Publications
Articles republished in full on this site are underlined in the listings. Clicking there will go to the article. Few articles are currently reproduced, but the number is growing. Newsletters are listed in reverse date order, most recent at the top
One of the aims of the society is to publish information concerning the past of Cirencester and its environs. This has been achieved by publishing Newsletters containing short articles and, recently, short reports on talks held during the year (these latter now online). Longer studies have been published as the Miscellany series. All publications to up to last year have been lodged with the Gloucestershire Archives. They can be found by quoting reference D10989, and are open for research at the Archives. All publications can be found using the tabs above. We do have a small stock of back numbers of both Newsletters and Miscellany. If we have what you want, back issues of Newsletters are £3 each and of Miscellany are £5 from our editor. The Society is keen to have assistance for future publications. If you feel up to editing or even researching new material, our Editor will be pleased to hear from you. If you have an article suitable for publication in short form about some aspect of local history we may be able to help. Contact our editor.
The first three are from Miscellany 2 (below) and were edited by Linda Viner in 1988.
A Fistful of Dollar Street – cataloguing a Cirencester collection – Hannah Dale Autmn 2016
A Cirencester Connection in ‘Life with the Ladies of Llangollen’ p14
The Cirencester Grain Riots of 1766 by Jeremy Black pp15-18
The Canalisation of Gloucestershire: Cirencester News in the Newcastle Press by Jeremy Black pp 22
The End of the Abbey of St. Mary – Richard Reece Summer 1960
The Library of St. Mary’s Abbey, Cirencester – Alan Welsford 17th June 1975
The Founding of the Society – D.A.D. 22nd May 1980
The Saga of the Abbey outline – Sian Defferary August 1999
Public Art – David Viner April 2009
Jerome K.Jerome and Cirencester’s Sheep Street Chapel –Richard Reece and Katherine Ashley September 2008. September 2007
The Cirencester Obelisk – David Viner [Reprinted with updated material from Newsletter 24] August 2008
Planning & Development matters – a policy statement September 2001
War Memorial and Peace Celebrations in Cirencester Market Place s (1918-19) David & Linda Viner Autumn 2019
Cirencester: the development and buildings of a Cotswold town – BAR 12 and its after-life – Christopher Catling Croome Lecture 2019
Scholars not Saints: Alexander Neckham and the community of Canons at the Abbey of St Mary, Cirencester – Alan Welsford August2017
Cirencester Workhouse 1724- 1837 – Louise M Ryland-Epton Autumn 2016
A year of Cirencester life as recorded in the Parish Magazine for 1890 – Ruth Illiffe Autumn 2016
Viewpoint: Cirencester Parish Church tower from Cirencester Park – Linda & David Viner Autumn 2016
Cirencester Commemorates 1914-18: Frank Webb (1894-1915) Autum 2014
The Kings Head Hotel, Cirencester – A town Phoenix reborn – David Viner April 2014
Herbert Norris (1859-1931) Antiquary, Collector and Benefactor – a Huntingdonshire man in Cirencester- David Viner April 2014
Filling the open spaces – Ashcroft, Brewery, Cotswold Garage and carparks –David Viner and Derek Porch August 2013
Cirencester Pubs through time – Philip Griffiths, Amberley 2013: book review August 2013
Cirencester Photographers over the years – David Viner August 2012
Chesterville School – Richard Greener & Linda Viner April 2012
Was there an ‘aerodrome’ at Wiggold? Philip Griffiths April 23012
The Old House, Gloucester Street – Rosemary Burton [from Newsletter no. 10] August 2011
A House and its owners, No. 33 Dyer Street – Marjorie Klitz [from Newsletter no.12] August 2011
Cirencester: the interpretation of streams – Peter Broxton and Richard Reece August 2011
Researching F W Constable of Cirencester and Fairford – David Viner July 2010
Webnote 1 Cirencester Watercourses Richard Reece 2018
Cirencester Miscellany
The contents of previous publications in the Miscellany series are listed below. “Cirencester Miscellany” should be available in Copyright libraries as it has an ISBN number. Back issues of all are held in Gloucestershire Archives. Some copies of back issues may be available from our editor at £5 each. We are planning to republish most of these publications here during the next few months. As with the Newsletters, you can link to articles as they become available by clicking the underscored titles below.
Cirencester Miscellany 1
Published 1988 30pp plus cover. Edited by Linda Viner
CAHS Reviewed by Linda Viner pp1-10
Cirencester’s Contribution to the Development of Urban Archaeology
The Croome Memorial Lecture 1988 by Alan McWhirr pp11-16
New Approaches to the Management of our Archaeological Resource by Timothy Darvill pp17-24
Annual Report and Newsletter: Contents of Volumes 1-30 by Linda Viner pp25-30
Cirencester Miscellany 2
Published 1988 22pp plus cover. Edited by Linda Viner
As it was in a Cirencester Solicitor’s Office before the Second World War by F J Petrie pp 1-7
A History of Cirencester Chess Club by David Wilkinson pp 8-13
A Cirencester Connection in ‘Life with the Ladies of Llangollen’ p14
The Cirencester Grain Riots of 1766 by Jeremy Black pp15-18
Rebecca Powell- Cirencester’s Greatest Benefactor: who was she? by Joyce Barker pp 18-20
Every little helps: Newsletter 33 Dyer Street and air raid shelters by Marjorie Klitz and Linda Viner pp 20-21:
Cirencester News in the Newcastle Press by Jeremy Black pp 22
Cirencester Miscellany 3
Published 1996 30pp plus cover, editor unknown
Joseph Howes: Cirencester’s Fur Trader and Explorer 1774-1852 by F J Petrie pp1-12
William Iveson Croome: his work for the care of churches:[the edited Croome Memorial Lecture 1993] by Johnathan MacKechnie-Jarvis pp13-31
Cirencester Miscellany 4
Published 2000 32pp plus cover. Edited by Trevor Allen, Michael Oakeshott and David Viner
Joyce Barker(1912-1966) by David Viner pp 2
The Early Churches of South Cerney by Professor Michael Oakeshott pp3-8
John Roberts: a neglected 17th century Cirencester biography by Dr. Brian Hawkins pp9-10
Rebecca Powell 1643- 1722 by Margaret Wesley pp11-18
A bellringer’s chair in Cirencester Parish Church by Christopher Gillbert pp19-20
The Siddington Roundhouse by Hugh Conway-Jones pp21-22
A Victorian Record of quarrying around Cirencester by A.J Price pp23-24
Memories of Cirencester Mop Fair by Fred Petrie pp28-30
Already a folk memory: Cirencester Excavation Committee 1958-1997 by David Viner pp31-33
Future publication
The Society holds a considerable amount of material on local turnpikes in and around Cirencester, gathered during its Turnpike Study Group’s researches and led by the late John Hartland. Regular updates and several articles were published in the Society’s Newsletters between 1969 and 2001. Now, in association with the Milestone Society, a national charity formed in 2000, and linked to the research work about to be undertaken in the preparation of a Cirencester volume in the Victoria County History [VCH] series, it is intended to review this material and bring it together for publication in some suitable form. For further details, contact the Society’s editor
WebNotes
We set up WebNotes on our Publications pages a few years ago as a new departure for the Society, aiming to provide more flexibility in the publication of material, specifically on-line, whilst respecting and retaining a traditional role for our Newsletters, which can continue as occasional rather than annual publications. We’re proud of the run of over 60 years of our Newsletters, starting way back in 1959. They are listed in full on our Publications page and we are steadily adding the most relevant and significant articles fully on-line.
WebNotes can be new topics entirely but could also support some of this earlier work, by sharing new information and updating the debate, and Richard Reece did when he kicked off with an update on his detailed assessment of Cirencester’s watercourses in Newsletter 53 (April 2011). Read one and then the other to come up to date.
Our second recalls the famous composer Peter Maxwell Davies’s short but influential period of teaching in the town, which in later life he looked back upon with pleasure. Copyright in articles as always remains with the author, and the Editor is always pleased to hear from anybody suggesting a contribution. Relevance to Cirencester in some form is a pre-requisite, but otherwise the range of topics is wide. We are of course especially interested in anything which links the town’s past with present-day life and activities in Cirencester.
The third Webnote is a listing of a series of articles in Cirencester Scene promoted by our sister heritage society, Cirencester Civic Society and our own society. Twenty four articles so far…
David Viner
Webnote 1 Cirencester’s Watercourses by Richard Reece October 2018
Webnote 2 Sir Peter Maxwell Davies – the Cirencester link by David Viner August 2021 (First published June 2021 in Cirencester Scene)
Webnote 3 A listing of local history articles published in Cirencester Scene magazine and online on the magazine’s website September 2022