About
Corinium Museum houses one of the finest collections of Romano-British antiquities in Britain, telling the story of Cirencester — known to the Romans as Corinium Dobunnorum — which was the second largest town in Roman Britain after London and one of the most important centres of Roman civilisation in the western provinces of the Empire. Located in the heart of modern Cirencester, the capital of the Cotswolds, the museum provides an essential introduction to the rich archaeological heritage that lies beneath the streets and fields of this handsome market town.
The museum's Roman collections are outstanding by any standard, featuring some of the finest mosaic floors to survive from Roman Britain. The Hunting Dogs mosaic, the Hare mosaic, and the Seasons mosaic are among the masterpieces of Romano-British decorative art, their intricate geometric patterns and figurative scenes demonstrating the wealth and sophistication of Corinium's Roman inhabitants. These mosaic floors, excavated from the town houses and villas that once lined the streets of Corinium, are displayed at floor level where possible, allowing visitors to appreciate them as they were originally intended to be seen — as the decorated floors of elegant rooms in which wealthy Romano-British families lived, entertained, and displayed their cultural sophistication.
Beyond the mosaics, the museum's Roman collections include sculpture, inscriptions, pottery, jewellery, coins, metalwork, and everyday objects that build a detailed picture of life in one of Roman Britain's most prosperous towns. Corinium was the tribal capital of the Dobunni — the native British tribe who inhabited the Cotswolds before and during the Roman occupation — and became a major administrative and commercial centre with a forum, basilica, amphitheatre, and the full range of public buildings expected in a significant Roman town. The museum explores how Roman urban life was transplanted to the Cotswold landscape and how native British and Roman cultures gradually fused into the distinctive Romano-British civilisation documented in the archaeological record.
The museum's collections extend well beyond the Roman period, tracing Cirencester's history from the prehistoric landscape of the Cotswolds through the Saxon period — when the town was a royal estate and the site of important early battles between Saxons and Britons — the medieval wool trade that made Cirencester one of the wealthiest towns in England, and the Georgian and Victorian periods that shaped the elegant townscape visible today.
The Cotswold galleries explore the wider landscape and history of the region, from the Neolithic long barrows and Bronze Age burial mounds that dot the Cotswold hills to the medieval wool churches and the great country houses and estates that have shaped the character of this quintessentially English landscape. The museum provides the historical context that transforms a visit to the Cotswolds from a scenic experience into an encounter with thousands of years of human history.
Recent gallery refurbishments have introduced interactive displays, digital reconstructions, and improved interpretation that make the museum's outstanding collections accessible to visitors of all ages, while maintaining the scholarly rigour that has earned Corinium Museum its reputation as one of the finest provincial museums in England.
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Highlights
The Roman Mosaic Floors
Corinium Museum's collection of Roman mosaic floors is one of the finest in Britain and the undisputed highlight of the museum. The Hunting Dogs mosaic, featuring lively depictions of hounds pursuing hares across a geometric field, the Hare mosaic with its charming central medallion, and the Seasons mosaic with personifications of the four seasons surrounding a central figure are masterpieces of Romano-British decorative art.
Excavated from the town houses and villas of Roman Corinium, these mosaics demonstrate the wealth and cultural sophistication of the town's elite inhabitants and the skill of the mosaicists who created them.
The museum displays them at floor level wherever possible, allowing visitors to appreciate them as the decorated floors of elegant rooms.
Corinium — Second City of Roman Britain
Cirencester was Corinium Dobunnorum — the tribal capital of the Dobunni and, by the second century AD, the second largest town in Roman Britain after London. The museum traces the development of this major Roman town from a military fort established in the years after the Claudian invasion of AD 43 through its growth into a prosperous civilian settlement with a forum, basilica, amphitheatre, public baths, and the full range of urban amenities.
Sculpture, inscriptions, architectural fragments, and everyday objects recovered from excavations build a detailed and vivid picture of life in one of the most important towns in the Roman province of Britannia.
Roman Sculpture and Inscriptions
The museum's collection of Roman sculpture includes some of the most important pieces found in Britain, including carved stone reliefs, columns, capitals, and inscriptions that reveal the religious beliefs, civic pride, and personal aspirations of Corinium's inhabitants.
Funerary monuments and tombstones provide poignant personal details — names, occupations, ages, and family relationships — while dedications to Roman and native gods illustrate the complex religious landscape of a Romano-British town where classical Roman religion coexisted and merged with pre-existing Celtic beliefs.
The sculptural quality of many pieces suggests that Corinium was home to skilled stone carvers whose work ranks among the finest produced in Roman Britain.
The Cotswold Prehistoric Landscape
The museum's prehistoric galleries explore the rich archaeological landscape of the Cotswolds, from the Neolithic long barrows that crown the hilltops — among the oldest monumental structures in Britain, built over five thousand years ago — through Bronze Age burial mounds, Iron Age hillforts, and the farmsteads and field systems that document the continuous occupation of the Cotswold landscape over millennia.
Finds from excavations at sites across the region include pottery, flint tools, bronze implements, and human remains that tell the story of the communities who shaped this landscape long before the Romans arrived.
Collections
Roman Corinium
The museum's principal gallery, displaying the outstanding collection of Romano-British antiquities from Cirencester and the surrounding area — mosaics, sculpture, inscriptions, pottery, jewellery, and everyday objects that document life in the second largest town in Roman Britain.
The Cotswolds Through Time
Galleries tracing the history and archaeology of the Cotswolds from the Neolithic period through the Bronze and Iron Ages, the Roman period, Saxon settlement, the medieval wool trade, and the development of the distinctive Cotswold landscape and architecture visible today.
Interactive Discovery Gallery
A hands-on gallery designed for families and younger visitors, with interactive displays, handling objects, and activities that bring Roman and Cotswold history to life through direct engagement and exploration.
Current Exhibitions
A temporary exhibition using recent archaeological discoveries and new research to explore daily life in the houses, workshops, and streets of Roman Cirencester — bringing the human stories behind the archaeological evidence to life.