- Dorchester, Oxfordshire
infobox UK place
country = England
latitude= 51.6435
longitude= -1.1657
official_name= Dorchester-on-Thames
population=
civil_parish= Dorchester
shire_district=South Oxfordshire
shire_county =Oxfordshire
region= South East England
constituency_westminster= Wantage
post_town= WALLINGFORD
postcode_district = OX10
postcode_area= OX
dial_code= 01865
os_grid_reference= SU578941Dorchester-on-Thames is a
village on the Thames inOxfordshire ,England . It is at the confluence of theRiver Thames with itstributary theRiver Thame . Correctly, the Thames is only so-named downstream of the village; upstream it is named the Isis, andOrdnance 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 ofOxford .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 theBronze Age andIron Age . Two of the Sinodun hills bear distinctive landmarks of mature trees calledWittenham Clumps .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 the 634
Pope Honorius I sent abishop calledBirinus to convert theSaxons of theThames Valley toChristianity . KingCynegils of Wessex gave Dorchester toBirinus to make it the seat of a newDiocese of Dorchester under a Bishop of Dorchester, which was extremely large, and covered most ofWessex andMercia . Dorchester became the de-facto capital of Wessex, which was later to become the dominant kingdom in England, but eventually Winchester displaced its status.Dorchester Abbey is both the village'sparish church and its maintourist attraction. In the 12th century the church was enlarged to serve a community of Augustinian canons. King Henry VIII dissolved theAbbey in 1536, leaving the small village with a huge church.Dorchester Abbey has amuseum .Nearby is
Day's Lock on the Thames, where the annual WorldPoohsticks Championship is held.Position: gbmapping|SU579943
Nearby towns and cities:
Didcot ,Wallingford , Abingdon,Oxford Nearby villages:
Berinsfield ,Burcot ,Little Wittenham ,Long Wittenham ,Shillingford ,Warborough Notable people from Dorchester
*
Jonty Hearnden - antiques expert and television presenter
* Mark Wright footballer and former England captainFurther reading
* Kate Tiller (ed.), "Dorchester Abbey: Church and People 635–2005" (Stonesfield Press 2005). ISBN 0-9527126-4-4.
External links
* [http://www.dorchester-abbey.org.uk Dorchester Abbey web site]
* [http://gallery.beautifulengland.net/main.php?g2_itemId=12267 Information and photographs of Dorchester-on-Thames]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.