- Dorchester on Thames
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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
Dorchester-on-Thames
Dorchester-on-Thames shown within OxfordshirePopulation 992 (2001 census)[1] 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 Henley 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
History
The area has been inhabited since at least the Neolithic. 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 vicus[2] here, with a road linking the town to a military camp at Alchester, 16 miles (25 km) to the north.[3] The settlement's Roman name is unclear; back-formations from Bede's Dorcic are unsupported.[4]
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; the diocese was extremely large, and covered most of Wessex and Mercia. The settled nature of the bishopric made Dorchester in a broad sense the de facto capital of Wessex, which was later to become the dominant kingdom in England; 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 parish church.
Amenities
Dorchester Abbey[5] is both the village's Church of England parish church and its main tourist attraction. The Abbey has a museum.
Of the ten original coaching inns, two remain - The George and The White Hart.
Festivals and events
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.
Notable people from Dorchester
- Jonty Hearnden - antiques expert and television presenter
- Mark Wright - footballer and former England captain
- Tom Penny - professional skateboarder
References
- ^ "Area: Dorchester CP (Parish): Parish Headcounts". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=7&b=798643&c=Dorchester&d=16&e=15&g=480731&i=1001x1003x1004&o=1&m=0&r=1&s=1268757671927&enc=1&dsFamilyId=779. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
- ^ "No definite public or administrative buildings have yet been excavated" note Barry C. Burnham and J. S. Wacher, The Small Towns of Roman Britain 1990: "Dorchester on Thames"p. 337.
- ^ Romano-British Town: Dorchester on Thames, Oxfordshire
- ^ Barry C. Burnham and J. S. Wacher, The Small Towns of Roman Britain "Dorchester on Thames"
- ^ Dorchester Abbey
Sources
- Aston, Michael; Bond, James (1976). The Landscape of Towns. Archaeology in the Field Series. London: J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd. pp. 47, 52, 61, 62, 64. ISBN 0 460 04194 0.
- Lobel, Mary D, ed (1962). A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 7: Thame and Dorchester Hundreds. Victoria County History. pp. 39–64. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=63767.
- Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). Oxfordshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. 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.
Links
Categories:- Villages in Oxfordshire
- Populated places on the River Thames
- Hill forts in Oxfordshire
- Civil parishes in Oxfordshire
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