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Buckland Abbey is a Grade I listed^[1] 700-year-old house in Buckland Monachorum, near Yelverton, Devon, England, noted for its connection with Sir Richard Grenville the Younger and Sir Francis Drake. It is owned by the National Trust.

Monastic history

Buckland Abbey was founded as a Cistercian abbey in 1278^[2] by Amicia, Countess of Devon and was a daughter house of Quarr Abbey, on the Isle of Wight. The abbey of Quarr had close connections with the family, having been founded by Baldwin de Redvers, 1st Earl of Devon.^[3] It has been suggested that Buckfast was founded as a monument to her husband, Baldwin de Redvers, 6th Earl of Devon (d. 1245) and her son, also Baldwin (d. 1262).^[3] Amicia started to make arrangements for the foundation in 1273.^[3] It was one of the last Cistercian houses founded in England and also the most westerly. The remains of the church are about 37.6 metres (123 ft) long. The width across the transepts is 28 metres (92 ft). The nave and presbytery are 10.1 metres (33 ft) wide. For its late date, the church was unusually simple, being without aisles.^[3] Most of this church survives within the present house - the arches supporting the tower can be seen in the top floor, and one of the transept chapels retains its vault. The monks would have lived in buildings around a cloister to the north of the church. These have disappeared, but the building now called Tower Cottage may have been part of the abbot's house.^[3]

The initial endowment was large - as well as the manors of Buckland, Bickleigh and Walkhampton, and the estate at Cullompton, the Exeter diocese episcopal registers show the abbey managed five granges at Buckland plus the home farm at the abbey. In total, this amounted to over 20,000 acres (8097 hectares).^[3] A market and fair at Buckland and Cullompton were granted in 1318. In 1337 King Edward III granted the monks a licence to crenellate, allowing them to fortify the abbey.

In the 15th century the monks built a Tithe Barn which is 180 feet (55 m) long and survives to this day. It is Grade I listed^[4] Another survival is a building now known as the Guest House, but probably originally 14th or 15th century stabling.^[3]

It remained an abbey until the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII. At this time the revenues were placed at £241 17s. 9d. per annum^[5] (equivalent to £205,100 in 2023).^[6] This put it among the larger houses that survived the first wave of closures. At the eventual suppression in 1539, Abbot John Toker was given a yearly pension of £60 (equivalent to £50,900 in 2023),^[6] and the remaining twelve monks shared £54 10s. 6d.

Abbots

Robert
Galfridus ca. 1304
Thomas ca. 1311
William ca. 1333
Thomas Wappelegh ca. 1356
John Bryton 1385
Walter ca. 1392
Wiliam Rolff ca. 1442 - 1449
John Spore 1449 - 1454
John Hylle 1454 - 1463
Thomas Olyver 1463 - ????
John Brandon
Thomas Whyte ca.1511 - ca.1528
John Toker or Tucker 1528 - 1539 (afterwards Rector of St Andrew's Church, Buckland Monachorum)^[7]

Post monastic history

In 1541 Henry sold Buckland to Sir Richard Grenville the Elder (Sewer of the Chamber to Henry VIII, poet, soldier, last Earl Marshal of Calais) who, working with his son Sir Roger Grenville (Gentleman of the Privy Chamber of Henry VIII, captain of the ill-fated Mary Rose), began to convert the abbey into a residence, renaming it Buckland Greynvile or Grenville. Sir Roger died in 1545 when the Mary Rose heeled over in a sudden squall while the English fleet was engaged with the French fleet in the English Channel off Portsmouth. He left a son aged 3, also named Richard Grenville, who completed the conversion in 1575–76.

After being owned by the family for 40 years, Buckland Greynvile was sold by Sir Richard the younger to two intermediaries in 1581, who unknown to Grenville, were working for Sir Francis Drake, whom he despised. By this point its value had increased to £3400.^[3]

The abbey is unusual in that the church was retained as the principal component of the new house whilst most of the remainder was demolished, which was a reversal of the normal outcome with this type of redevelopment. The main external changes were the demolition of the transepts, to let light into a central hall under the tower, and the addition of a new service wing on the south side.^[3]

Drake lived in the house for 15 years, as did many of his collateral descendants. In 1796-1801 major alterations were made, and further work was done after a fire in 1915.^[3] In the early 20th century the abbey was inhabited by the Dowager Lady Seaton, born Elisabeth Fuller-Elliot-Drake, who died on 9 May 1937.^[8] The next year, another fire devastated the house.^[3] Lady Seaton left a life interest to Captain Richard Owen Tapps Gervis Meyrick.^[9] In 1946 he sold it to Captain Arthur Rodd,^[10] who presented the property to the National Trust in 1947.^[11]

Buckland today

Following a restoration between 1948 and 1951 which cost around £20,000 (equivalent to £790,000 in 2023),^[6] largely funded by the Pilgrim Trust^[12] the property has been open to the public since 1951 and is operated by the National Trust with the assistance of Plymouth City Council — the Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery use the building to house part of their collection. The collection is noted for the presence of "Drake's Drum". A number of independent craft workshops are located in the converted ox sheds. The Cider House garden includes both a wild garden and a kitchen garden. There is also a medieval Great Barn next to the house.^[13]

In March 2013 the portrait of a man wearing a white feathered bonnet was re-attributed to Rembrandt by the Rembrandt expert Ernst van de Wetering. In June 2014, after eight months of work at the Hamilton Kerr Institute, the painting's authenticity was confirmed and its value estimated at £30m.^[14]

Tower
Tithe barn

Costume Group

The National Trust Costume Group operate at Buckland Abbey, creating authentic Elizabethan costumes using traditional materials and methods. There is a complete Francis Drake costume, based on the famous portrait of Drake in the National Portrait Gallery, London, and the group are currently working on a costume for Lady Drake, also based on a portrait.^[15]

Portrait of Sir Francis Drake, National Gallery (artist unknown, c. 1580)
The completed Francis Drake Costume with Linda Bainbridge, a member of the Costume Group

References

^ Historic England. "Buckland Abbey (Grade I) (1163369)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
^ Pevsner, Nikolaus (1952). The Buildings of England. South Devon. Penguin Books. p. 70.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k Robinson, David (1998). The Cistercian Abbeys of Britain. London: Batsford. pp. 76–78.
^ Historic England. "Tithe Barn directly to east of Buckland Abbey (Grade I) (1105493)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
^ Rowe, J. Brooking (1875). "The Cistercian Houses of Devon. Buckland". Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature, and Art. 7: 329–366. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
^ ^a ^b ^c UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
^ Oliver, George (1846). Monasticon Diocesis Exoniensis. Hannaford, Longman. p. 380.
^ "Dowager Lady Seaton. Death at Buckland Abbey". Exeter and Plymouth Gazette. England. 14 May 1937. Retrieved 30 September 2019 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "Bequests by Lady Seaton". Western Morning News. 21 October 1937. Retrieved 15 October 2019 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "Buckland Abbey Sold Privately". Western Times. England. 22 November 1946. Retrieved 30 September 2019 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "Buckland Abbey for the Nation". Western Times. England. 20 June 1947. Retrieved 30 September 2019 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "Buckland Abbey". Western Morning News. England. 15 April 1950. Retrieved 30 September 2019 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ National Trust
^ "Buckland Abbey Rembrandt self-portrait is genuine". BBC News. 10 June 2014.
^ Green, David (ed.). "Buckland Abbey". Visually Impaired Person Awareness. Retrieved 15 July 2024.