The Corinium Museum, in the Cotswold town of

Cirencester Cirencester ( , ; see #Pronunciation, below for more variations) is a market town and civil parish in the Cotswold District of Gloucestershire, England. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames. It is the List of ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, has a large collection of objects found in and around the locality. The bulk of the exhibits are from the Roman town of Corinium Dobunnorum, but the museum includes material from across the Cotswold District as early as the

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

and all the way up to

Victorian times In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed th ...

. The original museum in the town was funded and opened by the Bathurst family and opened in 1850. This building still exists on Tetbury road today. When the Cripps and Bathurst private family collections were amalgamated, a new museum was constructed in the grounds of Abberley House. The museum opened in 1938. It was then gifted to Cotswold District Council and re-opened on 26 November 1974 by the

Duke of Gloucester Duke of Gloucester ( ) is a British royal title (after Gloucester), often conferred on one of the sons of the reigning monarch. The first four creations were in the Peerage of England and the last in the Peerage of the United Kingdom; the curre ...

, Further refurbishments took place as part of the 'Corinium Project' in 2002-2004 following a successful Heritage Lottery grant and other funding. The early galleries were redeveloped as a capital project called 'Stone Age to Corinium' in 2018- 2020, following another successful National Lottery Heritage Fund grant with generous donations and other grant funding. The museum has a collection of 2nd to 4th-century Roman

mosaic A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

floors and sculptural carvings, as well extensive displays of Roman objects, large and small. Throughout the museum, there are displays covering prehistory across the Cotswolds, the

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

including objects from the Iron Age hillfort at Bagendon, an Anglo-Saxon gallery which largely profiles the rich objects unearthed at the Anglo-Saxon burial ground at Butler's Field in Lechlade. The medieval gallery explores Cirencester's lost medieval Abbey with the rise of the wool trade featuring prominently in later galleries. Part of the current museum building, which was built in the mid-18th century, was previously a house called Abberley House. It is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

References

External links

Corinium Museum
Museums established in 1938 Archaeological museums in England Grade II* listed buildings in Gloucestershire Museums in Gloucestershire Museums of ancient Rome in the United Kingdom Cirencester {{UK-museum-stub