Established 1966

Author: glasshalfpool

  • Soviet Maps of Gloucestershire! How and why?

    Soviet Maps of Gloucestershire! How and why?

    Date: 28th April doors open 7pm talk at 7.30 pm

    Venue: Ashcroft Hall Cirencester -visitors are welcome – a donation of £3.00 per person is invited.

    Martin’s talk will provide a general introduction to the Soviet world mapping project – how the maps are created and what was their potential use. The discussion will include examples of topographic and city maps local to Cirencester. Martin’s research includes topographic mapping, Soviet mapping and the history of cartography.

    Dr Martin Davis is Digital Map Curator at the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, as well as Executive Secretary of the Commission on Topographic Mapping (International Cartographic Association) and Book Reviews Editor for The Cartographic Journal. 

  • The waterways of Cirencester

    The waterways of Cirencester

    Dr Mike Jones

    Date: 19th May doors open 7pm talk at 7.30 pm

    Visitors are welcome – a donation of £3.00 per person is invited.

    Venue: Ashcroft Hall Cirencester

    This talk will include a general introduction to the river system of the upper Thames, before focusing on issues related to the conservation and management of the Churn and related waterways. Mike will develop themes discussed at the Cirencester Waterways Conference 2024.

    After a career as a hydrogeologist specialising in groundwater, Dr Mike Jones now works with groundwater stakeholders, raising awareness of our often unseen, but valuable and potentially vulnerable asset. He has worked closely with ‘The Friends of the Gumstool Brook’.

  • The living and the dead – visit to the RAU herbarium

    The living and the dead – visit to the RAU herbarium

    Dr Keyy Hemmings

    Tuesday 24 June 2025

    Kelly will introduce visitors to the Royal Agricultural University’s (RAU), unique herbarium, now housed in the laboratories where it is being digitally photographed, recorded, and catalogued by staff, students, and volunteers (with the help of funding from Gloucestershire Naturalists’ Society and the University’s own Cirencester Fund). The historic collection of more than 10,000 dried and pressed plant specimens dates back more than 200 years. The original specimens and the digital archive provide a ‘time-capsule’ record of biodiversity in the UK, and will be used to teach the students of today and help the UK’s nature recovery.

    Dr Kell Hemmings is Associate Professor in Ecology and Agroecosystems at RAU.

    *meeting details TBA

  • Fairford History walk

    Fairford History walk

    Syd Flatman

    Wednesday 23 July 2025

    Fairford on the River Coln may be familiar to many Cirencester residents, but this walk led by Syd Flatman of the Fairford History Society will reveal new and interesting sites and themes. The town was once a significant centre of the wool trade, and it is famed for its parish church which has as superb and complete set of medieval stained glass windows. Fairford was an important coaching stop on the old London to Gloucester route, served by numerous inns and hotels.

    Syd Flatman and his family moved from London to Fairford in 1950. Syd can provide a remarkably detailed account of the town from that time as well as a few diverting tales of local personalities.

    *Details TBA

  • Arts and Crafts – Cotswold Churches

    Arts and Crafts – Cotswold Churches

    Kirsty Hartsiotis

    Date: 15th September doors open 7pm talk at 7.30 pm

    Visitors are welcome – a donation of £3.00 per person is invited.

    Venue: Ashcroft Hall Cirencester

    The Arts and Crafts Movement made a big impact on our region’s churches – from church building to stained glass, from woodcarving to conservation. Kirsty explores the impact of designers and makers from William Morris, through the Guild of Handicraft, Gimson and the Barnsleys, to 20th century artists such as Edward Payne who worked in the tradition.

    Kirsty Hartsiotis is a storyteller, writer and speaker on folklore and art history based in the Cotswolds. She is an Accredited Arts Society lecturer and has written several successful books of folk tales, including ‘Gloucestershire Ghost Tales’ and ‘Gloucestershire Folk Tales for Children’ (both with Anthony Nanson).

  • Cirencester’s Green Spaces

    Cirencester’s Green Spaces

    Andrea Pellegram

    Date: 20th October doors open 7pm talk at 7.30 pm

    Visitors are welcome – a donation of £3.00 per person is invited.

    Venue: Ashcroft Hall Cirencester

    Cirencester has a wealth of important green spaces with significant heritage value, from the Abbey Grounds to the City Back Local Nature Reserve. Andrea will review progress with the Town Council’s projects as part of the Green Spaces Strategy Review. This includes iconic sites such as the Roman amphitheatre and its surrounding green heritage, and the Abbey Grounds, specifically the Norman Gate area.

    Andrea Pellegram is Chair & Lead Member for Land & Property of Cirencester Town Council, with a career background in local authority planning and the private sector, as well as her own consultancy.

  • From Corinium to the Cotswold Tradition : the first 100 years of the Old Museum.

    From Corinium to the Cotswold Tradition : the first 100 years of the Old Museum.

    Dr Caroline Morris

    Date: 17th November doors open 7pm talk at 7.30 pm

    Visitors are welcome – a donation of £3.00 per person is invited.

    Venue: Ashcroft Hall Cirencester

    Caroline, Collections & Education Manager at the Corinium Museum, will speak about the history of the Corinium museum from its founding to its move to Park Street, and its brief resurrection for the Festival of Britain. Caroline believes that museums remain important and can provide a positive social experience and can help to reduce social isolation as well as provide learning opportunities and skills develop. Museums raise a sense of community and can increase opportunities for finding meaning. Caroline Morris has a PhD in cultural history from UWE.

    Dr Caroline Morris has been using fabric and foraged dye stuffs to imbue meaning and document her experience of landscapes and their history and her work featured in an exhibition at the museum in 2024.

  • Cirencester’s pubs: past and present

    Cirencester’s pubs: past and present

    John Tiffney

    Date: 15th December doors open 7pm talk at 7.30 pm

    Visitors are welcome – a donation of £3.00 per person is invited.

    Venue: Ashcroft Hall Cirencester

    In the mid 19th century Cirencester had over 100 drinking establishments  supported by several breweries, by 2012 this number was 17.  

    John Tiffney is a Cirencester Civic Society Town Guide and a former Chair of the society.