Cirencester Abbey in Gloucestershire was founded as an Augustinian monastery in 1117 on the site of an earlier church, the longest known Saxon church in England, which in turn had been built on the site of a Roman structure. History See also History of Gloucestershire Gloucestershire is a historic county mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in the 10th century The church was greatly enlarged in the 14th century with an ambulatory added to the east end. The ambulatory (Med Lat ambulatorium a place for Walking, from ambulare, to walk is the covered passage around a Cloister; a term applied sometimes The abbot became mitred 1416. The monastery was suppressed in 1539 and presented to Roger Bassinge.
Post Dissolution
A house was built on the site in the late 16th century, remodelled in the 1780's and then unfortunately demolished in 1964 to be replaced by a block of flats, though away from the nucleus of the monastery which is now in a public park and of which there are no visible remains.
The impressive and substantial three storey porch of the parish church was however built as an administrative building of the abbey and after 1539, the upper levels were for some time used as the town hall. The church itself is a relic and product of a long standing feud between the townspeople and the abbey. The latter, who were responsible for the chancel of the parish church have left us with a plain and unadorned building. The townspeople however were responsible for the remainder, and rebuilt the nave and west tower in an impressive style so as to far out-do the canons and at least win in a war of architecture if nothing else.
References
- Anthony New. 'A Guide to the Abbeys of England And Wales', p113-14. Constable.
- Colin Platt. 'The Travellers Guide to Medieval England', p110-12. Secker & Warburg.