The first Dorchester-on-Thames fundraising festival of music and arts was a fitting place for the launch of Dorchester Abbey 635-2005 edited by Dr Kate Tiller, a Reader in English Local History at Oxford University.
It is a beautifully illustrated update to previous books on the Abbey and includes chapters by professional archaeologists and historians as well as a look at life and changes in the Abbey from 1920 to 2005 by a local retired surgeon.
Exploring the successive phases of Saxon cathedral, medieval abbey and post-dissolution parish church, the book draws on discoveries from recent archaeological work undertaken during my time as Rector. Research by social and economic historians places this great medieval building in its human context.
We find that the gift of such a large church to the parish by Richard Beauforest may not have been entirely welcomed by the small population which would have to maintain it. Dr Nicholas Doggett speculates that the entire church was preserved as a potential cathedral for the new diocese of Oxford, a role allocated in the event to Osney (from 1542) and then Christ Church (from 1546).
Dr Tiller reveals how poor Dorchester was in the 18th and early 19th centuries, and we learn of warm ecumenical relationships between the Abbey and the Roman Catholics, Protestant chapels which declined so quickly, and the heroic achievements of the Revd. W C Macfarlane whose personal generosity contributed so much towards the restoration of the Abbey, the building of the rectory and school and the establishment of the Missionary College.
In the final chapter Nick Dudley recounts interviews with leading players in the life of the Abbey in the 20th century. And finally the story of the most recent phase of refurbishment brings us right up-to-date and will make readers want to visit Dorchester to see the magnificent achievement.
Generously, publisher Simon Haviland has agreed that all proceeds from this book will go to the Dorchester Abbey Preservation Trust making it a very worthy gift as well as a delightful Christmas present!
John Crowe is the former Rector of Dorchester Abbey.
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Dorchester Abbey Church and People 635-2005 |
