Back Buckfast Abbey Czech Buckfast Abbey German Abadía de Buckfast Spanish دیر باکفست Persian Abbaye de Buckfast French Buckfast Abbey Irish Abbazia di Buckfast Italian Buckfast Abbey Polish Buckfast Abbey Serbo-Croatian บักฟาสต์แอบบีย์ Thai
| Buckfast Abbey | |
|---|---|
| Abbey Church of St Mary | |
 | |
  Buckfast Abbey Location within Dartmoor | |
| 50°29′34″N 3°46′32″W / 50.49278°N 3.77556°W | |
| OS grid reference | SX741673 |
| Location | Buckfastleigh, Devon |
| Country | England |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Website | www.buckfast.org.uk |
| History | |
| Status | Benedictine Monastery |
| Founded | 28 October 1882 |
| Dedication | St Mary |
| Consecrated | 25 August 1932 |
| Architecture | |
| Functional status | Active |
| Heritage designation | Grade II* |
| Designated | 10 January 1951 |
| Architect(s) | Frederick Walters[1] |
| Completed | 1937 |
| Administration | |
| Province | Southwark |
| Diocese | Plymouth |
| Deanery | Torbay |
| Parish | Buckfast |
| Clergy | |
| Abbot | Rt Rev. Dom David Charlesworth, O.S.B. |
| Laity | |
| Director of music | Matthew Searles |
| Organist(s) | Charles Maxtone-Smith[2] |
Buckfast Abbey forms part of an active Benedictine monastery at Buckfast, near Buckfastleigh, Devon, England. Buckfast first became home to an abbey in 1018. The first Benedictine abbey was followed by a Savignac, later Cistercian, abbey constructed on the site of the current abbey in 1134. The monastery was surrendered for dissolution in 1539, with the monastic buildings stripped and left as ruins, before being largely demolished. The former abbey site was used as a quarry, and later became home to a Gothic mansion house.
In 1882 the site was purchased by a group of French Benedictine monks, who refounded a monastery on the site, dedicated to Saint Mary. New monastic buildings and a temporary church were constructed incorporating the existing Gothic house. Buckfast was formally reinstated as an Abbey in 1902. The first abbot of the new institution, Boniface Natter, was blessed in 1903. Work on a new abbey church, which was constructed mostly on the footprint of the former Cistercian abbey, started in 1907. The church was consecrated in 1932 but not completed until 1938. The abbey continues to operate as a Benedictine foundation today, and is a registered charity under English law.[3] As of 2020, the abbey has 13 monks.[4]
- ^ The Return of the Benedictines to London, Ealing Abbey: 1896 to Independence by Rene Kollar, Burnes and Oates 1989, ISBN 0-86012-175-5, p.53
- ^ "Music at Buckfast". Retrieved 3 January 2024.
- ^ "BUCKFAST ABBEY TRUST (HELD ICW THE RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY OF BENEDICTINE MONKS ESTABLISHED AT ST MARYS ABBEY BUCKFAST, DEVON), registered charity no. 232497". Charity Commission for England and Wales.
- ^ The Benedictine Yearbook. London: English Benedictine Congregation Trust. 2020. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-901089-58-8.