St Dunstans Abbey And Attached Road Frontage Walls

St Dunstan’s Abbey and attached road-frontage walls are an abbey complex begun in 1850 by William Butterfield, situated on North Road West in Stonehouse, Plymouth. The building is constructed from Plymouth limestone rubble with yellow stone dressings, with weatherboarding to the covered walk and steep dry slate roofs on several levels topped with crested clay ridge tiles. Large stone lateral stacks are also present.

The abbey complex exhibits a Gothic Revival style and has a large, irregular plan that partly encloses two courtyards, featuring a chapel to the north. A house stands northeast of the chapel, linked by a cloister to an L-shaped block to the southeast, with another block to the southwest of the chapel. A long, single-storey covered walk extends beyond the main buildings, accompanied by a porter's lodge to the left of the entrance and a further block east of the chapel.

The elevations feature irregularly disposed openings. The abbey entrance is distinguished by a stone cross set in the gable. The porter's lodge has a transomed, gabled, two-light window with quatrefoil tracery. The chapel’s west end is marked by a five-light window incorporating geometric tracery. A five-bay cloister fronts the chapel courtyard with two-light windows, hoodmoulds, and a large lateral stack. A lower range returns to the left of the cloister, displaying single and paired lights. The opposite elevation of this range features a large, outbuilt, gabled stack with four small windows; two-light windows step up to the left and a taller stair window is centrally placed. The wing to the southwest is distinguished by a coped gable end with a five-light window under a segmental arch, and the northwestern elevation has paired windows. The house has single and paired lancets, as well as an oriel window that breaks the eaves to the southeast end. A semicircular stair turret sits to the left of the northwest elevation, alongside a canted end. The covered walk includes a rubble plinth and weatherboarding above, featuring three-light wooden windows with trefoil-headed lights.

The interior retains many original features of interest, including doorways with two orders of pointed arches within the chapel. The abbey is supported by high rubble walls. It is considered an outstanding example of Butterfield’s work.