The Infirmary

THE INFIRMARY, BUCKLAND MONACHORUM

This is a stone rubble outbuilding with granite dressings and a gable-ended slate roof, located at Buckland Abbey. Though traditionally called the infirmary, its distance from the main abbey building suggests it more likely served as accommodation for lay brothers or as a guest house, positioned beyond the tithe barn.

The building dates probably to the later 15th century, based on evidence from its roof trusses and earlier doorways and windows. It was substantially altered during the 16th and 17th centuries, and precise dating is complicated by the possibility that some features may have been re-used from demolished abbey buildings. By the 17th century, the building was converted to agricultural purposes, which continue to be its function today.

The structure stands two storeys high with an asymmetrical ten-bay, six-window front facade, divided irregularly by ashlar buttresses with set-offs. The long facade displays an extraordinary array of pre-18th-century windows of varying styles. The earliest is a 15th-century two-light granite mullion with cinquefoiled heads in the left-hand bay on the ground floor. The other windows are mainly two-light granite mullions with square heads or granite-framed slits, with a few later insertions. Three ground-floor granite arched doorways are present: the left-hand example is the earliest, probably contemporary with the 15th-century window, and is richly moulded with a pointed arch. To the left of centre is a wide four-centred arched doorway, and to the right of centre is a similar but narrower doorway. Each end extension has a corresponding doorway and mullion windows. A 20th-century lean-to has been added against the right-hand side at the rear. On the first floor at the rear is a blocked four-centred arched granite doorway. Beyond it on the ground floor is a 16th-century moulded three-light granite mullion window whose hoodmould carries the arms of Grenville and his wife in the labels, with two further granite-framed windows to the left.

Internally, the original roof trusses survive, consisting of upper crucks with trenched purlins and morticed cranked collars, all clean, though tie-beams and struts were inserted probably in the early 20th century. An axial chimney stack in the middle of the building has been cut off at the top, with chamfered and stopped granite jambs to a fireplace on the ground floor. The fireplace at the right-hand end of the principal room has a segmental stone arch with chamfered voussoirs, now partially blocked. A longitudinal beam at this end is chamfered with ogee stops.

The ground-floor plan now comprises two long rooms divided by the chimney stack, though the original plan is unclear, having been much altered by changes of use. The absence of smoke-blackening on the roof timbers suggests the chimney stacks are original, and it is likely the building was always two storeys, although no trace of the original stairs survives. The granite-framed window slits suggest agricultural use, but the quality of the medieval windows and some doorways make conversion from a barn to a dwelling unlikely. Small rooms at either end are clearly later additions, each with external access; the left-hand room dates to circa early 16th century, while the right-hand one is 17th century. A late 20th-century addition was made at the rear of the left-hand side. The exact development of the plan and original use remain difficult to assess, given the building incorporates features from multiple periods, some of which may have originated in now-demolished abbey buildings.