Coordinates: 51°38′38″N 1°09′58″W / 51.644°N 1.166°W
| Dorchester-on-Thames | |
 Dorchester with the abbey tower in the background |
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  Dorchester-on-Thames
Dorchester-on-Thames shown within Oxfordshire |
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| Population | 992 (2001 census)[1] |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | |
| Parish | Dorchester |
| District | South Oxfordshire |
| Shire county | Oxfordshire |
| Region | South East |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Wallingford |
| Postcode district | OX10 |
| Dialling code | 01865 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Oxfordshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | Wantage |
| Website | Dorchester on Thames |
| List of places: UK • England • Oxfordshire | |
Dorchester-on-Thames is a village and civil parish on the River Thame in Oxfordshire, about 3 miles (4.8 km) northwest of Wallingford and 8 miles (13 km) southeast of Oxford. Dorchester is just above the Thame's confluence with the River Thames. Historically the Thames was only so-named downstream of the village; upstream it is named the Isis, and Ordnance Survey maps continue to label the river as "River Thames or Isis" until Dorchester. Practically, however, this distinction is rarely used outside of the City of Oxford.
Contents |
The area has been inhabited since early times. In the north of the parish there was a Neolithic sacred site, now largely destroyed by gravel pits. On one of the Sinodun hills on the opposite side of the River Thames, a ramparted settlement was inhabited during the Bronze Age and Iron Age. Two of the Sinodun hills bear distinctive landmarks of mature trees called Wittenham Clumps. Adjacent to the village are Dyke Hills which are also the remains of an Iron Age hill fort.
Dorchester's position on the navigable Thames and bounded on three sides by water made it strategic for both communications and defence. The Romans built a town here, with a road linking the town to a military camp at Alchester, 16 miles (25 km) to the north.
In 634 Pope Honorius I sent a bishop called Birinus to convert the Saxons of the Thames Valley to Christianity. King Cynegils of Wessex gave Dorchester to Birinus as the seat of a new Diocese of Dorchester under a Bishop of Dorchester, which was extremely large, and covered most of Wessex and Mercia. Dorchester became the de facto capital of Wessex, which was later to become the dominant kingdom in England, but eventually Winchester displaced it.
In the 12th century the church was enlarged to serve a community of Augustinian canons. King Henry VIII dissolved the Abbey in 1536, leaving the small village with a huge church.
Dorchester Abbey[2] is both the village's Church of England parish church and its main tourist attraction. The Abbey has a museum.
Dorchester on Thames is the home of a number of annual events:
Nearby is Day's Lock on the Thames, where the annual World Poohsticks Championship is held.
| Dorchester-on-Thames | |
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| OS grid reference | |
|---|---|
| Parish | Dorchester |
| District | South Oxfordshire |
| Shire county | Oxfordshire |
| Region | South East |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | WALLINGFORD |
| Postcode district | OX10 |
| Dialling code | 01865 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Oxfordshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| European Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | Wantage |
| List of places: UK • England • Oxfordshire | |
Dorchester-on-Thames is a village on the River Thame in Oxfordshire, about 3 miles (4.8 km) northwest of Wallingford and 8 miles (13 km) southeast of Oxford. Dorchester is just above the Thame's confluence with the River Thames. Historically the Thames was only so-named downstream of the village; upstream it is named the Isis, and Ordnance Survey maps continue to label the river as "River Thames or Isis" until Dorchester. Practically, however, this distinction is rarely used outside of the City of Oxford.
Contents |
The area has been inhabited since early times. On one of the Sinodun hills on the opposite side of the River Thames, a ramparted settlement was inhabited during the Bronze Age and Iron Age. Two of the Sinodun hills bear distinctive landmarks of mature trees called Wittenham Clumps. Adjacent to the village are Dyke Hills which are also the remains of an Iron Age hill fort.
Dorchester's position on the navigable Thames and bounded on three sides by water made it strategic for both communications and defence. The Romans built a town here, with a road linking the town to a military camp at Alchester, 16 miles (25 km) to the north.
In 634 Pope Honorius I sent a bishop called Birinus to convert the Saxons of the Thames Valley to Christianity. King Cynegils of Wessex gave Dorchester to Birinus as the seat of a new Diocese of Dorchester under a Bishop of Dorchester, which was extremely large, and covered most of Wessex and Mercia. Dorchester became the de-facto capital of Wessex, which was later to become the dominant kingdom in England, but eventually Winchester displaced it.
In the 12th century the church was enlarged to serve a community of Augustinian canons. King Henry VIII dissolved the Abbey in 1536, leaving the small village with a huge church.
Dorchester Abbey is both the village's parish church and its main tourist attraction. The Abbey has a museum.
Nearby is Day's Lock on the Thames, where the annual World Poohsticks Championship is held.
Nearby towns and cities: Didcot, Wallingford, Abingdon, Oxford
Nearby villages: Berinsfield, Burcot, Little Wittenham, Long Wittenham, Shillingford, Warborough
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DORCHESTER, a large village in the south parliamentary division of Oxfordshire, England, 9 m. S.S.E. of Oxford by road, on the river Thame, 1 m. from its junction with the Thames. This is a site of much historical interest. There was a Roman station near the present village, facing, across the Thames, the double isolated mound known as Wittenham Hills (historically Sinodun), on one summit of which are strong early earthworks. In Dorchester itself the chief point of interest is the abbey church of St Peter and St Paul. This consists of a nave of great length, primarily of the transitional Norman period; a choir with arcades of the finest Decorated work; north choir aisle of the close of the 13th century, south choir aisle (c. 1300) and south nave aisle (c. 1320). The tower (western) is an erection of the late 17th century. The eastern bay of the choir is considered to have been added as a Lady chapel, and the north window is a magnificent example of a "Jesse window," in which the tracery represents the genealogical tree of Jesse, the complete execution of the design being carried on in the glass. The sedilia and piscina are very fine. The Decorated windows on the south side of the church form a beautiful series, and there are monuments and brasses of great interest.
Dorchester (Dorcinia, Dornacestre, Dorchecestre) was conquered by the West Saxons about 560. It occupied a commanding position at the junction of the Thames and the Thame, and in 635 was made the seat of a bishopric which at its foundation was the largest in England, comprising the whole of Wessex and Mercia. The witenagemot of Wessex was held at Dorchester three times in the 9th century, and in 958 lEthelstan held a council here. In the 11th century, however, the town is described as small and ill-peopled and remarkable only for the majesty of its churches, and in about 1086 William I. and Bishop Remigius removed the bishop's stool to Lincoln, as a city more worthy of the distinction. According to the Domesday Survey Dorchester was held by the bishop of Lincoln; it was assessed at loo hides and comprised two mills. In 1140 Alexander bishop of Lincoln founded an abbey of Black Canons at Dorchester, but the town declined in importance after the removal of the cathedral, and is described by 16th-century writers as a mere agricultural village and destitute of trade.
See Victoria County History, Oxfordshire; Henry Addington, Some Account of the Abbey Church of St Peter and St Paul at Dorchester, Oxfordshire, reissue with additional notes (Oxford, 1860).
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   | Dorchester Abbey web site - Welcome | Dorchester Abbey, near Oxford, UK |
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