Cotswolds). When I visited recently, I walked the "Roman Town Trail" ( Copies of a very useful leaflet are available at the Corinium Museum), as well as visiting that museum - which I thoroughly recommend. I also walked part of the Wherat Trail (downloadable from here)




There is a booklet available called "The Cirencester Experience", which I also found useful on the day, and afterwards


The town was the junction of the Roman roads we now refer to as the Fosse Way; the Ermin Way and Akeman Street. Some of the town wall can still be seen to the north west of the London Road (where Verulamium Gate stood). As my previous post indicated the impressive site of the amphitheatre can be visited to the south east of the town (not far from where the Bath Gate stood - it's name reflects the fact that the Fosse Way took this route. On New Years Day we drove (as far as was possible) along the Fosse Way from its junction with the A40 (at this point the Fosse Way is followed by the A429) - left it to bypass Cirencester -  and rejoined it as the A433, stopping at The Thames Head Inn. Our ultimate destination was Bath, but the Fosse Way leaves the A433 close to the Cotswold Airport. We only rejoined the Fosse Way as we drove along the London Road West from Bath to our hotel in Batheaston.)



Cirencester is a lovely town - and a delight for anyone interested in the history of Roman Britain.