he tower (western) is an erection of the late 17th century. The
eastern bay of the choir is considered to have been added as a Lady
chapel, and the north window is a magnificent example of a "Jesse
window," in which the tracery represents the genealogical tree of Jesse,
the complete execution of the design being carried on in the glass. The
sedilia and piscina are very fine. The Decorated windows on the south
side of the church form a beautiful series, and there are monuments and
brasses of great interest.

Dorchester (_Dorcinia_, _Dornacestre_, _Dorchecestre_) was conquered by
the West Saxons about 560. It occupied a commanding position at the
junction of the Thames and the Thame, and in 635 was made the seat of a
bishopric which at its foundation was the largest in England, comprising
the whole of Wessex and Mercia. The witenagemot of Wessex was held at
Dorchester three times in the 9th century, and in 958 AEthelstan held a
council here. In the 11th century, however, the town is described as
small and ill-peopled and remarkable only for the majesty of its
churches, and in about 1086 William I. and Bishop Remigius removed the
bishop's stool to Lincoln, as a city more worthy of the distinction.
According to the Domesday Survey Dorchester was held by the bishop of
Lincoln; it was assessed at 100 hides and comprised two mills. In 1140
Alexander bishop of Lincoln founded an abbey of Black Canons at
Dorchester, but the town declined in importance after the removal of the
cathedral, and is described by 16th-century writers as a mere
agricultural village and destitute of trade.

See _Victoria County History, Oxfordshire_; Henry Addington, _Some
Account of the Abbey Church of St Peter and St Paul at Dorchester,
Oxfordshire_, reissue with additional notes (Oxford, 1860).

DORCHESTER, a residential and manufacturing district of Boston,
Massachusetts, U.S.A., a separate town until 1870, between the Neponset
river on the S. and South Boston and Boston proper on the N. It is
served by three lines of the New York, New Haven & Hartford railway. A
ridge, with an average height of about 100 ft. above the sea, extends
through the district from N. to S. and commands delightful views of
Boston Bay to the E. and of the Blue Hills to the S. There are many
large private estates, with beautiful lawns, and Franklin Field and
Franklin Park, one of the largest parks of the Boston park system, are
in Dorchester. The Shawmut school f