England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Dorchester St Peter & St Paul

The Parish

The parish of Dorchester (sometimes given the suffix on-Thames to distinguish it from the county town of Dorset) lies in the extreme south of Oxfordshire forming a stretch, here formed by the River Thames, of the county's border with neighbouring Berkshire. Dorchester sits on the former route of the A4104 road which links Oxford with Wallingford, that road now bypassing to its east. Dorchester is a former small market town of very early origin, the chester in its name indicating its foundation as a Roman site but its origins are debated but may be pre-Roman as the Caer Dauri of the ancient Britons. Under Saxon rule it became the episcopal see of the West Saxons but that status was lost following the Norman conquest. By 1140 the town had decayed sufficient to have lost its market becoming since that time merely a large village. Dorchester's properties largely line the former route of the A4104 through the High Street to the crossing over the River Thame. Whilst the village is still substantial with many shops and inns it is a shadow of its early origins. The wider parish was and is farmed with a mixture of both pastoral, mostly close to the rivers Thames & Thame, and arable in roughly equal measure. The rivers have changed course many times over the centuries depositing gravels which have been extracted for road building leaving flooded pits, those to the north now forming a water-sports centre. For the hikers of the Thames Path National Trail Dorchester forms a welcome break on the stretch between Abingdon & Wallingford. Dorchester sits just a half mile north of the confluence of the Thame, which largely drains the parish, with the Thames (or Isis as it is often termed hereabouts) with the latter taking water eastwards through the Goring gap to Reading, Windsor & the capital before meeting the North Sea through the Thames Estuary. Dorchester is sited at around 50 metres above the sea but is overlooked from the south by the isolated knoll of hill-fort topped Wittenham Clumps which almost reach the 120 metre contour at its top. Dorchester parish was larger than many in the area covering just over 1,900 acres and supporting a population of close to 1,100 parishioners. Domesday records Dorchester as a town in all of its former pomp, a place of 153 households taking it into the top 10% of settlements by population in the whole of England, held by the Bishop of Lincoln, who would seize the episcopal see, it offered assets of 66 ploughs. meadows & extensive woodland, 5 mills and 3 fisheries making it a vastly profitable settlement and a major centre in that time.

The Church

Dorchester was one of the earliest Christian sites in the country being given to St Birinus by the Wessex King, Cynegils, in 634. The cathedral which held the episcopal see and was very early indeed became an Augustinian Abbey and in 1134 St Peter & St Paul's church was begun to become the principal parish church. The church sits east of the High Street, set back behind fronting properties, and almost opposite the George Inn. Pevsner freely admits that there is no evidence remaining of Saxon work despite the church standing on those foundations. The 12th century church was originally cruciform and aisleless, the entire northern wall of the nave is the main remnant of this early version. Pevsner speculates that because of the structural weakness of the surviving arches in the former crossing that there had been no central tower. Other traces of 12th century Norman Romanesque masonry may be found in the western walls of both transepts. The 13th century saw the first enlargement of the church, a northern choir aisle and eastern chapel being added in Early English Gothic style. This small work was followed from 1293 into the 14th century by a complete redesign of the eastern end of the church which included extending the choir giving exquisite tracery to the great east window. In contrast with the elaborate eastern end the nave is a little dull almost all from the 14th century. The western tower is a very much later addition, a date on the southwestern turret carries the date of 1602 when it was built, the work reused both the 14th century stair-turret and 12th century windows from the prior version. By the middle of the Victorian era the church was described as "dilapidated" and an extensive program of restoration commencing in 1845 and continuing on-and-off until 1874 brought the church to its former glory. There is ample on-street parking on the High Street, the churchyard is entered through a lychgate set back from the street to a churchyard which is slightly cramped and also compromised by many trees, the photographer has to search to find the acceptable viewpoints.