CRICKLADE

town (parish), North Wiltshire district, administrative and historic county of Wiltshire, England. Cricklade lies at the head of navigation of the upper Thames, at the point where the river intersected Ermine Street, a Roman road linking Silchester and Cirencester. A Roman fort was established there as a reconnaissance centre in 69 CE. Cricklade was created a borough by the Saxon king Alfred the Great in 871, and by the early 10th century it was sufficiently important to have a mint. Henry II granted the borough a charter in 1155, and Henry III (reigned 121672) founded a hospital and granted a weekly market and three-day fair. During the 14th century the town formed part of the dowry of the queens of England. St. Sampson's Church, on the site of a 9th-century Saxon building, dates from the 12th to the 16th century. Local industries include a glove factory, hand pottery, and a creamery and canning factory situated outside the town. Pop. (1991) 3,808.