About AQIVA
AQIVA is a voluntary organisation dedicated to championing the Amphitheatre, Querns Wood and Four Acre Field from which we take our name. Our mission is to maintain and help develop these important community spaces for everyone to enjoy.
AQIVA is open to all who would like to join and is entirely free.
What does AQIVA do?
AQIVA engages in a range of activities, from gardening and conservation, to stewarding and education, As a member, there are a host of roles you can fulfill and activities to take part in. Whether you’re interested in rolling up your sleeves and working the soil, helping at in-person events, contribute to communications or just want to get involved with a local piece of history.
At AQIVA you’ll find a diverse group of people who share a love of history, conservation and community.

Caring for green spaces
AQIVA work in co-ordination with Cirencester Town Council to provide ideas and able bodies to work on improving the green spaces.
In summer 2021, members of AQIVA planted native hedges along the eastern boundary of Four Acre Field (pictured). These hedges provide important habits for insects and birds.
Our mission
Our aim, in the broadest possible sense, is to be involved in the promotion, development and protection of the complex, focussing in different ways, as appropriate, on history, heritage, health, leisure, education and the environment, with something for all ages.
With a combination of projects, events and activities, we have a series of short, medium and longer term objectives, some simple, some considerably more ambitious. We hope that we can be part of creating a legacy that will bring enjoyment and benefits to local residents, as well as the town as a whole, for many years to come.
Dig parties
The wide beds that shepherd visitors past the Obelisk and on toward the Amphitheatre need a lot of maintenance.
AQIVA arrange dig parties throughout spring, summer and early autumn to tend the beds, removing weeds and planting new plants.


Public events
This September we’re welcoming back The Ermin Street Guard for the first time since 2019. Join us on Sunday 18th September for a wonderful show of Roman military culture, including a working trebuchet that hurled more than one watermelon into the woods.
How do I join AQIVA?
You can join AQIVA simply by completing the form below or sending us an email.
Keep up to date with our newsletter
Find out all about our events and activities past, present and future in our quarterly AQIVA newsletter.
AQIVA Newsletter: Spring – Summer 2018
Spring – Summer 2018 Our last newsletter started with the focus very much on rain, snow and mud. It doesn’t seem that long ago but, currently, the brown grass and dust do remind us of the vagaries of the British climate. By the way, our thanks to the Chesterton...
AQIVA Newsletter: Winter 2017-18
Mud, mud, glorious mud Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood So follow me, follow, down to the hollow And there let me wallow in glorious mud You may recognise that as the chorus of the hippopotamus song by Flanders and Swann. Some of us prefer to think of it as...
AQIVA Newsletter: Autum 2017
Autumn 2017 Up until now, we have issued newsletters roughly every quarter since we started, but, for a variety of reasons, we will have only managed three this year (but hopefully back to normal in 2018). This does mean that much of the content of this newsletter...