Description

BUCKFASTLEIGH

SX7467 BUCKFAST ROAD, Buckfast
1011-1/5/29 Abbey Church Of St Mary
10/01/51
(Formerly Listed as:
BUCKFAST ROAD, Buckfast
St Mary's Church, Buckfast Abbey)

GV II*

Abbey church. Built 1907-1932, on the foundations of the
medieval Cistercian abbey church (except the east end). FA
Walters. For the Benedictine monks who established a house
here in 1882. Most of the building work was carried out by a
small group of monks working under a master mason. Snecked
local grey limestone with Ham Hill dressings; copper roof.
Style "mixture of English Cistercian and French early Gothic"
(Pevsner). 1965 east end Blessed Sacrament chapel to the
designs of Paul Pearn.
Plan: church with 8-bay lean-to aisles plus galleried western
bay; central crossing tower; transepts with chapels; 3-bay
choir with choir aisles; east end Blessed Sacrament chapel
with undercroft.
EXTERIOR: west end of nave with flanking projecting buttresses
containing stairs to gallery, rising as pinnacles with broach
spire roofs, bases and pinnacles decorated with blind
arcading. Round-headed west doorway with shafts, left and
right shafts with cushion capitals and carved gable.
Doorway has 3 orders of zigzag, billet and chevron moulding on
engaged shafts; 2-leaf door with elaborate ironwork. Above the
doorway a recessed 3-centred blind moulded arch containing 2
round-headed windows with shafts and a roundel window above.
Above the archway blind arcading decorates the gable. West
ends of lean-to aisles have smaller versions of the buttresses
flanking the nave and paired round-headed openings (one blind)
with roundels above.
North side of 9-bay nave has pilasters and a corbelled
parapet. Round-headed triforium windows linked by string
rising as continuous hoodmould. Nave with parapet and
round-headed windows, the hoodmould string interrupted by the
pilasters. Small gabled porch in second bay from the west with
set-back buttresses, parapet and round-headed outer doorway
with shafts and chevron-carved arch. Easternmost 2 bays of
aisle with taller roof and blind arcading above the windows.
North end of north transept with tall paired arches containing
4 tiers of glazed blind and glazed windows, either
round-headed or roundels. East side of transept has one-bay
chapel. The choir continues in the same style with lean-to
choir aisle roofs. 1965 concrete east end chapel on 4 columns
with shallow gabled roof.
Tower with 3 stages above nave roof. Clasping pilasters;
corner pinnacles with 2 tiers of blind arcading and broach
spires, crow-stepped parapet. Lower stage has lancet windows
in round-headed recesses, middle stage has small lancet
windows in moulded arched recesses; 2-light plate-traceried
louvred belfry windows.
INTERIOR: Stone-vaulted, the aisles with transverse vaults.
Arcades with piers with engaged shafts and chamfred and
moulded arches. Nave rib vault with red sandstone infill.
Triforium has a pair of 2-light pointed arches to each bay
with super-ordinate round-headed blind arch. Aisle walls
decorated with blind round-headed recesses containing triple
round-headed arches on shafts with moulded bases and carved
capitals. Stone-vaulted west end gallery on piers with canted
bays to parapet. Tower arches on short paired shafts with
moulded bases and carved capitals. Crossing has corbelled
stone gallery; transepts have simple galleries on moulded
corbels with cast-iron railings.
Choir has similar detail to nave but carved, not moulded
capitals and stone infill to the vaulting of choir and choir
aisles. East end of sanctuary has 2 round-headed arches and 2
round-headed windows above the triforium with a central shaft
rising to a carving of the Coronation of the Virgin.
The furnishings, floors, painted decoration and stained glass
are unexpectedly lavish, particularly the outstanding
metalwork, which is mostly 1928-1932 by Bernhard Witte of
Aachen, inspired by German Romanesque metalwork and described
in some detail in Pevsner. The stained glass is a remarkable
collection, mostly still in the medievalising Victorian
tradition and of the highest quality. In addition the church
contains a C16 ivory crucifix donated by the Clifford family
of Ugbrooke, the leading Roman Catholic family in Devon. 1965
Blessed Sacrament chapel by Paul Pearn conceived as a setting
for ambitious mosaic stained glass designed by Father Charles
Norris, one of the Buckfast Abbey monks.
Historical note: the rebuilding of the abbey church by the
Buckfast monks was well-publicised in the national and local
press and one of the monks with an interest in photography
recorded much of the work: the archive is held by the abbey.
Buckfast Abbey became an important focus for Roman Catholicism
in Devon in the late C19 and C20 with the monks serving
private chapels in the area, including Ugbrooke in Chudleigh
for the Clifford family and Dundridge in Harberton for the
wife of Sir John Harvey.
(Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Devon: London: 1989-:
222-226).

Listing NGR: SX7414767411

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Buckfast Abbey at Wikipedia
• Buckfast Abbey official website
• Wikidata Q999611

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Farrow & Ball How to Decorate: Transform your home with paint & paper
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  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  For the Record