The Dennis Dorchester was a mid-engined heavy-duty single deck coach chassis manufactured by

Dennis Dennis or Denis is a first or last name from the Greco-Roman name Dionysius, via one of the Christian saints named Dionysius. The name came from Dionysus, the Greek god of ecstatic states, particularly those produced by wine, which is some ...

in small numbers between 1983 and 1988. Designed as a premium underfloor mid-engine coach chassis, it was unveiled at the 1982 Motor Show. It was aimed at operators who had purchased the Seddon Pennine 7.Diverted Dorchester ''

Bus & Coach Preservation Ian Allan Publishing was an English publisher, established in 1942, which specialised in transport books. It was founded by Ian Allan. In 1942, Ian Allan, then working in the public relations department for the Southern Railway at Waterloo ...

'' January 2018 pages 28-32 Of the 67 built, 44 were bought by Scottish Bus Group subsidiaries Western Scottish, Central Scottish and

Clydeside Scottish Clydeside Scottish Omnibuses Ltd was a bus operating subsidiary of the Scottish Transport Group formed in June 1985 from Western SMT Company Ltd. The company operated until May 1989, when it was remerged with Western Scottish, the successor com ...

. These consisted of 23 with Plaxton Paramount coach bodywork, and 21 with

Alexander Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here ar ...

bodywork, with each of the three T-type variants represented — five each of the TS service bus and TE express semi-coach, and eleven of the TC full coach. One was exported to South Africa. Leicester City Transport bought three Dorchester coaches with Plaxton Paramount bodywork, but sold them fairly quickly to Kingston-upon-Hull City Transport, which also bought one new. South Yorkshire Transport also took on three similar vehicles. Of the Dorchester customers in the independent sector, Geoff Amos of

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

included three high-capacity bus versions among their five examples, two with

Wadham Stringer Wadham Stringer was an English ambulance and bus manufacturer. History Wadham Stringer was formed when Wadham merged with Stringer Motors in 1968. It was a distributor for Morris cars and British Leyland commercial vehicles. It also was an A ...

bodywork and one with Reeve Burgess bodywork, all with 71 seats. Tillingbourne Bus Company also purchased two 61-seat Wadham Stringer-bodied buses. Other body manufacturers for the Dorchester were Duple (five, including the sole export Dorchester, for South Africa), Caetano (two coaches which made up the remainder of the Amos contingent), and Berkhof (one vehicle).Duple progress
''Commercial Motor'' 3 September 1983

References

{{Dennis, state=collapsed Dorchester Vehicles introduced in 1983