Dorchester (Oxfordshire)
| Dorchester-on-Thames | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 |
|||
| Coordinates | 51 ° 39 ′ N , 1 ° 10 ′ W | ||
|
|||
| Residents | 3000 | ||
| administration | |||
| Post town | Wallingford | ||
| ZIP code section | OX10 | ||
| prefix | 01865 | ||
| Part of the country | England | ||
| region | South East England | ||
| Shire county | Oxfordshire | ||
| District | South Oxfordshire | ||
| Civil Parish | Dorchester | ||
| British Parliament | Wantage | ||
Dorchester-on-Thames [ ˈdɔːtʃɪstə ] is a small town and civil parish ( civil parish ) in the county of Oxfordshire in England.
geography
Dorchester has about 3,000 residents; it is located between the cities of Oxford and Reading about 500 m east of the Thames and 52 m above sea level . The A 4074 passes east of the village. The River Thame flows east of the village and flows south of it into the Thames.
history
Dorchester dates back to a Neolithic settlement . The Romans also settled here and called the settlement Dorcic . In 635, Bishop Birinus established a mission in Dorchester after converting the King of Wessex , Cynegils , to Christianity. At that time the place was the center of the Kingdom of Wessex. Dorchester was later replaced by Winchester as capital and conquered by Offa , King of Mercien .
In the 9th century the place became the seat of the Bishop of Dorchester after the Bishop of Leicester had to flee from the Vikings . Large parts of the kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia belonged to the diocese . In 1072 the bishopric was moved from Dorchester to Lincoln .
Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul
The spacious church was a Saxon, then a Norman episcopal church from 635 to 1072 and an Augustinian abbey church founded by Bishop Alexander von Lincoln from 1140 , where crowds of pilgrims venerated the shrine of St. Birinus . The monastery was dissolved by Henry VIII in 1536 and the Birinus shrine was destroyed. Richard Beauforest of Dorchester bought the monastery buildings and the church in 1554; the sacred building has served as the Anglican parish church since then . A Norman baptismal font made of lead , which shows eleven apostles in relief , is particularly worth mentioning. The church tower was built in 1602.
Others
The World Poohsticks Championship has been taking place in Dorchester since 1983 , a game that Pooh the Bear and his friends play in the book by Alan Alexander Milne : The players throw sticks into the river while standing on a bridge. The winner is the one whose stick appears first on the other side of the bridge.
Personalities
The city is the birthplace of Mark Wright (* 1963), a soccer coach and former soccer player.
