Dorchester Abbey, more properly known as The Abbey Church of St Peter and St Paul, is a cradle of English Christianity, and at the heart of the village community of Dorchester-on-Thames; a small village with a great Abbey. On this site in 635AD, probably in the Thame itself, Bishop Birinus baptised King Cynegils, King of the Gewisse (later Wessex), with Oswald King of Northumbria standing Godfather. Oswald was shortly to marry Cynegils's daughter Cyneburh, and the two kings, Oswald and Cynegils, granted Dorchester to Bishop Birinus for him to establish his episcopal seat, the first Bishopric in what was to become the kingdom of Wessex.
The building we now see was begun in the 12th century, replacing two earlier Saxon cathedrals (some Saxon fabric is still evident in the north wall of the nave). The Norman building expanded in the 13th century and was richly aggrandised in the early 14th century when the chancel was added with its wonderful window sculpted with the Tree of Jesse, its stained glass and its exquisite sedilia. The great tower, rebuilt in 1602, but incorporating a 14th century spiral staircase, rises above a lush landscape of willows and flowering water meadows.
The church of Dorchester Abbey, as it stands today, was built by the Augustinian Canons, although there are traces on the north side of Saxon masonry, probably part of the ancient cathedral. The whole length of the church is 230 feet (70 m), its width 70 feet (21 m) and its height 55 feet (17 m). The north transept and its doorway are Norman.
Fittings include one of the few surviving lead fonts in England, frescoes of 1340 and several monuments, especially the well-known "swaggering knight" effigy.
This is the Bonus Cache for the "Church Micro 6660 ... Dorchester Abbey" Adventure Lab Caches
There is no cache at the starting co-ordinates, you will need to compete the Adventure Lab caches where you will be given the value of a letter to be put into the formula below which, once completed will take you to the location of the bonus cache.
N 51° 38.ABB' W 001° 09.CDE'
Scan the QR Code with your
Smartphone to open the
Adventure Lab cache
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If you would like to add to the Church Micro series yourself then please visit
http://churchmicro.co.uk/
There is also a Church Micro Stats & Information page that can be found at
http://www.15ddv.me.uk/geo/cm/index.html
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