Guest House At Buckfast Abbey

BUCKFASTLEIGH

SX7467 BUCKFAST ROAD, Buckfast 1011-1/5/32 Guest House at Buckfast Abbey 10/01/51 (Formerly Listed as: BUCKFAST ROAD, Buckfast The Gate House and St Theresa's Cottage)

GV II

Abbey guest house. Early C14 with later alterations. Local stone rubble; slate roof, partly asbestos, partly natural laid in diminishing courses, gabled at ends; stacks with stone rubble or rendered shafts. Plan: the entrance was on the east side at the SE corner of the open hall, lit by 2 large windows on the east side and presumably by 2 similar on the west side. The hall had a domestic piscina in the south wall and 2 service doorways to the south end service rooms which were chambered over. The upper end probably contained dormitories on 2 floors. After the Dissolution parts of the building were taken down, it was narrowed when the west wall was replaced and it was reused as farmbuildings and for modest domestic accommodation. In c1800 the building was converted into a row of cottages. There have also been late C19/early C20 alterations. EXTERIOR: Brown's published account indicates precisely how much medieval and post-medieval masonry survives. 2 storeys. 4:1-window east front. Left-hand block, separately-roofed, has pointed archway, original entrance to hall, to left and large opening on first floor. Centre block, now the bookshop has 3 ground-floor 2-light casements; large entrance to late C19/early C20 cross passage at left end and modern doorway to booskhop to right of centre. Four 3-light casements to first floor. Right hand block has one first-floor 3-light casement and one ground-floor 2-light casement. The east wall has a scatter of casement windows. The service end is preserved in an unroofed condition, its features are described in detail by Brown. INTERIOR: refer to Brown's report. Historical note: this is an important medieval survival, a rare surviving example of a monastic building of this type. Pevsner points out that it represents "an exceptional discovery, as little is known of the buildings on the fringes of medieval monastic sites". (Buildings of England: Pevsner N & Cherry B: Devon: London: 1989-: 222-226; Proceedings of Devon Archaeological Society: Brown S W: Excavations & Building Recording at Buckfast Abbey, Devon: Devon: 1988-).

Listing NGR: SX7405067393