Cirencester Wool Walk

The Richest Abbey in England Was Built on Wool

When Cirencester Abbey surrendered to Henry VIII's commissioners on 19 December 1539, its assessed wealth made it the richest Augustinian house in England, built almost entirely on the Cotswold wool trade its estates controlled.

Ian Thomas leads this walk through the lanes behind the market square, tracing the working lives of the wool combers, card makers, dyers, weavers and staplers who ran the trade day to day. Stops include the parish church of St John the Baptist, where the three-storey south porch went up around 1500 and the nave was rebuilt between 1515 and 1530, both funded by wool merchants whose marks are still cut into the pillars. The route runs a little over an hour, starting and finishing at the museum.

Francesco Datini, the Florentine merchant who tracked European wool prices in the 15th century, rated fleece from the Abbey's Cirencester lands among the finest and most expensive in England.

Friday 28 August 2026 · Corinium Museum, Park Street, Cirencester GL7 2BX · Starts 11:00am