Joseph Pitt in Cirencester

Here I am at last in search of the 18th century in Cirencester!  Despite the decline of the traditional woollen industry, the Georgian era was a golden age of enterprise. Fortunes made in industry, the law, or land speculation, and have have left their mark in elegant town houses scattered around the town.

Joseph Pitt (1759-1842) was the founder of the Pittville Pump Room in Cheltenham.  He rose from humble beginnings: the son of a carpenter in Badgeworth, he"used to hold gentlemen's horses for a penny".  However, he established a successful legal practice in Cirencester and  in 1790 became a partner in the bank of Pitt, Bowly and Croome, which by 1826 had branches in Tetbury, Faringdon, Cheltenham and Burford. He built up extensive estates in the area and went on to invest in the development of Cheltenham, where he created the Royal Crescent in 1812 and the Pittville Pump Room in the 1820s.
Biography on History of Parliament online

Joseph Pitt, by William Mulready
The Wilson Gallery, Cheltenham.  ArtUK

There are two buildings in Cirencester associated with Pitt:


Lloyd's Bank Castle Street 

Formerly the bank  of Pitt, Bowly and Croome, founded in 1790.
Grade II* Listed building - of architectural importance as an early example of Palladian Style.

British Listed Buildings - Lloyd's Bank, Castle Street

 [The other early bank in Cirencester was Cripps Bank, which at one time had premises at Bank House, 15 Gosditch Street.]


Dollar Street House 

Joseph Pitt's town house, built in 1725

British Listed Buildings - Dollar Street House, Grade II*

Until recently Dollar Street House belonged to the firm J.Rothchild which became (the ubiquitous) St James's Place Wealth Management. It now looks empty and in a sorry state of decay. In 2018 a correspondent to Standard reported that in October 2012 the property had changed hands for £1.2 million and plans had been drawn up to convert the main building into three houses and possibly two cottages in the rear (currently the old car park).  An Archaeological Watching brief in December 2018 gave the go-ahead (all they found behind the building were some fragments of modern china and a 1970s chocolate wrapper!).  However, if I understand the documents rightly, the planning application has now been withdrawn.  In the Spring, it looked as if they were clearing the car park, but there is no sign of life there now at all.