At the foot of Cecily Hill, Cirencester's most elegant residential street, stand the Tontine Buildings of 1802. They are apparently so called because Lord Bathurst won them in a Tontine. Now illegal, this was a winner-takes-all financial scheme where the winner was the last participant to die. Of 23 bays, this long building is draped with flowers in summer. On the outside, it looks little changed with the original carriage arch still in place.
