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Our next Meeting will be in September. Details should be available in August.

Welcome to Cirencester

Archaeological &

Historical Society

We are always happy to see new members. Do browse our site to see what we do. While our meetings were interrupted, we have other interests, such as our projects and the publishing of short articles in our Newsletters or WebNotes. News items will usually be on this page, though more may be found on our facebook page.

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Cirencester Archaeological & Historical Society

Our last talk of the season was on May 25th. Celia Haddon told us about the first Olimpick games, held in the county during the reign of Charles I. We also held our AGM live for the first time since 2019 In June we have a visit: Saturday 11th June 2022 - ‘Soils, Snails and Stonehenge’ A day visit to Mike Allen and his environmental archaeology lab, followed by a guided walk along the Stonehenge Avenue. Please contact Ann Buffoni ASAP if you are interested in this trip. Membership is not required. We are still seeking at least two committee members, to cover retirements, specifically to deal with membership and to run this website. Volunteer or offer suggestions to cahs@cirenhistory.org.uk The 2022-3 Season will start in September. The new programme is normally available in August. The subscription year begins 1st September. Rates have not changed. Social media: We are now on Facebook, twitter and Instagram. See links at the bottom of every page. Webnotes instead of Newsletter Last summer’s publication came as a WebNote, our new way of publishing. Go to WebNotes> We hope to publish a few more items during the year. If you have a story that you think our readers might enjoy, please contact our editor, David Viner in the first instance. Our musical committee member Martin Graebe has been busy during lockdown writing a book on the forgotten songs of the upper Thames. Find out about it here. Martin has also kindly provided facilities for us to use Zoom for most of last season’s talks. Volunteering opportunity Canon Graham Morris is looking for more volunteers to act as Church guides. More> In conjunction with Cirencester Civic Society and the Town Council, we have helped fund a new information board on Cirencester’s Waitrose Store, describing the previous uses of the site. There is much to explore on this site. See Projects, Places and Publications. If we have your email address, we can send you items of interest from time to time, including occasional meetings of sister societies.. The demolition and rebuilding of flats off The Avenue, Cirencester, brought an article in our Newsletter 49 of 2009 on Public Art to the fore. The planning assessment shows much archaeology under the site, believed to be the original Roman town centre. The site is now being rebuilt. Gloucestershire Archives are always keen to hear about any old documents, maps etc that are coming up for sale by auction in order to bring them to public access. Sometimes they are able to raise money to buy them for the archives before auctions push the price up. Claire Collins is Head of Collections and can be contacted by anyone with any information. The centenary of the WW1 Armistice has been and gone, but we are still receiving updates and enquiries about our information on those who died and even survived the war… Mike Tovey of Chedworth has written to introduce us to the work that villagers have produced about their Great War dead. Between them they have found out enough to fill a two hundred page book. If you have relatives from there, or are merely interested in how others have researched the period, the book is freely available on https://chedworth.org.uk If you have more information than we have published about any of the people on the Cirencester monuments, do drop us a note. Ray Wilson has sent an article about local historical maps available online at the National Library of Scotland. Yes, local to here! KnowYourPlaceWest now has mapping for Wilts, Gloucestershire and Somerset. Maps from about 1840 to date can be compared, and, after moderation, you can add historical information. Do watch the video to see how to use it! Have fun! Tithe maps have been added where they exist.

A Century Ago...

With the Centenary of the 1918 Armistice now passed, we record those who died later… RALPH MORTIMER WRIGLEY whose parents lived at The Barton died in hospital on 6 November aged 21, a Lieutenant with 3rd Railway Company, Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers. He is commemorated on their memorial in the Priory Church at Monmouth. 1918 November 11: Armistice Day - ceasefire on the Western Front. 1918-1919: A world-wide influenza pandemic continued throughout the winter. WILLIAM SHILL died on 22 November, age 26, a Private in A Company 11/OBLI. His parents Richard and Louisa Helen of Field Barn Ewen had lost a younger son HOWARD in 1916. FREDERICK GEORGE ALLEN or ALLAN died in December 1918 having been discharged that April as unfit for further military service. In 1911 he had lived at 30 Victoria Road with a wife and small daughter. As a married man of 40 he could have claimed exemption from conscription but enlisted at Bath in February 1916 in the Somerset Light Infantry. FREDERICK WILLIAM RICHINGS was born in 1877, son of Alfred and Roseanna of 77 City Bank Road. He had 24 years service with the Glosters including the Siege of Ladysmith, and had been wounded in 1917. He had been promoted to Sergeant Major and awarded the Meritorious Service Medal. FREDERICK died at home on leave whilst awaiting demobilization, shortly before his intended marriage. He is buried in Cirencester Cemetery CYRIL LAWSON COLE - Captain 2/5 Glosters and Transport Officer 184 Infantry Brigade died on 14 March 1919. He was the third son of William Henry and Catherine of Bourne House Brimscombe to die. MARK A WRIGHT died the next day, aged 39. He served as Sapper in 54 Division Signals Company. He was son of Alfred Benjamin of Cirencester and husband of Agnes, living in Burton on Trent. Both men are buried in Etaples, a base area in Northern France where there were several hospitals. Their names are not on the St John’s Church memorial erected in November 1918. 1919 June 28: Treaty of Versailles signed, declaring Germany guilty of causing the war and liable to pay reparations. PERCY GEYTON’s name was added after his death on 29 July 1919. He had served as Second Lieutenant in the Machine Gun Corps. PERCY had attended Cirencester Grammar School and became a bank clerk working in Devizes. His father lived at 6 Cricklade Street and was a wine merchant’s manager. JOHN KENT is buried in Cirencester Cemetery. He died on 26 October 1919 aged 46. He had served as Staff Sergeant Farrier in 19 Hussars and left a wife, Gertrude Mary ARTHUR CHARLES HAINES had served as a Sergeant in the Royal Marines Light Infantry, on HMS Cornwallis in the Dardanelles and then in HMS Lord Nelson. He died at home, 10 Whiteway Road Spitalgate, of illness resulting from service, on 15 February 1920. CHARLES HENRY NEWELL’s name was added to St John’s Church memorial following his death on 1 September 1920 of injuries received in the war. He had served as a Corporal and is buried in Cirencester Cemetery JULIA HERBERT is the only woman commemorated on Cirencester war memorials. She was a volunteer nurse at Bingham Hall. Three Cirencester men who died after the war as a result of wounds or illness are buried in Cirencester Cemetery; all three left widows living in the town - W GARDINER - Corporal 25/Middlesex died on 13 May 1921 aged 37; C HOOPER - Sergeant 5/Glosters died 19 June 1921 aged 60. JESSE BENJAMIN WRIGHT - Private 3/Rifle Brigade died on 25 August 1921 aged 37.

Timeline written by Dale Hjort

More about some of these men can be found in our WW1 biography section. A chronology of deaths of all WW1 names on the memorials can be found in Newsletter 61.

Page last updated 27 May 2022

Navigating our site

Not all pages are immediately apparent from the links at the top. The Great War biographies, covering very many pages, have internal links. and the articles reprinted from our past publications are linked from the relevant Newsletter page. There is a facility to browse these at random at the bottom of most articles.

The old Memorial Hospital recently demolished, on Sheep Street (used within the last 30 years) contained the Bannatyne memorial staircase. It was carefully removed and sent to relatives in Ireland, making way for demolition and refurbishment of the car park. Cotswold Archaeology has written a number of studies for CDC that are worth reading. These articles are now lost to the revamping of CDC website, but might be available from Cotswold Archaeology. The web is not a reliable publishing medium! Click the picture above to read David Viner’s notes on the Hospital and the Staircase. The building across Sheep Street, called the Memorial Hospital Annex, is still in NHS use. It has the Great War memorial panels on its side. We have an article about this building.

Can’t find it? See Navigating our site

Copyright Cirencester Archaeological & Historical Society 2006-2022 Contact us: Facebook: Cirenhistory Twitter: @CirenHissoc Instagram: cirenhissoc

Would you like to receive a reminder about each meeting? Whether a member or not, send your email address to cahs @ cirenhistory.org.uk (without the spaces!)

Welcome to Cirencester Archaeological & Historical

Society

We are always happy to see new members. Do browse our site to see what we do. While our main activity is our meetings, we have other interests, such as our projects and the publishing of short articles in our Newsletters or even on line. News items will usually be on this page.

Made with Xara

Page last updated 27 May 2022