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= SU578941

Dorchester-on-Thames is a village on the Thames in Oxfordshire, England. It is at the confluence of the River Thames with its tributary the River Thame. Correctly, the Thames is 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.

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.

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 a bishop called Birinus to convert the Saxons of the Thames Valley to Christianity. King Cynegils of Wessex gave Dorchester to Birinus to make it 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 its status.

Dorchester Abbey is both the village's parish church and its main tourist attraction. 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 has a museum.

Nearby is Day's Lock on the Thames, where the annual World Poohsticks 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 captain

Further 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]