Buckfast Abbey
Buckfast Abbey forms part of an active Benedictine monastery at Buckfast, near Buckfastleigh, Devon, England. Buckfast first became home to an abbey in 1018. The first Benedictine abbey was followed by a Savignac, later Cistercian, abbey constructed on the site of the current abbey in 1134. The monastery was largely demolished after its dissolution in 1539. In 1882 the site was purchased by French Benedictines who refounded a monastery on the site. New monastic buildings incorporated the remaining Gothic house. Buckfast was formally reinstated as an abbey in 1902. Work on a new abbey church, which was constructed mostly on the footprint of the former Cistercian abbey, started in 1907. The church was completed in 1938. As of 2020, the abbey has 13 monks.
History
Early history
The first abbey at Buckfast was founded as a Benedictine monastery in 1018. The abbey was believed to be founded by either Aethelweard, Earldorman of Devon, or King Cnut. This first monastery was "small and unprosperous", and the exact site is uncertain. Archaeological evidence suggests the monastery may have been located nearby at what is now Holy Trinity church in Buckfastleigh.In 1134 or 1136, the abbey was established in its current position, King Stephen having granted Buckfast to the French Abbot of Savigny. This second abbey was home to Savignac monks. In 1147 the Savignac congregation merged with the Cistercian, and the abbey thereby became a Cistercian monastery. Following the conversion to the Cistercian Congregation, the abbey was rebuilt in stone. Limited excavation work undertaken in 1882 revealed that the monastery was built to the standard plan for Cistercian monasteries. At an uncertain point in the late 12th or 13th centuries the church was extended with aisles added to the presbytery. The buttressed chapel at the east end was probably a 14th century addition, and may have been a Lady Chapel. This would be unusual in a Cistercian abbey, as normally the entire church was dedicated to St Mary.
In medieval times the abbey became rich through fishing and trading in sheep wool. By the 14th century Buckfast was one of the wealthiest abbeys in the south-west of England. It had come to own "extensive sheep runs on Dartmoor, seventeen manors in central and south Devon, town houses in Exeter, fisheries on the Dart and the Avon, and a country house for the abbot at Kingsbridge". At Kingsbridge the abbey had the rights to a weekly market and an annual fair, leading to the growth of the town. The Black Death killed two abbots and many monks. By the mid 1300s, there were few left to maintain the buildings, some of which collapsed. By the mid 1400s, the abbey again flourished. The 19th century excavations suggested that there was major rebuilding work at this time, of which the tower attached to the abbot's house is the sole upstanding survival.
By the 16th century, the abbey was in decline. Only 22 new monks were tonsured between 1500 and 1539, and at the time of the abbey's dissolution in 1539, there were only 10 monks in residence. However, it was still one of the richer abbeys in the country, being assessed at £466 in the Valor Ecclesiasticus survey of 1535.
Dissolution
The last Abbot, Gabriel Donne, surrendered the abbey on 25 February 1539 to Sir William Petre, acting as agent for King Henry VIII. At the time of dissolution there were nine other monks in residence. On 26 April 1539 Gabriel was granted an annual pension of £120. The other monks, who all co-signed the deed of surrender, received smaller pensions.After the dissolution 1.5 tons of gold, gilt and silver was taken from the abbey to the Tower of London. The site was granted to the King who later granted it to others, including William Petre, the Secretary of State, and Sir Thomas Denys of Holcombe Burnell in Devon. Denys had married Donne's sister Elizabeth and was Chamberlain of the Household to Cardinal Wolsey.
After dissolution
Following dissolution, the abbey site and its lands were granted by the crown to Sir Thomas Denys of Holcombe Burnell, near Exeter, who stripped the buildings and "reduced them to ruins". The abbey site was subsequently used as a stone quarry.In 1800, the site was purchased by local mill owner, Samuel Berry. Berry had the ruins demolished, constructing a Gothic style "castellated Tudor" mansion house, and a wool mill on the site in 1806. The Gothic house was constructed on the site of the abbey's former west cloister. The only pieces of the former abbey to escape demolition were some of the outer buildings – which were retained as farm buildings – and the tower from the former abbot's lodgings.
Over the next eighty years, the Buckfast site changed hands four times, finally falling into the hands of Dr. James Gale in 1872. Ten years later, Dr. Gale decided to sell the property, but was keen to offer it to a religious community. An advert was placed in The Tablet, describing the Abbey as "a grand acquisition could it be restored to its original purpose." Within six weeks of the sale, monks were again living at the abbey.
Reconstruction
In 1880 the was suppressed under a new French law and some of the monks went to St. Augustine's Priory in Ramsgate. The community of Ramsgate gave the French monks use of a property it owned in Leopardstown, Ireland. Learning that the property at Ramsgate was for sale, in 1882 "the whole site was purchased" by the French Benedictine monks for £4,700. On 28 October 1882, six Benedictine monks arrived at Buckfast.Most of Samuel Berry's house was remodelled and incorporated into new claustral ranges which were begun in 1882. A temporary church was constructed to the south of these new buildings, with the current abbey church constructed between 1906 and 1938, mostly on the footprint of the Cistercian Abbey. The east-end does not follow the original plan. The new abbey church was built in the "Norman Transitional and Early English" styles, to the designs of architect Frederick Arthur Walters. There were never more than six monks working on the project at any one time, although the whole community had repaired the ancient foundations up to ground level.
Construction methods were primitive: wooden scaffolding was held together by ropes and no safety protection was worn by the monks. One monk fell 50 feet but survived. Three monks fell off a hoist without serious injury in 1931. Construction continued throughout World War I: some of the monks were of German nationality, but were not sent to an internment camp on condition that they remained confined to the Abbey grounds.
Buckfast was formally reinstated as an Abbey in 1902. Boniface Natter was blessed as the new abbot on 24 February 1903. Boniface Natter died at sea in 1906, when the SS Sirio was shipwrecked. His travelling companion Anscar Vonier became the next abbot and pledged to fulfill Natter's dying wish, to rebuild the abbey.
The only portion of the medieval claustral buildings which survives is the "much restored", former abbot's tower, which dates from 14th or 15th century. This was incorporated into the abbey's guesthouse, which was constructed between 1982 and 1994, when the abbey's precinct was rebuilt.
The abbey's former well, which was located in the crypt of the former abbey and which may have dated from Saxon times, was destroyed when the new abbey was built.
The final phase
The Abbey Church was consecrated on 25 August 1932, after most of the building had been completed. Construction of the tower was completed in July 1937, with painting completed in December. In 1968, Dom Charles Norris completed the east window in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel, using the dalle de verre technique where coloured-glass tiles are shaped and formed into mosaics bound with resin.Buckfast receives many visitors. Men are lodged in the guest house belonging to the monastery, and men and women in a restored building. Various tours are offered at the site. The hair shirt of Roman Catholic Saint Thomas More is now preserved at a side altar in the Abbey. In 2017, pipe organs were installed inside the Abbey church.
The grounds
There is a conference and seminar centre, and a restaurant, the Grange. On the west side of the Abbey are two gardens, with plants ranging from herbs used in cooking or medicine to poisonous plants. Behind the public area is an enclosed garden for the monks. A bridge leads over the river to the abbey farm.Buildings
The main building is the large cruciform church of 1906-38, dedicated to St Mary. Its style largely revives that of the late 12th century. This would be similar to the style of the original abbey, as depicted in the Buck Brothers' 1734 engraving. However, some features, like the tower, the use of vaulting throughout and the triforium, are more elaborate than the original church. Furthermore, the Blessed Sacrament chapel added to the east of the church in 1968 is in a more modern style. To the south of the church are the domestic buildings. These are arrayed around a central cloister, with the refectory in the south range and the monks' cells on the upper floors in the traditional manner. However, there are some discrepancies from the usual plan due to the incorporation of the medieval abbot's tower and the 19th century country house. For example, the chapter house is in a wing in the south-west corner, instead of in its usual position in the east range. The monastic buildings are in a similar style to the church.The core of the abbey still sits within a walled precinct, with medieval gates to the north and south, and a modern one to the west. To the west of the church is a large 14th century range which now houses the bookshop, but was originally the guest hall. It was twice its present height and width, but was reduced in size following the Dissolution. At right angles to it is a smaller 16th century range, which is better preserved, with an original roof. Next door is a small Methodist chapel, an unlikely bedfellow with the Catholic abbey, which was built in 1881, the year before the monks returned. Adjoining the Northgate is the Grange, built in 1990 as a restaurant and tearooms.