Cirencester Church, Gloucestershire
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The 'Cathedral of the Cotswolds,' Cirencester Church is such a glorious building that one can only wonder at the magnificence which must have been the Abbey Church that once towered over it. It is the successor to the original Roman Church or Cathedral which almost certainly stood somewhere within the old Roman town of Corinium. This was probably destroyed by the Saxons after the fateful Battle in Dyrham in AD 577. By about AD 700, the Saxons had built their own building on the present site and this was replaced by a Norman structure at the time of the foundation of the Abbey in 1180. The building has seen many changes since, but was largely built in the 1240s and extensively remodelled in late perpendicular style, with heraldic angels everywhere, in the 1520s. The wine-glass pulpit is 15th century and probably survived the Reformation because of its lack of imagery. The church has many chapels with fine fittings, notably the Trinity Chapel built for the Weavers' Guild by two knights in the household of the would-be King, Richard, Duke of York. There are numerous good brasses there in front of the chantry altar piece given by Queen Anne of Bohemia and the top window lights feature some excellent 15th century glass. Catherine's Chapel has some fine fan vaulting and medieval wall paintings; and there are some good monuments in the Chapels of Our Lady and St. John the Baptist. The Bolelyn Cup was given to the church by Dr. Richard Master, it having originally been a gift from his patient and Anne Boleyn's daughter, Queen Elizabeth I.
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