Up here at the Amphitheatre it always strikes me how strange it must have been to live Cirencester immediately after the Roman period, the small population camped out among the ruins of the great town. How long did memory persist?
According to Beecham:
"The Cirencester Amphitheatre is locally known as the Bull Ring, from the disgraceful custom of bull-baiting in "the good old times". In recent years the Primitive Methodists have held Camp Meetings on its banks, and about 1742 the celebrated George Whitfield preached here to a large assemblage."
Samuel Rudder in the 18th century was the first writer to identify the site correctly as a Roman amphitheatre.
It especially intrigued me to learn that for many years the site was the Abbot of Cirencester's rabbit warren; I'd never even though about managing rabbits, though I suppose it must have been a widespread Medieval practice.
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From the Introduction to Romano-British Cemeteries at Cirencester (1982 Excavation Report):
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| A View of the Amphitheatre (with train), from Buckman' s Illustrations of the Remains of Roman Art (1850) |