Editing Buckfast Abbey (section)

===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" />