Picture postcard view of Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, Great Britain.
Dorchester-on-Thames is a picturesque village and civil parish on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, about 3 miles (5 km) northwest of Wallingford and 8 miles (13 km) southeast of Oxford. Despite its name, Dorchester is not directly on the River Thames. Dorchester was settled long before the Romans made their camp or 'castra' here. There is evidence of Neolithic settlements; Iron Age farmers worked the land, retreating to their hill fort on Castle Hill when danger Celtic people enclosed their settlement by building the Dyke Hills and ditches, a rare example of a pre-Roman town, situated between the present village and the day Dorchester has grown up over the old Roman-British walled town; it later became a Saxon settlement and a stronghold for Christianity. Cynegils, the king of the West Saxons, was baptised in the River Thames by St Birinus in 635 and Dorchester became the episcopal centre for 1140 Dorchester's Augustinian monastery was founded and the Abbey was built on the old Saxon foundation. At the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries, under Henry VIII, the church building was saved because a local man, Richard Beauforest, purchased it for £140, bequeathing it to the village in his will.
Size: 3500px × 5251px
Location: High Street, Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, Great Britain, UK
Photo credit: © Mieneke Andeweg-van Rijn / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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