Buckfast Abbey

A visit to Buckfast Abbey

This film shows the Benedictine Monastery of Buckfast Abbey with at its heart the Church of St Mary. Located near Buckfastleigh on the edge of Dartmoor and by the River Dart the Abbey is a popular attraction for visitors. The Cistercian ground plan with the church at its centre is built using local blue limestone with the turrets and west front Ham Hill stone quarried in Somerset. A photo shows the Benedictine monks completing the tower in 1937.

Buckfast is founded as a Saxon Monastery in 1018 during the reign of King Canute. The first Abbey is Benedictine and becomes a rebuilt Cistercian Abbey in 1147. The monastery is closed in 1539 under Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries following his break with Rome and the Roman Catholic Church. In 1882 exiled French monks returned to rebuild the Abbey to its former Cistercian plans and layout. Abbot Boniface Natter became the first to lead the Abbey in 1903. In 1932 the Abbey Church is consecrated. Visitors are drawn to the peace and tranquillity of this place, still home to a community of Benedictine Monks.