I always felt this solitary column base was a bit of a miserable effort to commemorate the past splendours of Roman Cirencester. However, I find it has its own little history....
According to David Viner, the column base was placed here in 1962, at the time of the new Forum development. A local company, Mycalex Ltd, was responsible for its installation. It was intended as "a symbol of the importance of the Roman town within the layout of this new central area of Cirencester, which is fittingly (if slightly inaccurately) called the Forum".
During the War and in the decades after, Mycalex owned a vast site between Ashcroft Road and Castle Street (where Tesco's and the Brewery car park are now). Not quite sure what they made - some sort of plastics, I think.
See CAHS Newsletter 2013.
The column base itself comes from the Ashcroft Site, excavated in 1961 when Mycalex were building a new factory.
It is easier to find out about the Roman house than the 1960s factory:
