Church Going: Dorchester-on-Thames & Wittenham Clumps

"...A shape less recognisable each week,
A purpose more obscure. I wonder who
Will be the last, the very last, to seek
This place for what it was..."

Brief overview: 

A 14km (9mile) walk starting in the historic Dorchester-on-Thames with a visit to the Abbey. We'll then walk down by the Thames and make our way south over the river, to Brightwell-cum-Sotwell. Here, we'll stop for a fireside drink in the thatched pub, the Red Lion, and then make our way towards the eerie and ancient surroundings of Brighwell Barrow and the Wittenham Clumps, returning by the river for the final leg of our journey. This is a walk that perfectly encapsulates the understated beauty, quaintness, and complex history of the county of Oxfordshire. 

Indulgent overview: 

I should start a travel show, but instead of travelling across space, I’d travel across time. Instead of the ‘Back to the Future’ DMC DeLorean, I’d need my aging, and slightly embarrassing, 2008 Fiat Panda. It doesn’t need a plutonium powered flux capacitor for wormhole travel, it only needs the M40 and the exploded Aston Rowant Cutting as it beams into the Oxfordshire plains. To be fair, we won’t even need that, we’ll just need our feet, the county of Oxfordshire will do the rest for us. This will be a walk of archaeological and architectural delights; this will be a walk across time, from pre-history to modernity.  

Dorchester Abbey:

We’ll start in Dorchester, and before any proper walking takes place, we’ll visit the 12th century Dorchester Abbey, which should have something for everyone: for the niche antique hunters, its Norman leaden font is amongst one of a few monastic fonts to survive the Reformation, somehow escaping Henry VIII’s grotesque act of cultural vandalism. This helped him finance a fruitless war in France, banish a legion of purported monastic sodomites, and put Britain on the 500-year path to Brexit. Try and count the number of figures on this font…who might be missing?

For art lovers, Pre-Raphaelite wall paintings vie for attention alongside 14th century crucifixion paintings. In today’s world, most of us are literate, so we appreciate the intrinsic beauty, mystery, and context of this art differently to the congregants of the past. Back then, they were necessary for an illiterate population, listening to a service in which they understood none of the words being spoken, to grasp the key ideas behind Catholic liturgy, and help them answer the important question, “How can I avoid eternal damnation?”. It wasn’t until the mid-16th century that mass was conducted in English, with the introduction of the Book of Common Prayer. The English Reformation may have permanently destroyed priceless cultural artefacts but this was probably a worthy price for the partial democratisation of religious services into our native language. This had a significant influence on our language and phrases we use today, typically now used outside of a religious context, can be traced back to this book e.g. “till death do us part”, “speak now or forever hold your peace”, “ashes to ashes, dust to dust”, “in the midst of life, we are in death”.

For lovers of craftsmanship, the East Window represents a dialogue between 14th century craftsmen who produced the stained glass present in the lower section, and the Victorians who restored the rose window above it, bridging time through their artistry. The adjacent Jesse Window is virginal, containing stained glass that is six hundred years old; the intricately carved Sedilia - stone seats for senior bishops and clergymen - contain small carvings warning of the seven deadly sins (try and find them all…); the effigy of (probably) William de Valance the Younger who died in 1282, who was likely involved in the Crusades, was a soldier in life and a soldier in death, his stone likeness reaching for his sword – is he getting ready to slay the group of sinful queer men peering at his funerary sculpture?

Finally, for Radiohead fans (me), they recorded parts of two albums in the abbey, Kid A and Amnesiac: the songs How to Disappear Completely and Pyramid Song contain haunting string sections which were recorded here. For some musical context, the album was released at the same time Anastacia, Eminem, and Mariah Carey were topping the UK charts.

Brightwell-cum-Sotwell & Wittenham Clumps:

From the 12th century, we’ll then pass the hamlet of Shillingford, over the Thames, and up towards Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, where we’ll travel to pre-history once we reach the Wittenham Clumps. At Brightwell we’ll stop at the Red Lion, a 16th century thatched inn, for some winter-cosiness and a bite to eat. There might even be time to throw a brick (or shopping trolley?!) through Boris Johnson's recently purchased £3.8million mansion, Brightwell Manor. 

We'll head out of Brightwell and pass the eerie Brightwell Barrow and onto Wittenham Clumps: the former a tree-topped Bronze-Age burial ground, the latter a pair of chalk hills, one of which was an Iron Age fort (check out this aerial LIDAR view of the two clumps to appreciate the extent of the earthwork and ditches). It is thought that hunter-gatherers eventually settled in the area, attracted by the soil quality and plentiful fresh water supply, this theory being supported by archaeological evidence of cattle herding, boar hunting, and wheat cultivation in the surrounding area. The artist Paul Nash commented that the view from the Clumps is like looking out on a “beautiful legendary country haunted by old gods long forgotten”. Those views need slightly updating: we can still see the Thames, the surrounding Chilterns, and Dorchester Abbey, but also the somewhat incongruous Joint European Torus site in Culham, the site of the world’s first successful controlled nuclear fusion experiment. Once we’re done admiring the views, we’ll head down towards the Thames and make our way back to Dorchester Abbey to finish...

“A serious house on serious earth it is,
In whose blent air all our compulsions meet,
Are recognised, and robed as destinies.
And that much never can be obsolete…”
 

Church Going, Philip Larkin

Distance: approximately 14km

Route overview: starting in Dorchester-on-Thames, we'll stop by the Abbey, and continue the walk by the Thames towards Shillingford and then Brightwell-cum-Sotwell. We'll stop off at the Red Lion and then continue onto Brightwell Barrow and the Wittenham Clumps, then back to Dorchester by the river. 

Elevation: approximately 140m

Time walking: 3-4 hours 

Don't waste that space!

With less winter walks please only book if you know you can make it. If your plans change please free up the space for someone else.

Is it dog friendly? 

Dogs are welcome on the walk, but unfortunately they aren’t allowed into the gardens at Wallingford Castle and please abide by the Countryside Code (https://tinyurl.com/rlqvp3h). Please also remember not everyone loves dogs as much as you do so please be mindful of other members.

New Members

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Image / photo credits:  All leader's own images.

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