From: Cirencester Town and Landscape
p.130:
Leland wrote that "the town standeth by clothing" - well placed to benefit from wool manufacture. Clothiers bought raw will and paid for the spinning, weaving and finishing processes, before selling and exporting the finished cloth. The wealth of prosperous clothiers such as Philip Marner (d.1587) commemorated by a brass in the parish church, is reflected in the houses of Coxwell Street and Gloucester Street, often with warehouse storage attached.
A manuscript by John Smith of Nibley in 1608 listing all able-bodied men capable of serving in the militia, provides information on occupations. Over 18% were engaged in the woollen trade, including five clothiers, 40 weavers and 14 tailors. Trades listed included clothier, weaver, cardmaker, dyer, tucker, glover, draper and tailor, with leather and related trades represented by shoemaker, currier, sadler and tanner.
The Parish Church: There are memorial brasses to the wool marchents Reginald Spycer (1442), Philip Marner (1587), Richard Dixton (1438) and William Prelatte (1462). A wool merchant family named Garstang established a chantry chapel. In the early 1500s, the nave was rebuilt and merchants' marks are depicted to commemorate their contribution.
See: Baddeley p.214
Industrial decline
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=jLMvAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA614&dq=st+johns+hospital+cirencester+carpet&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjjjJTgoIvqAhVDilwKHYbEDS8Q6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=st%20johns%20hospital%20cirencester%20carpet&f=false