Dorchester, Oxfordshire

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For other uses, see Dorchester (disambiguation).

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.

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 Abbey [1] 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: grid reference SU579943

Nearby towns and cities: Didcot, Wallingford, Abingdon, Oxford

Nearby villages: Berinsfield, Burcot, Little Wittenham, Long Wittenham, Shillingford, Warborough