Dorchester Abbey is a parish church, formerly an abbey church in the place of a cathedral, situated in the centre of the village of Dorchester-on-Thames in
OxfordshireOxfordshire is a county in the South East England region, bordering on Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, and Warwickshire....
.
Dorchester Abbey was founded in 1140 by Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, for
Augustinian canonsThe Augustinians, named after Saint Augustine of Hippo , are several Christian monastic orders and congregations of both men and women living according to a guide to religious life known as the Rule of Saint Augustine...
(strictly speaking, for that particular group of Augustinian canons known as the Arrouaisian Order who, unlike most Augustinians, wore white instead of black).
Dorchester Abbey is a parish church, formerly an abbey church in the place of a cathedral, situated in the centre of the village of Dorchester-on-Thames in
OxfordshireOxfordshire is a county in the South East England region, bordering on Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, and Warwickshire....
.
History
Dorchester Abbey was founded in 1140 by Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, for
Augustinian canonsThe Augustinians, named after Saint Augustine of Hippo , are several Christian monastic orders and congregations of both men and women living according to a guide to religious life known as the Rule of Saint Augustine...
(strictly speaking, for that particular group of Augustinian canons known as the Arrouaisian Order who, unlike most Augustinians, wore white instead of black). Dorchester, an important
RomanThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor,...
city of
MerciaMercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...
, about nine miles from
OxfordOxford is a city, and the county town of Oxfordshire, in South East England. The city has a population of just under 165,000, with 151,000 living within the district boundary. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through Oxford and meet south of the city centre...
, had been the seat of a bishopric from
634- By place :* Oswald of Northumbria defeats Cadwallon ap Cadfan of Gwynedd in the Battle of Heavenfield and reunites Northumbria.- Asia :* The Rashidun Caliphate starts the Islamic conquest of the Byzantine empire....
, when Saint
BirinusSaint Birinus , venerated as a saint, was the first Bishop of Dorchester, and the "Apostle to the West Saxons".After St. Augustine of Canterbury performed initial conversions in England, Birinus, a Frank, came to the kingdoms of Wessex in 634. Birinus had been made bishop by Asterius in Genoa, and...
, the first bishop, was sent to that district by
Pope Honorius IPope Honorius I was pope from 625 to 638.Honorius, according to the Liber Pontificalis, came from Campania and was the son of the consul Petronius. He became pope on October 27, 625, two days after the death of his predecessor, Boniface V...
, until 1085, when the See of Mercia was transferred to
LincolnLincoln is a cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England.The non-metropolitan district of Lincoln has a population of around 101,000 - the 2001 census gave the entire urban area of Lincoln a population of 120,779...
.
The abbey, founded fifty-five years later, was dedicated in honour of Saints Peter,
PaulPaul of Tarsus, also called Paul the Apostle, the Apostle Paul, or Saint Paul, Paul of Tarsus, also called Paul the Apostle, the Apostle Paul, or Saint Paul, Paul of Tarsus, also called Paul the Apostle, the Apostle Paul, or Saint Paul, ...
and Birinus, was richly endowed out of the lands and tithes of the former bishopric, and had twelve parishes subject to it, being included in the Peculiar of Dorchester, until the suppression of peculiars. The first abbot appears to have been Alured, whose name occurs in 1146 and again in 1163; the last was John Mershe, who was elected in 1533, and in the following year subscribed to the king's supremacy, with five of his canons, and was given a pension of £22 a year. The revenues of the abbey were valued at the time of its suppression at about £220.
Henry VIIIHenry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was also Lord of Ireland and claimant to the Kingdom of France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII.Henry VIII was a significant figure in the history of the English monarchy...
reserved the greater part of the property of the house for a college, erected by him in honour of the Holy Trinity, for a dean and prebendaries; but this was dissolved in the first year of his successor.
No register or cartulary of Dorchester Abbey is now known to exist, and only a single charter, confirming the donation of a church by
King JohnJohn , King of England, reigned from 6 April 1199 until his death. He acceded to the throne as the younger brother of King Richard I, who died without issue...
, is given by
DugdaleSir William Dugdale was an English antiquary.-Life:He was born at Shustoke, near Coleshill, Warwickshire, of an old Lancashire family, and he was educated at King Henry VIII School, Coventry...
. Edmund Ashefeld was the first impropriator of the abbey site and precincts, which afterwards passed through various hands.
Church
The stately church of Dorchester Abbey, as it stands today, was built entirely by the Augustinian Canons, although there are traces on the north side of
SaxonAnglo-Saxons is the term usually used to describe the invading Germanic tribes in the south and east of Great Britain from the early 5th century AD, and their creation of the English nation, to the Norman conquest of 1066...
masonry, probably part of the ancient cathedral. The whole length of the church is 230 feet, its width 70 feet and its height 55 feet. The north
transeptFull descriptions of the elements of a Gothic floorplan are found at the entry Cathedral diagram.
For the periodical go to The Transept....
with its doorway is of the
NormanThe term Norman architecture is used to categorise styles of Romanesque architecture developed by the Normans in the various lands under their dominion or influence in the 11th and 12th centuries. In particular the term is traditionally used for English Romanesque architecture...
period; the north side of the nave and chancel arch, Early English, the south side of nave, south aisle, and choir, Decorated; the south porch, late Perpendicular. The extraordinarily rich
sanctuarySanctuary has multiple meanings. A sanctuary is the consecrated area of a church or temple around its tabernacle or altar. An animal sanctuary is a place where animals live and are protected...
, with its highly decorated windows (including the famous northern one known as the
Jesse TreeThe Tree of Jesse refers to a passage in the Biblical Book of Isaiah which describes metaphorically the descent of the Messiah from Jesse of Bethlehem, through his son David. It is accepted by Christians as pertaining to Jesus, and is often represented in art, particularly in that of the Medieval...
window) and beautifully carved
sediliaThe sedilia , in ecclesiastical architecture, the term given to the seats on the south side of the chancel near the altar for the use of the officiating priests. These rebated seats are found in the chancel of churches and monasteries and were for the use of the celebrant and their assistants...
and
piscinaA piscina or sacrarium is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, used for washing the communion vessels. They are often made of stone and fitted with a drain, and are in some cases used to dispose of materials used in the sacraments and water from liturgical ablutions...
, dates from 1330. Other fittings include one of the few surviving lead
fontA baptismal font is an article of church furniture or a fixture used for the baptism of children and adults.-Aspersion and affusion fonts:The fonts of many Christian denominations are intended for baptisms using a non-immersion method, such as aspersion or affusion. The simplest of these fonts has...
s in England, beautiful
frescoFresco is any of several related painting types, done on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Italian word affresco which derives from the adjective fresco , which has Latin origins...
es of 1340 and several good
monumentsA church monument is an architectural or sculptural memorial to a dead person or persons, located within a Christian church. It can take various forms, from a simple wall tablet to a large and elaborate structure which may include an effigy of the deceased person and other figures of familial or...
, especially the well-known 'swaggering knight'
effigyAn effigy is a representation of a person, especially in the form of sculpture.The term is usually associated with full-length figures of a deceased person depicted in stone or wood on church monuments. These most often lie supine with hands together in prayer, but may also be recumbent, kneeling...
(possibly of Sir John Holcombe who died in 1270).
Present use
Besides being a parish church, the abbey church acts as an atmospheric venue for concerts and cultural events of all kinds. In recent years the Dorchester Abbey Campaign Committee has raised four million pounds and this has enabled the Church Council and the Dorchester Abbey Preservation Trust to undertake significant works in the abbey. These include the impressive Cloister Gallery managed by the Dorchester Museum Committee — longlisted for the Gulbenkian Museum Prize in 2006 — and restoration of medieval and Victorian wall paintings. The Abbey now boasts significantly better heating than in previous times and a modern kitchen and servery in the Tower room.
The Abbey is open every day from 8:00 a.m. to dusk.
External links