Photo: Wittenham Clumps, a viewpoint near Dorchester-on-Thames in the North Wessex Downs, Oxfordshire, south east England.

© Philip Halling / Geograph · CC BY-SA 2.0

Wittenham Clumps

Local highlight

Twin beech-crowned hills above the Thames.

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Walk up either of these twin chalk hills above the Thames for a wide view over Dorchester and the river country. Round Hill and Castle Hill are each crowned with beeches, among the oldest planted hilltop beeches in England, and Castle Hill carries the ramparts of an Iron Age fort. The painter Paul Nash returned to them again and again. The Earth Trust looks after the site; Appleford station is about 5km off, and Dorchester-on-Thames sits just below.

More places to visit near Wittenham Clumps

Photo of the North Wessex Downs, a National Landscape in England.

North Wessex Downs

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Rolling chalk downland above the Vale of the White Horse, threaded by one of Britain's oldest roads

Photo of the River Thames, a 135-mile river navigation running from Cricklade to Teddington, England.

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River navigation

The non-tidal Thames — 45 locks of managed river between Cricklade's meadows and the tideway at Teddington.

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Photo along the Thames Path, a 185-mile National Trail running from Kemble to London, England.

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0.8 km N · spans 7 counties

Photo of Dorchester Abbey, a church near Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, south east England.

Dorchester Abbey

Church near Dorchester-on-Thames

Former Norman abbey church on a Saxon cathedral site, famous for its sculpted 14th-century Jesse window in the chancel.

2 km NE

Photo of Dorchester-on-Thames, a village in Oxfordshire, south east England.

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Small former Saxon cathedral village near the Thames, its long street of old cottages and inns gathered round Dorchester Abbey.

2 km NE · Oxfordshire

Photo of the Chilterns, a National Landscape in England.

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