Cirencester in the Civil War, Town Walk

The Church That Held 1,200 Prisoners

Cirencester's role in the civil war goes well beyond a plaque on a wall. In February 1643, Royalist and Parliamentarian forces fought street to street through the town, leaving more than 300 dead before the town surrendered and 1,200 prisoners were crammed into the parish church to be held captive.

Guide Ian Thomas leads this walk out from the Corinium Museum, tracing the storming through the streets where it actually happened and pointing out where the town's defences finally broke. The story runs past 1643 too: the parish minister later wrote a lament in the church register on the day Charles I was executed, and Charles II slept a night in Cirencester six years after that, mid-escape from the Battle of Worcester.

Seventy-five minutes on foot through a town that saw one of the bloodiest single days in its long history.

Friday 25 September 2026 · Corinium Museum, Park Street, Cirencester, Gloucestershire GL7 2BX · Starts 11:00am