Dorchester, Oxfordshire

Historical Description

Dorchester, a village and a parish in Oxfordshire. The village stands on the west bank of the river Thame, near its influx to the Thames, 4 miles E by S from Culham station on the G.W.R., and 9 SSE from Oxford, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Walling-ford. It was the Durocina of the Romans, the Dwrceastre of the ancient Britons, and the Dorces-ceastre of the Saxons. A Roman station occupied its site, a Roman road went from it to Alcester via Bicester, and can still be traced both in and near the village; and Roman coins, an altar dedicated to Jupiter, a ring, urns, pavements, and other Roman relics have been found in it. Cynegils, king of the West Saxons, was baptized here by St Birinus, and established a bishopric in 634. It comprised for a time the kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex, underwent divisions and changes in favour of the bishoprics of Lichfield, Worcester, Hereford, Winchester, Salisbury, and Bath and Wells, and was removed in 1092 to Lincoln. Birinus, the founder of the see, Halard, who died in 897, Ascwyn, who died in 995, Ulf the outlaw, Oskytel, who became Archbishop of York, and Ednoth, who founded Charteris Abbey, were among the bishops. The episcopal palace stood at Bishops' Court Farm, and its foundations can still be traced. A witenagemote was held at the village, then a city, in 958 by Athelstan. A priory of Black Canons of the order of Augustine was founded in 1140, by Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, and some remains of this still exist. The abbey church, which is now the parish church, is large, lofty, and spacious, and belongs mainly to the last years of the 13th century, but shows parts and characters ranging from Saxon to Jacobean; consists of a nave of four bays with south aisle, a choir of four bays with aisles, a presbytery, a south porch, and a west tower. It displays structures and features both singular and interesting, and has a famous window called the Jesse window, with mullion and sculptures representing the genealogical descent of the Saviour from the patriarch Jesse; and contains sedilia, a piscina, a unique leaden Norman font, and a number of brasses and four monuments of knights and bishops. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford; gross yearly value, £184, in the gift of the Bishop of Oxford. There is a training college for missionaries of the Church of England, which was founded in 1878. A small Roman Catholic church, which was erected in 1849, stands not far from the abbey church in private grounds. The village has a pleasure fair on Easter Tuesday, and was formerly a market-town. It gives the title of Baron to the family of Carleton. The parish includes the hamlets of Overy and Burcott. Acreage, 2595, of which 38 are of water; population, 993. Dike Hills, an ancient Roman camp, and Sinodun Hill, an ancient British work, are in the vicinity of the village. The poet Chaucer was a resident. For the-most part of the year pleasure boats can reach it from the-Thames up the meandering Thame, or visitors can walk in, ten minutes to the village from Day's lock on the Isis. Vicat Cole and other artists have painted some of its pleasing river scenes and picturesque old houses. Its bridge and water-mill are objects of interest.

Church Records

Ancestry.co.uk, in association with Oxfordshire Family History Society and Oxfordshire History Centre, have images of the Parish Registers for Oxfordshire online.

Land and Property

A full transcript of the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Oxfordshire is available online

Maps

Online maps of Dorchester are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Oxfordshire newspapers online:

• Oxford Journal
• Banbury Advertiser
• Banbury Guardian
• Oxford University and City Herald
• Oxford Chronicle and Reading Gazette
• Faringdon Advertiser and Vale of the White Horse Gazette
• Oxford Times
• Banbury Beacon
• Ossett Observer

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitations of Oxfordshire, 1566, 1574 &1634 are available on the Heraldry page.