DORCHESTER, a large village in the Henley parliamentary division of Oxfordshire, England, 9 m. S.S.E. of Oxford by road, on the west bank of the river Thame, i m. from its junction with the Thames. Pop. of civil parish (1921) 818. At Dike Hill close to the present village there was a Roman station, and facing, across the Thames, the double isolated mound known as Witten ham Clumps (historically Sinodun), is the site of ancient earth works. In Dorchester itself the chief point of interest is the abbey church of St. Peter and St. Paul. This consists of a nave of great length, primarily of the transitional Norman period ; a choir with arcades of the finest Decorated work; north choir aisle of the close of the 13th century, south choir aisle (c. 1300) and south nave aisle (c. 132o). The tower (western) is an erection of the late i 7th century. The eastern bay of the choir is considered to have been added as a Lady chapel, and the north window is a magnificent example of a "Jesse window," in which the tracery represents the genealogical tree of Jesse, the complete execution of the design being carried on in the glass. The ancient sedilia and piscina are very fine. The Decorated windows on the south side of the church form a beautiful series, and there are early monuments and brasses of great interest.
Dorchester (Dorcinia, Dornacestre, Dorchecestre) was con quered by the West Saxons about 56o. It occupied a command ing position at the junction of the Thames and the Thame, and in 635 was made the seat of a bishopric which at its founda tion was the largest in England, comprising the whole of Wessex and Mercia, Birinus, apostle of the West Saxons, becoming its first bishop. The witenagemot of Wessex was held at Dorchester three times in the 9th century, and in 958 Aethelstan held a council here. In the i i th century the town is described as small but remarkable for the majesty of its churches, and c. the bishop's stool was removed to Lincoln by Remigius, the 23rd bishop. According to the Domesday Survey Dorchester was held by the bishop of Lincoln; it was assessed at i oo hides and comprised two mills. In 1140 Alexander bishop of Lincoln founded the abbey of Black Canons at Dorchester, of which the only remains are the abbey church, but the town declined in importance after the removal of the cathedral.