Dorchester's splendid setting and strategic position on the River Thame, near its junction with the Thames and overlooked by the Sinodun Hills, has attracted man to settle here for thousands of years. There is ample evidence to reveal continuous settlement since around 2,500 BC. Castle Hill, an Iron Age hill fort topping one of the Sinodun Hills, is located nearby and there is also an Iron Age settlement defended by the Dyke Hills on one side and by rivers on the other sides, all easily reached by country paths.
The village itself lies over the old Romano-British walled town situated on the Roman road of Silchester to Alchester. In 635 AD Bishop Birinus, sent to England by Pope Honorius 1, converted Cynegils, King of the West Saxons, to Christianity and he built the first wooden church here in Dorchester, possibly on the site of a Roman temple. The Norman's' fine stone cathedral replaced the Saxon one and in 1140 a Monastery of Augustinian Canons was founded here. The cruciform church was magnificently enlarged over the next two centuries culminating in the extension of the chancel in 1340.
The Monastery was dissolved by Henry VIII but the glorious Abbey was saved as also was the Guest House, which later became a boys' Grammar School and now houses the famous Abbey Tea Room and Dorchester Museum. Today the Abbey has its own website at www.dorchester-abbey.org.uk.
Dorchester was an important stagecoach stop on the London to Oxford highway and there remain two notable coaching inns, The George and The White Hart. There are several pubs and antique shops and local shopping including a post office. Many pleasant walks in and around the village feature thatched cottages and the Hurst Water Meadow (www.hurst-water-meadow.co.uk), which is the local Nature Reserve. With an ample supply of overnight mooring places, it is also an excellent stopping off point for visitors enjoying a boating holiday on the Thames.
For further information see the Parish Council's Website
