TO celebrate its 900th anniversary, Cirencester Abbey is to be rebuilt brick by brick – as a 70,000 piece LEGO® model.

It is just one of the many schemes that are part of the town’s Abbey 900 festival, with the big build to begin at 10am on Tuesday at Cirencester Parish Church in time for completion by the end of the year.

The festival officially kicked off when the Bishop of Gloucester, the Rt Revd Rachel Treweek, planted a tree at the Abbey Grounds on February 22.

Bishop Rachel, who is patron of the festival, was then presented with a LEGO® tree to plant in the grounds of the model abbey.

A commemorative quilt created by five schools in the town – Powell’s Primary, Cirencester Primary, Chesterton Primary, North Cerney Primary and Deer Park School – was also presented to the Bishop on the day.

Other events to come include Plantagenet and Regia Anglorum re-enactments, a May Day and Fleece Fair, a medieval banquet, concerts and local school and college events.

But it is the LEGO® model that is proving the most popular draw. Donations can be made by the public for individual bricks or for set lots to help put the 1:48 scale structure together.

It is intended that schools and businesses will take modules of the building as projects.

The model has taken official LEGO® modelling company, Bright Bricks, over 200 hours to make and 120 hours to complete all of the instructions.

There are 86,400 seconds in a day and if someone were to lay a brick every second then it would be possible to start the model at 6am in the morning and finish it at around 2am the next day.

The nave window alone is made up of over 700 bricks.

The model has been made by David Fautley, master builder with Bright Bricks.

“If one person was to build the model all by him or herself for two hours every week, then it would take about two years to complete,” he said.

“The plan is to have the Abbey completed by the end of the festival,” said Corinne Lamus, the chair of the Abbey 900 steering group.

"We have a group of exceptional volunteers helping with this part of the project, especially Barbara and William Cooper, who have co-ordinated it all to date.”

The model was designed by 20-year-old Oxford Brookes student Amy Speed, with her 3D drawings having been on display at the parish church for a short period of time last September.

“It is a magnificent project and something that will involve the whole of Cirencester,” said Corinne.

“It doesn’t matter if you are young or old you can have a brick for £1 and place it on the model then watch it grow over time.”

“It is incredible to hear that if all the LEGO bricks were laid one against another then they would stretch out over 400m, which is at least one entire lap of an Olympic running track,” she added.

The model aims to show what The Abbey would have looked like in all its glory before it was demolished in the Dissolution nearly 500 years ago.

The Abbey of St Mary stood beside the town’s Parish Church in the present day Abbey Grounds and was an important seat of learning and had vast lands supporting flocks of sheep that brought great wealth to the abbey and the town.

The founding of Cirencester’s Abbey is traditionally considered to mark the beginning of the cultural and economic success of the town.

Jonathan Davies, of Cirencester Community Development Trust (CCDT), a key supporter of the festival, said: “Abbey 900 will be great for Cirencester and the plans show there will be something for everyone.

“The group behind the project has worked tirelessly on this and they should be very proud, as are we at CCDT Ltd, and this is why we are supporting the project.”

LEGO® bricks can be purchased from the following Cirencester businesses:

  • The Loaded Grill (Castle Street)
  • Prints & Threads (Ashcroft Rd)
  • Crocodile Toyshop (also selling online)
  • Boutique 3 (Blackjack St)
  • CB Slade (estate agents Castle St)
  • D and J Sports (Cricklade St)
  • Moore Allen (estate agents Castle St)
  • AGA shop (Castle St)
  • Sydney Free Saddlery (Querns Lane)
  • M.A.D.E. (Silver St)
  • Jacks Cafe (Blackjack St)
  • Cirencester Antiques Market (Market Place)
  • The Corinium Museum

For more information about Abbey 900, visit abbey900ciren.org, email: abbey900ciren@gmail.com or telephone 01285 644244.