St. John Baptist Parish Church, Cirencester

Cirencester is the largest town in the Cotwalds, and, though beautiful, is not one of the pretty little villages one associates with the region. But its parish church, another former abbey church, is the largest around and is sometimes referred to as the cathedral of the Cotswolds. We had planned a three church/town day, so got to Cirencester quite early. So early in fact we had to break our visit into two parts, to accommodate the three parishioners and vicar doing the 10AM mass. This turned out to be a good thing, as will be related anon. St. John the Baptist Cirencester dates from the 12th century, its chancel and St. Catherine chapel being the oldest bits, with the nave coming somewhat later and rebuilt twice by the 16th century. The south porch was originally part of the abbey, later the town hall, before being joined to the church in the 18th century. The style is mostly Perpendicular, with fan vaulting in both St. Catherine's chapel and the south porch. According to Sir Simon's ratings, it is a 5-banger, top shelf.

From the southwest, the great south porch in view

Over the south porch portal; a good start, I thought;
perhaps a Maori doing a haka?

Inside the porch, fan vaulting already

Nave view

Elevation and ceiling

Closer up of chancel, with its characteristic Cotswold
arch and windows

In our experience, only the biggies have their own Lego models;
this is definitely a biggie

We were just getting to the fan-vaulted St. Catherine's

chapel when the service began and we exited to see a

bit of the town's main street

When we returned, the mass was over, the parishioners gone, and
the young organist had begun practicing...we've had this experience
many times, our visit to a church or cathedral accompanied by organ
or choir, or even a symphony and chorus in rehearsal...but this was
special, because, well, it was almost Jubilee week, and among the
pieces played was Walton's 1937 Crown Imperial coronation march, one
of the more stirring examples of the genre; a recent arrangement for
organ is here; and the original symphonic version, in a performance
conducted by Walton himself is here; the latter features a touching
balcony photograph of the Royal family, with an 11-year-old Elizabeth
looking excitedly to her father, George VI

The pulpit is pre-Reformation; the hourglass 
above it to the left runs for 57 minutes...sermons
were long in those day

Back now in St. Catherine's chapel, with its fan
vaulting

Fresco fragment, St. Christopher carrying Baby J

I counted four organs in this church; this is one of
the older ones

East window; original lost, fragments from 14th
century

In the quire

St. John Baptist is famous for its many lavish tombs and memorials;
this one noteworthy, we thought, since the lady is wearing a bonnet

More poetry/sculpture; click to enlarge

Up high near the ceiling, the cat, the rat, and the hog

Up high you can see the former nave roof line

Thus; the nave was enlarged in the early 1500s

The Boleyn Cup; given by Anne to her daughter
Elizabeth, who gave it to a Dr. Masters, who treated
members of her court on her several visits to the
Cotswolds; and then to the church