Cirencester

At the end of the 18th century, Cirencester was a thriving market town, at the centre of a network of turnpike roads with easy access to markets for its produce of grain and wool. From 1461, Cirencester Grammar School provided a grammar school education for those who could afford it, and businesses thrived in the town, which was the market town for the surrounding area. In 1789, the opening of the Cirencester branch (or "arm") of the Thames and Severn Canal provided access to markets further afield, by way of a link through the River Thames. In 1841, a branch railway line was opened to Kemble to provide a link to the Great Western Railway at Swindon. The Midland and South Western Junction…

The Grade I listed Church of St. John the Baptist is renowned for its Perpendicular Gothic porch, fan vaults 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 Baptist Church that was founded in 1651, making it one of the oldest Baptist churches in England; 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; it is the oldest such hall in the West of England. The Salvation Army first met in…