Reasons for Designation
From the time of St Augustine's mission to re-establish Christianity in AD 597
to the reign of Henry VIII, monasticism formed an important facet of both
religious and secular life in the British Isles. Settlements of religious
communities, including monasteries, were built to house communities of monks,
canons (priests), and sometimes lay-brothers, living a common life of
religious observance under some form of systematic discipline. It is estimated
from documentary evidence that over 700 monasteries were founded in England.
These ranged in size from major communities with several hundred members to
tiny establishments with a handful of brethren. They belonged to a wide
variety of different religious orders, each with its own philosophy. As a
result, they vary considerably in the detail of their appearance and layout,
although all possess the basic elements of church, domestic accommodation for
the community, and work buildings. Monasteries were inextricably woven into
the fabric of medieval society, acting not only as centres of worship,
learning and charity, but also, because of the vast landholdings of some
orders, as centres of immense wealth and political influence. They were
established in all parts of England, some in towns and others in the remotest
of areas. Many monasteries acted as the foci of wide networks including parish
churches, almshouses, hospitals, farming estates and tenant villages. Some 75
of these religious houses belonged to the Cistercian order founded by St
Bernard of Clairvaux in the 12th century. The Cistercians - or "white monks",
on account of their undyed habits - led a harsher life than earlier monastic
orders, believing in the virtue of a life of austerity, prayer and manual
labour. Seeking seclusion, they founded their houses in wild and remote areas
where they undertook major land improvement projects. Their communities were
often very large and included many lay brethren who acted as ploughmen,
dairymen, shepherds, carpenters and masons. The Cistercians' skills as farmers
eventually made the order one of the richest and most influential. They were
especially successful in the rural north of England where they concentrated on
sheep farming. The Cistercians made a major contribution to many facets of
medieval life and all of their monasteries which exhibit significant surviving
archaeological remains are worthy of protection.
Buckland Abbey was one of the last Cistercian houses to be founded in
England and it was also the most westerly. The Great Barn is one of the
largest medieval barns remaining in the country. The presence of quarries from
which stone was derived for the construction of the abbey is also an unusual
feature. The abbey was converted into an Elizabethan mansion by Sir Richard
Grenville and subsequently became the home of Sir Francis Drake, two important
figures in the history of Elizabethan England who have acquired an heroic and
legendry national identity. Drake also has international historical
connections. Grenville's adaptation of the abbey church into a dwelling,
rather than the more usual adaptation of part of a claustral range, is of
interest. In particular, the conversion of the presbytery, the most sacred
part of the abbey, into a serving area between the hall and kitchens,
demonstrates an aggressive invasion of the secular into a sacred space which
gives an insight into the emergence and growth of rationalism and sectarianism
following the Reformation, and Grenville's understanding and interpretation of
these trends in thought.
Details
The monument includes much of the surviving remains of Buckland Abbey which
are situated between the village of Buckland Monachorum and the hamlet of
Milton Combe on the eastern side of the valley of the River Tavy some six
kilometers above its confluence with the Tamar. It lies within a small
sheltered cleave on the south side of a small tributary stream of the Tavy, on
ground sloping down to the north west. The monument includes the upstanding
and buried remains of an abbey of the Cistercian Order in occupation from
c.1278 until 1539.
The abbey conforms to the traditional monastic plan in which a church and
three ranges of buildings were grouped around the central open square court of
the cloister, with ancillary buildings farther from the nucleus. The visible
remains exist as a number of adapted structures, consisting of substantial
parts of the abbey church incorporated into a later mansion, part of the
cloister, a barn, a farm building (guesthouse), part of the abbot's lodgings
incorporated into a later structure, part of a precinct wall, and two main
areas of earthworks. The buried remains are extensive and include the
claustral ranges, graveyard, a gatehouse, buildings forming the home farm, and
the water management system.
The walls are constructed of random rubble utilising shillet, with the
moulded stone and most quoins in granite. In general the buildings were
terraced into the higher ground to the south east.
The abbey church is of late 13th-early 14th century date, of cruciform plan,
aligned ENE-WSW. The most substantial remains are those of the tower over the
crossing which forms the focal point of the later mansion and survives to a
height of over 18m beneath a modified parapet. The tower retains the moulded
piers and arches of the crossing incorporated into its walls. Those of the
nave, chancel and north transept are visible within the mansion, and those of
the south transept form a decorative feature in the external wall face. The
chasing of the high pitched roof lines of the transepts are visible in the
wall faces. The walls of the nave and presbytery exist almost to roof height
with the remains of some window arches and windows incorporated into the later
structure. The transepts were each of two bays, aisled on their east sides to
contain two chapels. In the southern chapel of the north transept the ribbed
vaulted ceiling remains intact. The existing remains of the church are about
37.6m in length, with a width across the transepts of 28m. The nave and
presbytery were 10.1m in width, and were apparently unaisled. The presbytery
had two bays, and retains the remains of the east window, with the springing
for the vaulted ceiling visible on the second floor of the mansion. The area
of the high altar was excavated early in the 20th century. The length of the
existing nave is 17.9m, with four bays, although the dimensions of the
cloister indicate that the original nave may have been longer by two or three
bays. The monastic graveyard was sited to the south west of the abbey church;
five burials were revealed in this area in 1993 during work to improve
drainage.
The cloister stood to the north of the church and was about 30m square,
terraced into the natural ground slope. The south wall of the north range of
the cloister acted as a retaining wall and has been incorporated into the
later property boundary. The medieval wall is some 30m in length and stands to
a height of 3.3m. The 16m length forming the eastern half includes five
blocked windows with wide splays on the inside. The north face of this section
has an inset for a floor below the windows, and beneath that includes sections
of six arches. It appears that due to the ground slope, access into this range
from the cloister would have been, unusually, at first floor level.
Excavations in 1984 on the north side of the west end of the wall revealed a
complex sequence of medieval activity in the form of floor levels and wall
footings. The north range would have contained the refectory (dining hall)
and kitchens. In the traditional Cistercian layout the refectory was
positioned with its long axis at right-angles to the north range so that it
would have projected from the cloister. Some 20m north of the existing wall of
the cloister is the Cider House, an extensively modernised dwelling which
includes some medieval features in its southern end. The position of this
building suggests that it probably incorporates the northern end of the
refectory.
To the east of the Cider House stands a modernised building incorporating
part of the abbot's lodgings in the form of a three storeyed tower of 15th
century date, known as Tower House. This building is illustrated in an
engraving dated 1734. The tower appears to have formed the north east corner
of a larger building. It has angled buttresses on its outer corners and
another buttress on the north side. At second floor level the north and east
faces are framed in unique decorative friezes that include small flowers. The
tower has a pentagonal stair turret projecting from the south side and
extending above the embattled roof to form a turret. The ground floor is set
into the rising ground to the south east. It has a blocked door on the north
side and, internally, a blocked arch leading eastward into an underground
space of unknown extent. Access to the tower and stair is now gained from the
stables adjoining the east side of the tower.
Some 20m to the east of the church stands the monastic Great Barn, a complete,
free-standing rectangular structure of early 14th century date, with some
later modifications, measuring 50m by 19m overall. It is buttressed all
around, has slit windows splayed internally with rounded arches, and a wooden
roof of 20 bays, now slate covered. In the centres of its longest sides
there are substantial external porches, with doors set in large pointed arches
in moulded stone matching those of the church. Both porches have an upper
floor.
Some 20m to the east of the barn stands a farm building (guesthouse), a
complete, free-standing rectangular structure of early 14th century date, with
many later modifications, measuring 33.4m by 7.4m overall. The building is two
storeyed and slopes downwards markedly from east to west. The ground level on
its south side has been raised so that access on that side is now at first
floor level. Excavations and an analysis of the standing structure in 1987
revealed that the building was intended for storage and housing animals, with
an upper floor only at each end and the central bays open to the roof. In the
mid-15th century the west end of the building was converted into accommodation
through the addition of an internal dividing wall, a fireplace and larger
windows.
An essential part of the design of all abbeys was the provision of a supply
of fresh running water. At Buckland the main water source was the stream to
the north of the claustral ranges. The stream feeds a small pond which is
retained by an earth dam and held within vertical stone rubble retaining walls
of some 2m depth. Water from the dam is then culverted in the area where the
kitchens and reredorter buildings (latrines) were situated.
The land forming the monastic precinct was traditionally enclosed behind a
wall, and contained, in addition to the nucleus of the church and cloister,
all the buildings and structures, both agricultural and industrial, associated
with the degree of self sufficiency that the abbey was capable of sustaining.
At Buckland part of the line of the precinct has been identified with two
short lengths of walling. Adjacent to the south east corner of the barn there
is a substantial wall some 10m in length and 4.5m high which includes two slit
windows, internally splayed with round headed arches. There is an inset
beneath the windows that probably indicates a floor level. A longer section of
walling survives to the east of the Linhay, it has four slit windows of
identical design, but no inset. Both sections of wall contain putlog
(scaffolding) holes.
In a field in the valley to the west of the abbey there are extensive low
earthworks associated with the stream which include terraced areas, the site
of a large pond retained by a dam, and drainage channels with stone revetted
sections of their banks. The southern edge of the field is bounded by a track
leading to the river. To the east of the abbey, a field contains earthworks
in the form of terraced areas and a linear bank, and archaeological
excavations in this area in 1987 revealed medieval and Iron Age activity.
To the north east of the abbey church the rising ground contains three
quarries from which shillet (Upper Devonian slate) was derived in the
construction of the abbey. The western quarry is the lowest; it is roughly
circular, some 30m across, with a flat floor, and a vertical face of some 6m
height to the north, sloping down on both sides to a wide entrance to the
south west. Small areas of exposed bedrock remain visible in the north and
west faces. The middle quarry is elongated, of some 40m length and 20m width,
and is at its greatest depth of some 6m to the north, sloping down on both
sides to ground level to the south west. A small area of bedrock remains
visible in the lower part of the west face. The floor is uneven, sloping up to
the north, with substantial spoil tips at the entrance to the south west. The
east quarry is the highest and smallest, defined by a vertical rockface
forming its northern limit. The quarry face is about 16m across and 3.5m high,
and consists, in plan, of two clearly defined rectangular cuts, the east cut
being deeper and extending farther north. The floor of the west cut is
obscured by spoil tips. Beyond the spoil tips the southern extent of the
quarry is obscured; a visible depression further down the slope may be the
course of a hollow way.
The abbey was founded in c.1278 by Amicia, Countess of Devon following her
grant to the Cistercian Order of the adjoining manors of Buckland, Bickleigh
and Walkhampton, together with the east Devon manor of Cullompton. The abbey
was colonised by monks from Quarr Abbey in the Isle of Wight, and dedicated to
St Benedict. Buckland was the last rural Cistercian foundation in England and
owned a substantial tract of land in south west Devon. The episcopal registers
of the bishops of Exeter attribute five granges to Buckland in addition to the
home farm at the abbey. The registers refer to the grant of a market and fair
at Buckland and Cullompton in 1318, and the impoverishment of the abbey
following the Black Death in 1349. They state that in 1337 Edward III granted
the abbey a licence to crenellate, and in 1522 refer to the existence of a
west gate furnished with an upper room. The registers also give an insight
into a number of local disputes. At the dissolution there was an abbot and 12
monks in residence.
The Abbey was dissolved in 1539 when the largest and wealthiest religious
houses were surrendered to Henry VIII. The inventory of the property includes
(in addition to the church and claustral ranges), houses, buildings, barns,
tenements, burial ground and pools, within and near to the precinct.
A condition of the subsequent sale of these sites was that the buildings were
to be rendered unfit for monastic use, and this was greatly assisted by the
crowns sequestration of the roofing lead.
In 1539 the abbey and home farm were leased to George Pollard and in 1541
sold by the Crown to the Grenville family. The inventory of the sale includes
a list of the fields adjoining the abbey in which `Quarry Park' is named, and
this field is referred to again in relation to two small meadows said to lie
adjacent to it. By 1576 Sir Richard Grenville had completed the conversion of
the church into an Elizabethan mansion. The west end of the nave was shortened
by two or three bays and converted into a great hall with a large fireplace,
panelling and decorative plasterwork, and a screens passage at the east end in
the crossing of the church. Both transepts were removed, although three of the
side chapels were retained, and the church tower remained standing to its full
height. A staircase was added to the west of the south transept leading to two
floors of apartments above the hall. A service wing was added, extending
southwards from the south side of the presbytery, and this contained a
kitchen with two large fireplaces and four charcoal burning ovens. The
serving area occupied the former presbytery. The service wing also contained
two upper floors of apartments. In 1581 the property was sold to Sir Francis
Drake and remained with that family until 1946. In the later 18th century a
staircase was inserted in the service wing and the windows throughout the
house replaced in gothic styling. An engraving of 1734 shows the mansion with
the north transept of the church intact and abutted by a series of roofed
structures standing on the alignment of the east claustral range of the abbey.
These structures remained standing until 1769. In the early 19th century an
excavation was undertaken in the former presbytery which revealed the base of
the high altar; this area was subsequently converted into a chapel. In 1938
the two upper floors of the west wing were severly damaged by fire and were
extensively restored. In 1949 the house was given to the National Trust.
The mansion and Great Barn are Listed Grade I, the guesthouse Listed Grade
II*, the Cider House, Tower House and garden wall are each Listed Grade II.
Two sets of gate piers, the Linhay, Calf Pens, kitchen garden wall, cart shed
and Place Barton House, all structures of post medieval date, are Listed Grade
II.
A number of features are excluded from the scheduling; these are the mansion,
the Great Barn, Place Barton House, the Calf Pens, the Cart Shed, the Linhay,
the Cider House, and the northern part of Tower House (which is in use as a
residence, known as Tower Cottage), the lean-to stable and shed which abut
Tower House, all free-standing post medieval structures, all post medieval
garden walls, road surfaces, driveways, and paths, all fence and gate posts,
and the cottages associated with the Cider House are excluded; although the
ground beneath all of these features is included.
The farm building (Monk's guesthouse) and the ground beneath it which has been
totally excavated are totally excluded from the scheduling.
MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
