Editing Buckfast Abbey (section)

==History==
===Early history===
[[File:Buckfast Abbey, Nave I.jpg|thumb|The nave of the Abbey church is in a mixture of Romanesque and Gothic styles]]
The first abbey at Buckfast was founded as a [[Benedictine Order|Benedictine]] monastery in 1018.<ref name=beattie83>Beattie 83.</ref><ref name=AE>{{cite book|last=Emery|first=Anthony|title=Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales, 1300–1500, Volume 3|year=2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781139449199|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g7EXvaDEYioC&q=Greater+Medieval+Houses+of+England+and+Wales,+1300|access-date=19 September 2020|archive-date=24 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210724115709/https://books.google.com/books?id=g7EXvaDEYioC&dq=Greater+Medieval+Houses+of+England+and+Wales%2C+1300|url-status=live}}</ref> The abbey was believed to be founded by either Aethelweard (Aylward), Earldorman of Devon,<ref name=AE/> or [[King Cnut]].<ref name=PS/> 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.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Reynolds |first1=Andrew |last2=Turner |first2=Sam |title=Discovery of a late Anglo-Saxon monastic site in Devon: Holy Trinity church, Buckfastleigh |journal=Archaeology International |date=2004 |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=22–25 |doi=10.5334/ai.0807 |doi-access=free|url=https://journals.uclpress.co.uk/ai/article/id/1259/ |access-date=6 February 2024 |publisher=UCL Press |location=London |issn=2048-4194}}</ref><ref name=Sax>{{cite web|last=Buckfast Abbey|title=Saxon and Savignac Buckfast|url=http://www.buckfast.org.uk/site.php?id=95|access-date=1 February 2014|archive-date=27 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140227033312/http://www.buckfast.org.uk/site.php?id=95|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1134<ref name=AE/> or 1136,<ref name=Sax/><ref name=beattie83/> the abbey was established in its current position, [[Stephen of England|King Stephen]] having granted Buckfast to the French [[Savigny Abbey|Abbot of Savigny]]. This second abbey was home to [[Congregation of Savigny|Savignac]] monks. In 1147 the Savignac congregation merged with the Cistercian, and the abbey thereby became a [[Cistercian]] monastery.<ref name=AE/> Following the conversion to the Cistercian Congregation, the abbey was rebuilt in stone.<ref name=Cis>{{cite web|last=Buckfast Abbey|title=Cistercian Buckfast|url=http://www.buckfast.org.uk/site.php?id=97|access-date=1 February 2014|archive-date=27 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140227033309/http://www.buckfast.org.uk/site.php?id=97|url-status=live}}</ref> Limited excavation work undertaken in 1882 revealed that the monastery was built to the standard plan for Cistercian monasteries.<ref name=PS/> At an uncertain point in the late 12th or 13th centuries the church was extended with aisles added to the [[Chancel|presbytery]]. The buttressed chapel at the east end was probably a 14th century addition, and may have been a [[Lady chapel|Lady Chapel]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Robinson |first=David |title=The Cistercian Abbeys of Britain |publisher=Batsford |year=1998 |location=London |pages=75–76}}</ref> This would be unusual in a Cistercian abbey, as normally the entire church was dedicated to [[Mary, mother of Jesus|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 [[River Dart|the Dart]] and [[River Avon (Devon)|the Avon]], and a country house for the abbot at [[Kingsbridge]]".<ref name=AE/> At Kingsbridge the abbey had the rights to a weekly market and an annual fair, leading to the growth of the town.<ref name=":0" /> 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.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sbfms1oJn8MC|title=Hidden Britain|first=Tom|last=Quinn|year=2008|publisher=New Holland Publishers|isbn=9781847731296|page=18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170925230032/https://books.google.ca/books?id=Sbfms1oJn8MC|archive-date=25 September 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":0" />

By the 16th century, the abbey was in decline. Only 22 new monks were [[tonsure]]d between 1500 and 1539, and at the time of the abbey's dissolution in 1539, there were only 10 monks in residence.<ref name="buckfast.org.uk">{{cite web|url=https://www.buckfast.org.uk/history|title=History of Buckfast Abbey|website=Buckfast Abbey|access-date=25 September 2017|archive-date=23 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170923051050/https://www.buckfast.org.uk/history|url-status=live}}</ref> However, it was still one of the richer abbeys in the country, being assessed at £466 in the [[Valor Ecclesiasticus]] survey of 1535.<ref name=":0" />

===Dissolution===
The last Abbot, [[Gabriel Donne]] (d.1558), 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.<ref name=Dis>{{cite web|last=Buckfast Abbey|title=Dissolution at Buckfast|url=http://www.buckfast.org.uk/site.php?id=101|access-date=1 February 2014|archive-date=27 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140227033429/http://www.buckfast.org.uk/site.php?id=101|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Timeline of the Abbey’s History">{{cite web|url=http://www.buckfast.org.uk/uploads/pdf/timeline.pdf|title=Timeline of the Abbey's History|website=buckfast.org.uk|access-date=25 September 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140227033307/http://www.buckfast.org.uk/uploads/pdf/timeline.pdf|archive-date=27 February 2014}}</ref>

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,<ref name="Timeline of the Abbey’s History"/> and Sir [[Thomas Denys]] (c.1477–1561) of [[Holcombe Burnell]]<ref>{{cite DNB|wstitle= Donne, Gabriel |volume= 15 |last= Kingsford |first= Charles Lethbridge |author-link= Charles Lethbridge Kingsford |page= 223 |year=  |short=1}} quoting: "Oliver, Monasticon Diœcesis Exoniensis, p. 372"</ref> in Devon. Denys had married Donne's sister Elizabeth and was [[Chamberlain (office)|Chamberlain of the Household]] to [[Thomas Wolsey|Cardinal Wolsey]].

===After dissolution===
Following dissolution, the abbey site and its lands were granted by the crown to Sir [[Thomas Denys]] (c.1477–1561) of [[Holcombe Burnell]], near Exeter, who stripped the buildings and "reduced them to ruins".<ref name=AE/><ref name=EH>{{PastScape|mname=St Mary's Abbey|mnumber=444830|access-date=1 February 2014}}</ref> The abbey site was subsequently used as a stone quarry.<ref name=PS/>

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.<ref name=AE/><ref name=EH/> 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.<ref name=AE/>

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.<ref name="buckfast.org.uk"/>

===Reconstruction===
In 1880 the {{interlanguage link|Abbaye Sainte-Marie de la Pierre-qui-Vire|fr}} was suppressed under a new French law and some of the monks went to [[St Augustine's Abbey, Ramsgate|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.<ref name=beattie83/><ref name=Little>{{cite book|last=Little|first=Bryan|title=Abbeys and Priories in England and Wales}}</ref><ref name=Smith>[http://www.monlib.org.uk/papers/ebch/1996smith.pdf Smith, Leo. "The Life and Work of Abbot Anscar Vonier", English Benedictine Congregation History Commission, 1996]</ref> 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.<ref name=AE/> A temporary church was constructed to the south of these new buildings, with the current abbey church constructed between 1906 and 1938,<ref name=beattie83/> mostly on the footprint of the Cistercian Abbey. The east-end does not follow the original plan.<ref name=Little/><ref name=AE/><ref name=EH/> The new abbey church was built in the "Norman Transitional and Early English" styles, to the designs of architect [[Frederick Walters|Frederick Arthur Walters]].<ref name=EH/> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Buckfast History – Buckfast Abbey |url=https://www.buckfast.org.uk/buckfast-history/ |access-date=2024-12-02 |language=en-GB}}</ref>

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.{{citation needed|date=February 2014}} 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.{{citation needed|date=February 2014}}

Buckfast was formally reinstated as an Abbey in 1902. [[Boniface Natter]] was blessed as the new abbot on 24 February 1903.<ref name=WS>{{cite web|title=Buckfast Abbey|url=http://www.westcountryscenes.co.uk/HTM_Files/Places/Buckfast%20Abbey-over.htm|work=Westcountry Scenes|access-date=1 February 2014|archive-date=27 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927142046/http://www.westcountryscenes.co.uk/HTM_Files/Places/Buckfast%20Abbey-over.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=JSTOR/> Boniface Natter died at sea in 1906, when the [[SS Sirio|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.<ref name=JSTOR>{{cite journal|year=1922|title=The Benedictines in England|journal=[[The Catholic Historical Review]]|volume=8|issue=3|pages=425–32|jstor=25011898}}</ref>

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.<ref name="PS">{{PastScape|mname=Buckfast Abbey|mnumber=1266782|access-date=1 February 2014}}</ref> This was incorporated into the abbey's guesthouse, which was constructed between 1982 and 1994, when the abbey's precinct was rebuilt.<ref name="AE" />
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.<ref name="AE" /> 

====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.<ref name="buckfast.org.uk"/> 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 [[mosaic]]s bound with resin.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.buckfast.org.uk/modernhistory |title=Modern History |access-date=11 February 2019 |archive-date=10 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180810110555/https://www.buckfast.org.uk/modernhistory |url-status=live }}</ref>
 
Buckfast receives many visitors. Men are lodged in the guest house belonging to the monastery, and men and women in a restored building.<ref name=beattie83/> Various tours are offered at the site.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.buckfast.org.uk/whats-on|title=What's on Buckfast Abbey|website=Buckfast Abbey|access-date=25 September 2017|archive-date=26 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170926042520/https://www.buckfast.org.uk/whats-on|url-status=live}}</ref> The hair shirt of Roman Catholic Saint [[Thomas More]] is now preserved at a side altar in the Abbey.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2016/st-thomas-mores-hair-shirt-now-enshrined-for-public-veneration.cfm|title=St. Thomas More's hair shirt now enshrined for public veneration|author=Simon Caldwell|date=21 November 2016|website=Catholic News Service|access-date=24 July 2017|archive-date=25 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170925230645/http://www.catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2016/st-thomas-mores-hair-shirt-now-enshrined-for-public-veneration.cfm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://royalcentral.co.uk/historic/st-thomas-mores-hair-shirt-enshrined-for-public-veneration-72241|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161127140551/http://royalcentral.co.uk/historic/st-thomas-mores-hair-shirt-enshrined-for-public-veneration-72241|url-status=dead|archive-date=27 November 2016|title=St Thomas More's Hair Shirt Enshrined for Public Veneration|author=Christian Mills|date=26 November 2016|website=Royal Central}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dioceseofshrewsbury.org/news/hair-shirt-worn-st-thomas-enshrined-public-veneration-possibly-first-time|title=Hair-shirt worn by St Thomas More is enshrined for public veneration for possibly the first time|website=The Diocese of Shrewsbury|access-date=25 September 2017|archive-date=25 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170925230945/http://www.dioceseofshrewsbury.org/news/hair-shirt-worn-st-thomas-enshrined-public-veneration-possibly-first-time|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2017, pipe organs were installed inside the Abbey church.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ruffatti.com/en/news-on-the-buckfast-abbey-organ-devon-england/|title=News on the Buckfast Abbey organ, Devon, England|website=The Ruffatti Brothers|access-date=25 September 2017|archive-date=25 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170925230725/http://ruffatti.com/en/news-on-the-buckfast-abbey-organ-devon-england/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.buckfast.org.uk/|title=Homepage|website=Buckfast Abbey|access-date=25 September 2017|archive-date=21 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170921001511/https://www.buckfast.org.uk/|url-status=live}}</ref>