CLIFTON HAMPDEN
CHAPTER IV
SINODUN HILL AND DORCHESTER
The island near Day's Lock, lying beneath the Wittenham Woods and Sinodun Hill, is particularly well kept and neat, and, in summer, bright with flowers. Standing on the end of the lock-keeper's island you can look straight up the weir, below which the river drifts away on each side of the island.
On the right bank, raised slightly above the river, is the church of Little Wittenham, with a long, narrow bastion turret adhering to its tower. Inside there is a handsome monument, one of those legacies from the ages that prove long descent. A warm belt of Scotch firs grows near.
Wittenham Woods lie under the shelter of the hill and close to the life-giving water. The trees grow well and form a home for countless birds of all kinds. "The hobby breeds there yearly. The wild pheasant, crow, sparrowhawk, kestrel, magpie, jay, ring-dove, brown owl, water-hen (on the river-bounded side); in summer the cuckoo and turtle-dove are all found there, and, with the exception of the pigeons and kestrels, which seek their food at a distance during the day, they seldom leave the shelter of its trees."—C. J. Cornish.