Dorchester on Thames

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2009)

Coordinates: 51°38′37″N 1°09′57″W / 51.6435°N 1.1657°W / 51.6435; -1.1657

Dorchester-on-Thames
Dorchester with the abbey tower in the background
Dorchester-on-Thames  Dorchester-on-Thames shown within Oxfordshire
OS grid reference	SU5794
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
List of places: UK • England • Oxfordshire

Dorchester-on-Thames is a village on the River Thame in Oxfordshire, England, 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.

History

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.

One vicar of Dorchester, Rev. John White (1575-1648), was a Puritan nick-named the "Patriarch of Dorchester". He was instrumental in founding the New England colony of Massachusetts.^[1]

Amenities

Dorchester Abbey^[2] is both the village's Church of England parish church and its main tourist attraction. The Abbey has a museum.

Festivals and events

Dorchester on Thames is the home of a number of annual events:

• The Dorchester on Thames Festival
• The English Music Festival

Nearby is Day's Lock on the Thames, where the annual World Poohsticks Championship is held.

Notable people from Dorchester

• Jonty Hearnden - antiques expert and television presenter
• Mark Wright - footballer and former England captain
• Tom Penny - professional skateboarder

Sources

• Lobel, Mary D (1957). Victoria County History: A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 5: Bullingdon Hundred. pp. 56-76. 
• Lobel, Mary D. (ed.) (1962). Victoria County History: A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 7: Thame and Dorchester Hundreds. pp. 39-64. 
• Pevsner, Nikolaus; Sherwood, Jennifer (1974). The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire. Harmondsworth: Penguin. pp. 576-586. ISBN 0 14 071045 0. 
• Tiller, Kate (ed.) (2005). Dorchester Abbey: Church and People 635–2005. Stonesfield Press. ISBN 0-9527126-4-4. 

References

v • d • e The District of South Oxfordshire Oxfordshire • County Council elections • District Council elections • Henley County Constituency • Wantage County Constituency Towns Didcot • Henley-on-Thames • Thame (Moreton) • Wallingford • Watlington (Christmas Common, Northend) Large Villages Benson (Preston Crowmarsh) • Berinsfield • Brightwell-cum-Sotwell • Chalgrove • Chinnor (Emmington, Henton, Oakley) • Cholsey (Winterbrook) • Crowmarsh (Crowmarsh Gifford, North Stoke, Mongewell, Newnham Murren) • Ewelme • Garsington • Goring-on-Thames • Great Milton • Horspath (Bullingdon Green) • Sandford-on-Thames • Shiplake (Lower Shiplake) • Sonning Common • Wheatley • Woodcote Other Civil Parishes (Component Villages and Hamlets) Adwell • Aston Rowant • Aston Tirrold • Aston Upthorpe • Beckley and Stowood (Beckley, Stowood) • Berrick Salome (Berrick Prior, Roke, Rokemarsh) • Binfield Heath • Bix and Assendon (Bix, Bix Bottom, Lower Assendon, Middle Assendon) • Brightwell Baldwin • Britwell Salome • Checkendon • Clifton Hampden (Burcot) • Crowell • Cuddesdon and Denton (Cuddesdon, Denton) • Culham • Cuxham with Easington (Cuxham, Easington) • Dorchester • Drayton St. Leonard • East Hagbourne (Coscote) • Elsfield • Eye and Dunsden (Sonning Eye, Dunsden Green, Playhatch) • Forest Hill with Shotover (Forest Hill, Shotover) • Goring Heath (Whitchurch Hill, Cray's Pond) • Great Haseley (Latchford, Little Haseley, North Weston, Rycote) • Harpsden • Highmoor • Holton • Ipsden • Kidmore End (Gallowstree Common) • Lewknor (Postcombe, South Weston) • Little Milton • Little Wittenham • Long Wittenham • Mapledurham (Trench Green, Chazey Heath) • Marsh Baldon (Baldon Row) • Moulsford • Nettlebed • Newington (Great Holcombe) • North Moreton • Nuffield • Nuneham Courtenay • Pishill with Stonor (Pishill, Stonor, Russell's Water) • Pyrton • Rotherfield Greys • Rotherfield Peppard • Shirburn • South Moreton (Fulscot) • South Stoke (Littlestoke) • Stadhampton (Chiselhampton, Brookhampton, Ascott) • Stanton St. John (Woodperry) • Stoke Row • Stoke Talmage • Swyncombe • Sydenham (Kingston Stert) • Tetsworth • Tiddington-with-Albury (Tiddington, Albury) • Toot Baldon • Towersey • Warborough (Shillingford) • Waterstock • West Hagbourne • Wheatfield • Whitchurch-on-Thames • Woodeaton • Waterperry with Thomley (Waterperry, Thomley) Former Districts and Boroughs Bullingdon Rural District • Municipal Borough of Henley-on-Thames • Henley Rural District • Thame Urban District • Municipal Borough of Wallingford • Wallingford Rural District Crowmarsh Rural District • Culham Rural District • Goring Rural District • Headington Rural District • Thame Rural District Former Constituencies Oxfordshire County Constituency • Wallingford Borough Constituency • Abingdon Borough Constituency • Berkshire North or Abingdon County Constituency • Abingdon County Constituency List of Parliamentary constituencies in Oxfordshire • List of places in Oxfordshire • List of civil parishes in Oxfordshire