Buckfast Abbey, Holy Trinity Church and Combestone Tor
At last, some pictures of a monastery! The photos of Buckfast were taken at different times of day, so no, the sun does not race back and forth across the sky at Buckfast.
The Abbey church from the, uh, North-West-ish. Yes, it is this beautiful in real life.
The West end of the Abbey church and the entrance to the Monastery and monastery guest house. Just beyond the door is also a parlour with a fantastic chair that seems to be a favourite for sitting in when hearing Confession.
A shot of the west side of the monastery. On the right is the Abbot's Tower - which was part of the original Cistercian House. It survived the destruction of the Abbey in the sixteenth century (the monastic guesthouse was originally the mansion house built after the Reformation with materials from the original Abbey - hence the difference in appearence between these two parts and the rest of the House). In between the guesthouse and the Abbot's Tower is the library.
A closer (but not by much) shot of the door to the Monastery. The emblem above the main doorway is PAX.
Looking towards Southgate, the "outside" guesthouse, where women as well as men stay. This building is part of the old medieval complex; it was one of the guesthouses of the old Abbey. The archway was (and still is!) the southern entrance into the monastery complex.
The beginning of the "Abbot's Way". This trail across Dartmoor, marked by stone crosses, led from Buckfast to Buckland Abbey, another Cistercian abbey on the West side of the moor. Like all other religious houses in the country, Buckland's monastic life was cut short at the Dissolution and passed into the Drake family (of Sir Francis Drake fame). It is now owned by the National Trust.
Buckfast attracts many tourists each year, and on the "public" side of the Abbey church there's much for them to visit. In particular there are three gardens, of which this, the Lavender Garden, is probably my favourite. This is the statue of Our Lady holding the Child Jesus which looks over the garden, which has dozens of different types of lavender growing in it.
Our Lord has unfortunately lost his arms in this statue. There's probably a whole story behind that. I do know that the following exchange was heard between two visitors in front of the statue:
A: Who do you think it's a statue of?
B: Victoria and Albert.
Buckfast owns some hives and the honey produced contributes to the Abbey's income. Brother Adam did much work in the last century in bee-keeping and a new breed of bee, the Buckfast Bee, was developed. This breed is, I'm told, sturdy, produces lots of honey and is very resistant to disease. I believe that most of the Abbey's hives are up on Dartmoor, where there are fewer risks of interacting with other bees.
A wider view of the Lavender Garden.
Holy Trinity Church stands atop the hill between Buckfast and Buckfastleigh. A church has been there since pre-Reformation times, and was the local parish church. At the dissolution the Abbey's bells were confiscated and placed in Holy Trinity's tower.
In 1992 an arson attack left the church roofless, and the decision was made not to restore it. However, the tower and belfry are still in working order. VA and I walked up here one afternoon after having absconded (tee-hee!) from the Abbey to get Fish Shop Chips.
This is the cross atop the east end of the church.
A window in the North wall.
The South aisle entrance and porch. The South and West side of the church are surrounded by the graveyard.
The East end, where the High Altar stood. You can see the old piscina on the south wall of the sanctuary. I find this to be quite a poignant photo.
Fr. Sebastian offered to take us onto the moor! This is Combestone Tor, to the north of the village of Holne.
Dartmoor is characterised by tors: years of weathering (and it gets pretty wet and windy up there, it's wonderful!) wear away the softer earth and rock, but the granite underneath, being that much harder, remains for much longer. But there will be more shots of tors later....
Of course we all tumbled out of the car and started scrambling up these granite outcrops, whilst Fr. Sebastian looked on bemusedly. The scene must have been somewhat reminiscent of a Dad taking his over-active teenagers out on a trip.
Dartmoor is beautiful, wild and desolate. I love it up there! Like the ocean, you have to respect it, because if you're not sensible then it can pick you up, thrash you about and leave you for dead (which is actually pretty likely by that point). But yes, more on Dartmoor later.
As proof that VA and I were really at Buckfast:
It's only fitting that the parting pic for this post is of the Abbey church.
Our Lady of Buckfast, pray for us!
The Abbey church from the, uh, North-West-ish. Yes, it is this beautiful in real life.
The West end of the Abbey church and the entrance to the Monastery and monastery guest house. Just beyond the door is also a parlour with a fantastic chair that seems to be a favourite for sitting in when hearing Confession.
A shot of the west side of the monastery. On the right is the Abbot's Tower - which was part of the original Cistercian House. It survived the destruction of the Abbey in the sixteenth century (the monastic guesthouse was originally the mansion house built after the Reformation with materials from the original Abbey - hence the difference in appearence between these two parts and the rest of the House). In between the guesthouse and the Abbot's Tower is the library.
A closer (but not by much) shot of the door to the Monastery. The emblem above the main doorway is PAX.
Looking towards Southgate, the "outside" guesthouse, where women as well as men stay. This building is part of the old medieval complex; it was one of the guesthouses of the old Abbey. The archway was (and still is!) the southern entrance into the monastery complex.
The beginning of the "Abbot's Way". This trail across Dartmoor, marked by stone crosses, led from Buckfast to Buckland Abbey, another Cistercian abbey on the West side of the moor. Like all other religious houses in the country, Buckland's monastic life was cut short at the Dissolution and passed into the Drake family (of Sir Francis Drake fame). It is now owned by the National Trust.
Buckfast attracts many tourists each year, and on the "public" side of the Abbey church there's much for them to visit. In particular there are three gardens, of which this, the Lavender Garden, is probably my favourite. This is the statue of Our Lady holding the Child Jesus which looks over the garden, which has dozens of different types of lavender growing in it.
Our Lord has unfortunately lost his arms in this statue. There's probably a whole story behind that. I do know that the following exchange was heard between two visitors in front of the statue:
A: Who do you think it's a statue of?
B: Victoria and Albert.
Buckfast owns some hives and the honey produced contributes to the Abbey's income. Brother Adam did much work in the last century in bee-keeping and a new breed of bee, the Buckfast Bee, was developed. This breed is, I'm told, sturdy, produces lots of honey and is very resistant to disease. I believe that most of the Abbey's hives are up on Dartmoor, where there are fewer risks of interacting with other bees.
A wider view of the Lavender Garden.
Holy Trinity Church stands atop the hill between Buckfast and Buckfastleigh. A church has been there since pre-Reformation times, and was the local parish church. At the dissolution the Abbey's bells were confiscated and placed in Holy Trinity's tower.
In 1992 an arson attack left the church roofless, and the decision was made not to restore it. However, the tower and belfry are still in working order. VA and I walked up here one afternoon after having absconded (tee-hee!) from the Abbey to get Fish Shop Chips.
This is the cross atop the east end of the church.
A window in the North wall.
The South aisle entrance and porch. The South and West side of the church are surrounded by the graveyard.
The East end, where the High Altar stood. You can see the old piscina on the south wall of the sanctuary. I find this to be quite a poignant photo.
Fr. Sebastian offered to take us onto the moor! This is Combestone Tor, to the north of the village of Holne.
Dartmoor is characterised by tors: years of weathering (and it gets pretty wet and windy up there, it's wonderful!) wear away the softer earth and rock, but the granite underneath, being that much harder, remains for much longer. But there will be more shots of tors later....
Of course we all tumbled out of the car and started scrambling up these granite outcrops, whilst Fr. Sebastian looked on bemusedly. The scene must have been somewhat reminiscent of a Dad taking his over-active teenagers out on a trip.
Dartmoor is beautiful, wild and desolate. I love it up there! Like the ocean, you have to respect it, because if you're not sensible then it can pick you up, thrash you about and leave you for dead (which is actually pretty likely by that point). But yes, more on Dartmoor later.
As proof that VA and I were really at Buckfast:
It's only fitting that the parting pic for this post is of the Abbey church.
Our Lady of Buckfast, pray for us!
posted by puella at 10:43 a.m.
2 Comments:
HELLISH!
Jups :)
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