While the first abbey in Buckfast was built here in 1018, much demolition and construction has happened since and the abbey that stands in the village today was actually built in the early 1900s.

The abbey is a working Benedictine monastery and, amazingly, is self-sufficient with a small farm and a shop. This is also home to Buckfast Tonic Wine, a unique alcoholic drink with considerable caffeine.

The abbey is well worth visiting as it has an impressive collection of buildings and is set in lovely grounds.

Anette

August 15, 2017

Buckfast Abbey in Buckfastleigh is a Benedictine abbey and one of the few remaining active monasteries in Britain.
The monastery was founded in 1018 by Lord Aylward in the Valley of the Dart. Little is known about the early days of the monastery. In 1136 it closed a congregation with the monastery Savigny and then belonged to the Cistercian order: From 1147 to 1539, the monastery was a Cistercian abbey. The church and buildings were destroyed in the course of the dissolution of the English monasteries under the reign of King Henry VIII, and for more than 300 years existed only ruins of the abbey. In 1882 it was then rented by Benedictines banished from France by the St. Augustines Priory in Ramsgate and later purchased for £ 4,700.
The first abbot, Boniface Natter, died in 1906 in a shipwreck. His successor Anscar Vonier tackled the long-planned reconstruction of the abbey. The third abbot, Bruno Fehrenbacher, came from Upper Swabia like his predecessors.
Source and more info: Wikipedia

Translated by Google •

Bumble-Bee

November 8, 2021

Since Karl Kehrle (aka Brother Adam) has modernized beekeeping here (with the Buckfast bee) and keeping it over the decades and thus revolutionized it in many areas, it has become a kind of place of pilgrimage for beekeepers.

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Location: Buckfastleigh, Teignbridge, Devon, South West England, England, United Kingdom

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